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Del Clare

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Kayaking safety: The power of counting lemons

Years ago, I signed up for an advanced white water safety course by the legend Chris Eastabrook. During this course, Chris introduced me to ‘counting lemons’. In a nutshell, there was this idea that often, when things go dramatically wrong on the river, there were usually lots of smaller things that had gone wrong in the lead-up to that moment. He referred to these smaller things as ‘lemons’, which has led to a safety measure now an integral part of my kayaking called ‘counting lemons’. This idea has genuinely changed how I approach kayaking and my decisions around safety. Keep reading if you want to know how!

The Advanced White Water Safety Course
If you’ve been kayaking for a while and completed a white water safety course, I recommend signing up for the advanced version. It is well worth the money, and it is a course I’d be keen to go and repeat! I did mine through Getafix. People often think safety is just about knowing fancy ropework, unpinning kayaks from difficult spots or chasing kayaks down the river. The rescue side of safety is essential, and the fantastic people who work outdoors would agree that those skills require regular practice. However, the other side to implementing safety is the strategic side. Our ability to make safe decisions is the most useful tool in our safety kit. This is something that advanced safety courses really focus on.

At the start of this course, Chris asked us to think of a day when we experienced an ‘epic’. If you are unfamiliar with this word, an epic is a term kayakers use to describe when the day has gone very wrong, and things seem to spiral. For example, if a group of four paddlers swam simultaneously and lost all of their boats and paddles, they’ve had an ‘epic’. Every experienced kayaker has experienced an epic, and most kayakers will have experienced more than one.

I had a day in mind that would be considered an epic. It was a day I had experienced relatively recently at the time, which had an unpleasant swim on a high Upper Dart. This was followed by a huge amount of miscommunication, which led to my then-boyfriend and I walking out of Dartmoor with one kayak on my shoulder (which, if you’ve ever done, you will know, is arduous work). You can read more about it in a blog on ‘Bad swims and what I learned from them ‘.

The ‘lemons’ for my Dartmoor epic
After sharing this story with the group, Chris explained his ‘lemons’ theory. He asked me to think about the day and identify any things that had happened earlier in the day and contributed to the day going wrong. Chris called these things’ lemons’ and explained that lemons are factors that are small on their own, but lots of them together can lead to bigger problems. He said that on days we experience epics, there were often many preliminary lemons that inevitably contributed to the epic that later followed. So, I listed as many lemons as possible for that day.

The Dart was higher than expected. We were in a large group of 10, and there were only a couple of hours left of daylight when we got on. We ran it like a mega train, which made me very scared. The swim itself was horrible. These were my lemons. My epic really started after my swim, and it happened because I made a decision without first properly communicating with the rest of the group.

Whilst this day taught me a valuable lesson on communication, Chris’s question about lemons got me thinking about it in more depth. I had assumed that this epic was caused by one poor decision made in a moment. However, the number of ‘lemons’ that had already happened before that decision was made was high. I questioned whether I would have made the same decision if the Dart had been lower, the group smaller, the day earlier. These lemons had already happened, which contributed to my making one very hasty and, unfortunately, poor decision.

Making a habit of counting lemons
I learned many things with Chris this weekend, but this idea of counting lemons has stuck with me. I now go with this rule. if there have been three or more lemons, it is worth spending more time making the decision and potentially going for the safer option. What I mean by this is when I am now faced with a decision whilst out kayaking, I will often run through and count any lemons that have happened that day. I choose the safer option if the lemon count is too high (three or more).

I was on a week-long advanced kayaking course in Snowdonia just before Christmas. It was a great week, but on the final day, I chose to get off the river at midday. When talking with one of the other paddlers about why, I explained, “Because there are too many lemons,” and then explained what I meant by that.

I was physically exhausted after a week of pushing myself, and due to some accommodation issues, I was also quite tired from not sleeping well the last couple of nights. I had been very wobbly on the warm-up paddle and then put what I would describe as ‘the last of my energy’ into helping with large tree removal. Finally, I had a long drive home after the day. I was unsure about getting on to paddle in the afternoon, and after five minutes spent thinking things through and counting my lemons, I chose not to get on.

The coach was surprised when I told him, asking, “Are you sure?” I knew that I had the capabilities to make the moves I needed to in this section, but I was not sure I would be able to make those moves that day. All the lemons were there, and most were around my body, telling me it had had enough. Getting on might have worked out but it also might not have, resulting in an otherwise excellent week ending on a low. So, I chose not to get on and was happy with my decision.

Previously, I might have pushed through the tiredness and ignored the signs my body was telling me it had had enough. Days where things have gone badly have often involved this. Counting my lemons, however, has helped me in my decision-making. Hitting those three or more lemons makes me think through a decision. Sometimes, I still go through getting on the river or running a drop, which I’m not 100% sure about. But sometimes I don’t. Counting lemons is not a blanket rule for me in my kayaking but instead a useful tool.

Final thoughts
I know some points will be raised by people reading this particular blog, and I wanted to address them before I end this article.

Firstly, many people struggle with talking themselves out of paddling due to reasons such as being overly anxious. Giving potentially already anxious people a way to justify talking themselves out of getting on things that they are fully capable of paddling could be unhelpful for them.

However, as an anxious person, I encourage you to talk about these lemons with another person. I often find things that I am worried about are things that exist only in my head and not in reality. Talking through those things with my husband or a close friend can help me identify if things are real. So, by talking about my lemons, my loved ones help me decide whether they are real. Being anxious about running a drop because you have previously dislocated your shoulder is a legitimate lemon. Being anxious about running a drop because a swan looked at you funnily at the get-on is probably not a legitimate lemon. Talking with trusted people about your lemons is a good thing to do.

The second point people might think whilst reading this article is that ‘counting lemons’ is not enough to always keep you safe. I would wholeheartedly agree with those people! Keeping yourself and others safe in an adventure sport is a complicated process. There are so many things to consider, which is why everybody should take a safety course when they start kayaking and then take an active role in considering safety when paddling so that those skills can be practised! You can read a blog I wrote about this specifically: https://delkayaks.co.uk/ 2020/05/25/why-being-safe-is-the-first-step-to-becoming-an-independent-boater.

Counting lemons is one particular tool that I find very useful, but it’s not my only tool! Also, kayaking is an adventure sport for a reason, and even when you consider every safety aspect and make all the right decisions, things will still go wrong. The safest thing would be to not kayak at all, but then you would miss out on all the fantastic things this sport offers.

This article ends. I find counting lemons incredibly useful, so I wanted to share it with you all. I hope it’s given you some food for thought.

As always, happy paddling!