Yeah, very good stuff for canoe tripping, and anything else outdoors!
I came across similar messaging in river rescue course, and then saw a "Lemon Theory" article in Canoeroots, and it resonated again, so I wrote something up specific to the ww day trips we did in our local canoe club. Here's the "Eat, Drink and Be Wary" article I put in the club's newsletter. My take-away was to sweat the small stuff of staying watered, fed and warm. We've all been there: feeling rushed, shaking with cold or hungry, losing dexterity and patience, and we need to recognize those warnings as the potential for something more.
The analogy in the article I read was a slot machine - you don't want to pull a line up of 3 lemons!
Eat, Drink and Be Wary
After taking a river rescue course, I was surprised which new bit of knowledge stuck with me the most - and it’s not how to make a sling for helicopter rescues out of webbing, though that’s cool too! It’s the importance of eating, drinking and staying comfortable.
Perhaps it’s the simplicity and manageability of the message that struck me. Or perhaps it’s the way our instructor derived the information – from his experience as an expert witness in coroners’ inquests, breaking down a day’s events that eventually led to a fatal incident. Apparently virtually everybody who gets in harm’s way while participating in outdoor recreation has some degree of dehydration, hypoglycemia (low blood-sugar) and/or hypothermia.
In other words, before people get into trouble, they get thirsty, hungry and cold.
An article in Canoeroots magazine called it the “Lemon Theory”, referencing a slot machine where 3 lemons line up as a jackpot. The example it used was in-camp safety - a serious burn resulting from a dehydrated person using an unfamiliar stove in the dark - but the same message applies: take care of the little things as-you-go, or they might add up and become a big thing.
For example, somebody doesn’t just happen to fall out of a canoe at 3 p.m. and get caught in a logjam... At 8 a.m. they forget their toque and spare clothes at home; at the put-in an experienced paddler wonders about their skills, but doesn’t speak up; at 10 a.m. they wish they’d had more for breakfast and wish they had a snack accessible; at noon they get caught in some wind & rain, taking only a quick lunch break, not getting rested, fed or warmed; at 1 p.m. they capsize and have a swim, each cold, grumpy tandem partner blaming the other – bad situation gets worse, the lemons are lining up; at 2:30 the boats are spread far apart on the river; and, at 3, being cold, hungry and dehydrated - and now disorganized and in a rush to get off the river - they don’t gather and scout at a sharp corner, and they flip above a logjam – jackpot!
The headlines would report that a logjam was the cause of this incident, but maybe they just needed some soup at lunch, a loaner toque and a better mood for group discussions? Little corrective measures at any one of these milestones throughout the day could’ve helped avoid a major bad experience.
We all know that accidents can happen anyway. But if good decisions and corrective actions are made throughout the day, being hydrated, energized and insulated can be what gives you the strength and the wits to walk away from it! As a kayaker described it at safety clinic at Western: “a safe trip is one where people start as a group (physically and mentally), paddle as a group, and finish as a group.”
It’s of course important that we wear PFDs, helmets and proper clothing on the river, and that we carry whistles, knives, throwropes, caribiners and pulleys - quick-release this and locking that - and that we practice our signals, knots and so on, but the most important “rescue gear” we carry might be that thermos or granola bar that will help keep our minds and our groups together, saving us from ourselves.
The canoe club deserves credit for managing these issues well by training new members and by always doing pre-trip chats that include mention of food, water and clothing, as well as equipment checks and an assessment of hazards. But it never hurts to get a reminder from an outside expert, and it’s hard to argue with the source of this information. So, let’s learn from the mistakes of others on this and stay aware of keeping ourselves and our friends fed, watered and warm!
P.
_________________ Learning to paddle is like learning a language:
It's easy to learn the basics, but will you be understood in a strong wind?
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