In to the Uknown (again) 1st IRF workshop in the Ukraine

As the demand for International rafting federation courses is growing year on year, I am noticing that I am able to travel to new exciting destinations to run IRF courses. This year alone my travels have taken me to Morocco, Nepal, France, UK and now to the Ukraine for their first ever IRF workshop with Kiev Kayaks. 

After a period of email communication with Anton Federenko of Kiev Kayaks my bags were packed and I was heading out to the Ukraine not knowing what to expect.

Anton kindly picked me up from the airport and took me to his river base in the middle of the Ukraine. We arrived late in the evening and to be honest I was dead beat tired having spent the whole day travelling. So a quick set of hellos, then off to bed.

The morning of day 1 kicked off with the typical course introductions. Having now delivered a few workshops I now have a set pattern of how I like to run my workshops.

First off I needed to asses a few key points

• Our communication skills. I do not speak Ukrainian & I know that my fast Northern English accent can be hard to understand sometimes. I was happy in the end as 80% of the group had really good English. I was also lucky to have a interpreter Andri, who was also a kayaker.   

• The groups prior experience. This became quite interesting as the group was pretty big, we had 12 participants in total. The ability of the group ranged from a medalist at the 2015 Adddas sickline Kayak championships right the way through to a handful of local guides with no formal training. 

I decided to strip everything back to the raw basics. I had arranged the workshop over 5 days as this allowed me to really concentrate on getting the basics right before we could move onto more advanced options. We got dressed and made our way to the river. After a quick discussion about PPE (personal protective equipment) we started on safety talks. I was aware that I had a few trip leader candidates. I asked for a volunteer to step forward. Lurii stepped forward and presented a really good safety talk that only needed a few minor tweaks.

After Lurii´s talk we discussed what constitutes a good safety talk  and these were the outcomes.

Set the scene: In order for the talk to be effective the customers must be positioned in such a way that the guide giving the talk is the sole focus of their attention. 

Actions speak louder than words: I explained to the guides that in various other rafting destinations around the world not all of your customers will speak the same language as the guide giving the safety talk. We also discussed the fact that people remember actions more than words. A simple exercise of giving a safety talk without talking was shown & appreciated in the fact that all of the relevant information was given in half the time of a normal vocal talk.   

Give correct demonstrations: Show your customers exactly what you want them to do. If you show the customers the wrong technique they will practice the wrong technique. A classic example of this was explaining to the customers that if they fall out of the raft to adapt the whitewater swimming position.. Where infact we want the customers to participate in their own rescue and swim back to the raft aggressive style.  

The Flow of the safety talk: We discussed the correct sequence in which we should introduce the various subjects within a safety talk. We noticed that most guides give the paddle commands at the start of a safety talk. We discussed the fact that once you have completed the safety talk if you sit the customers in their paddling position in the raft and introduce the commands just before you get on the water the customers are more likely to retain the information given to them. Having the customers sit and practice the commands on the dry land also allows the guide to rectify any issues and give some good coaching points This can also work as a warm up too.

We moved on to the river where I got to see some pretty good guiding skills. We had a nice 200m section of class 3 where we could easily run laps which was great. I did notice that the guides had been running the same lines for years so I spiced things up and got them too run some new lines. Been situated on the bank I could asses more guides a lot quicker. I would have plenty of time to be in a raft with them during the week. I was also useless in the raft as I was struggling with the Ukrainian paddle commands.

Most of the candidates had come from a racing background. Primarily racing the former soviet design inflatable catarafts.

The main issue here was that the candidates were trying to guide the rafts in racing mode which meant a lot of things were rushed. We spent the afternoon slowing things down. We really focused on the guide controlling and steering the raft and using the customers as the "engine". Instilling the discipline into the crews to only paddle when the guide tells you was interesting to watch. We also looked at the totally new commands of "Get down" "Hold on" and backwards paddling. After a few hours of hard work we were making good progress.

Later in the day we looked at personal whitewater swimming skills.I needed to instill the thinking process into why where & how we swim instead of just jumping in. After a afternoon a trying some new techniques and strategies we  ended day 1 with a swimming Olympics, which I also used as the personal swimming assessment as per the IRF guidelines.

We rounded off day 1 with a introductory rope work session. We practiced the following knots

• Bowline
• Round turn & 2 half hitches
• Clove hitch 
• Figure of 8 Bite 
• Water knot 
• Alpine Butterfly 
• Overhand bend 
• Double fishermans 
• Friction Hitch
• No knot

Day 2 kicked off with a quick revision of the knots we learnt on the previous evening. We also discussed river signals before heading to the water to work on our rafting skills. I wanted to now get the guides working as a team on the river using some basic river running principles. I found the CLAP model worked well for this workshop.

• Communication (Have clear communications systems always.)
• Line of sight (Always have line of sight with the raft in front and behind you.)
• Avoidance (Avoid any necessary risk by taking the safest lines and having clear communication.)
• Positioning (Clearly position yourself so that you are combining the 3 elements above.)   

After lunch we got stuck into some throwbag work. We looked at various designs of throwbags along with the construction of a throwbag. I introduced the group the the cleanline principle and then we were good to go.

  We took the time to look at various belay options along with introducing thrower positioning.

Once the group was happy with the basics we moved on to some more advanced throwbag rescues such a "drop bagging" & double swimmer throws.

The next section to be looked at was throwing a coiled rope. We looked at the benefits of

• Small coils vs big coils 
• Butterfly coils 
• The TRU technique

I found it challenging to explain to the group that there was not one set way to re-throw a rope that in fact there were many different ways which also work for a variety of different people. The group also agreed with me when I mentioned that throw bagging should be practiced lots.

The IRF throwbag test ended the afternoon session which all of the team passed confidently.

Our evening session continued with stepping up our rope work skills. We started off by looking at the following subjects:

• PRE (personal rescue equipment) based on the 4,3,2,1 principle
• Anchor tying and the forces associated with this
• Progress capture using pulleys & prussik loops

I had now manged to teach all of the foundation skills needed to build a mechanical advantage system which would follow on the morning of day 3. 

Day 3 arrived and is affectionately know as "Wobbly Wednesday". All of the candidates were a little tired after 2 testing days on the river. I decided to keep the team on the land for the morning so that we could spend the morning looking at pinned boats and mechanical advantage systems. 

The Big 4 for unpinning a raft were practiced

• Strong arm pull 
• Rope pull
• Vector pull 
• MA system

I then introduced the group to building mechanical advantage systems with basic river equipment. We all built the following systems. 

• Internal simple 2:1, 3:1, 5:1
• Internal Compound 9.1 
• External 3:1 , 4:1

The group also found the T method for calculating MA quite useful. We ended the session with the standard IRF ropework test. 

The afternoon session of day 3 was spent exploring true rescues, mainly live bait rescues. A short session explaining to the group the mechanics of the chest harness function on their PFD´s led us perfectly into the practical side of their use. First we practiced releasing the harness under a load and then we practiced live bait rescues.

The morning of day 4 was spent looking at entrapment's. We practiced a selection of systems used to quickly rescue an entrapped customer. We all agreed that the best method was the down & dirty technique of getting hands on as quickly as possible. We also strongly agreed that river rescue is a teams sport and should be practiced

as a team. 

In my eyes most  group now had all of the skills needed to tackle a trip leader scenario assessment. We spent the remainder of the workshop working through the trip leader scenarios for the trip leader candidates to pass the required level needed. We got a few funny looks from some of the other local rafting  companies practicing all of this unneeded strange foreign voodoo magic but we did not mind.

 The trip leader scenarios were completed with ease and it was heart warming to watch the guys putting some new ways of thinking and skills to use. 

The Morning of day 5 started with flip drills before tacking the IRF written paper before final debriefs and goodbyes. 

The Ukraine now has its first IRF certified guides and trip leaders. It was a privilege to work with these guys. Good Luck !

Mark

The rumble in the Thai jungle

As I took my seat on  Finnair flight from Helsinki bound for Bangkok,Thailand I had to take a reality check to see if this was really happening. In the matter of 2 short weeks and a few emails I was heading to Thailand to run the first ever IRF workshop deep in the jungle close to Chiang Mai.

Ex-kayak freestyle world champion Eric Southwick had invited me to run an IRF guide and trip leader workshop for his newly established company 8adventures in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. 

Rafting operations on the Mae Tang river in Chiang Mai only started around 20 years ago but the area now has around 14 companies. 8adventures is the leading company in the area, offering a professional operation to the hoards of tourists wanting to experience the jungle.

Eric had kindly picked me up from Chiang Mai airport and given me the lowdown on the job ahead. My first priority was sleep. After a good night’s sleep at the 8adventures camp it was time to crack on and start the 5 day workshop. To assess the river do a check out run so I joined onto a trip and was pleasantly surprised by 2 things

• The Mae tang was super high due to recent rain. We had a solid 2km section of class 4-5 rapids to test us on all week.

• The team at 8adventures were slick. Eric and his co-owners Sak & Oat had a tight operation. This was a pleasant surprise.

Eric demonstrating the whitewater swimming position.

I had planned the workshop over 5 days to allow for extra teaching. None of the guides had ever participated in any type of structured teaching course. I also had to allow for language barriers so the plan was to take things nice and slowly and move at a speed that suited the students on the course. The 5 days were mapped out in the following way.

• Days 1 &2 were dedicated to personal rafting & kayaking skills. I needed to spend time observing each guide running the river. This worked out really well as we had commercial trips every morning so I got to see the guides with real customers.

• 

• Day 3 was set aside to focus on whitewater rescue skills & safety kayak skills such as dealing with panicked swimmers & unconscious swimmers.

  

  Keep your swimmers in a place where you can help them most & remember to smile.

  

  Eric & Sak take it all in. It's not every day I get to teach a former 2x World Champion & a Thai national champion about kayaking.

  

  A safety kayaker dealing with an unconscious swimmer.

  

  Same bank entrapment drill

  

  Live bait exercise 

  

  gotya 

  

  Swim test

  

  2 point raft tether exercise 

  

  Throwbag skills test 

  

  Rescue harness operation demonstrated by using a V Lower.

• Day 4 was used for trip leader assessments.

  

  A flipped raft stuck in a boily eddy was used in one of the TL scenarios. (Can you spot the surprise underneath the raft that awaits the rescue team?)

  

  One of the safety kayakers dealing with a stranded customer on the TL scenario.

  

  Mock body entrapment scenarios

• The days were long as they are on all workshops. We started early in the morning and finished late in the evening. The Thai guides really took an interest in the whitewater rescue aspect of the workshop. They had lots of gear and wanted to know how to use it. Now was the time to introduce them to my favourite mnemonic that I find myself using time and time again on workshops 
  
  
  KIS, KIS: Keep it safe, Keep it simple 
  The Nature of the Mae Tang river really keeps the guides on their toes. The river is full of Bamboo strainers mixed in with some fatal sieves. I needed to ensure that the guides really took their time and use the self, team, victim principle to ensure their own safety not only during the workshop simulated rescues but also when on the river operating commercial trips.

This picture sends shivers down my spine just looking at it.

The Locals like to build as close to the river as possible.

The extra time spent developing the rescue skills of the guides & safety kayakers really helped out during the trip leader scenario tests. Not only had the guides progressed in their understanding of rescue skills and principles. Their team work had improved dramatically. Having skilled safety kayakers really made the life of the trip leaders a lot easier during the test.

To sum things up. Thailand now has its first IRF certified guides, safety kayakers & trip leaders. The bonus is the fact they all work daily together for the same company. We shared an inspiring week together. New friends were made and the IRF now has active guides in Thailand.

The Participants of the first ever International Rafting Federation workshop in Thailand. 

I boarded my flight home tired and happy. As I sat down I realized it would all be starting again in 7 days time. This time I would not be in the river deep in the jungle but in the high mountains of the Indian Himalaya on the mighty Zanskar river.

Happy paddling, Mark

Rafting the Casbah

Stepping out off at Marrakesh airport I was hit by the warm air. A pleasant change to the blast chilled air of my Arctic winter residence. I was in Morocco to run my first IRF workshop of the season for Berber Rafting Adventures in the Atlas Mountains.

Our drive into The Atlas mountains 

After a short taxi transfer to our hotel the group met for the first time. We consisted of 9 raft guides from the UK ,France & the Netherlands. Over dinner we discussed the groups expectations for the coming week.

This workshop was going to be a residential workshop, we were going to be together non stop for the next week. The perfect ice breaking exercise for a group of raft guides was to have a few beers and chill out.

We all awoke the next morning and boarded Yann's van for the 6 hr drive to the Atlas mountains. We were all instantly taken back with how beautiful Morocco was most of all it was good to feel the sun on our skin.

Our arrival to the camp after a long hot dusty day on the road was an eventful one. Ed, one of the guides slipped climbing down from the roof of the van. The first real life scenario of the course had begun. I now had to clean and stitch his foot up. With some help from James and Nell we manged to get away with using sutures and managed to use lots of steri strips.

Eds foot 48 hours after his wee slip

After an amazing dinner of Lamb tangine I retired to bed for the night in preparation of our first day on the water in the morning.

Early morning coffee hit

After a light breakfast we packed up and drove up the valley to the commercial rafting start point for the Melloul river. Yann our host had informed me that due to a late spring  the rivers were still really high due to the snow still melting. The effect this had on the Melloul was great!  The river was flowing really fast with no eddys with lots and lots of trees in the river making this a great test piece for the guides to prove themselves on.

The high water flows in the area were going to make the course entertaining 

We kicked the day off with safety talks. Many of the guides started of a little nervous but soon managed to relax. Our french contingent were a little skeptical about having to give a safety talk in English but they all managed to get through with no problems.
The British based guides on the course all gave really good informative safety talks in the searing 30 C degree heat with all of their kit on.
My main observation from all of the safety talk was  re occurring, the guides needed to "KEEP IT SIMPLE".
Our rafting guests do not need to be blinded by technical jargon. Later that evening we did a "safety talk in silence" workshop where each of the guides had to give sections of the safety talk with out talking and by using actions only; a great leaning tool.

We cooled of by putting on the Melloul. The Melloul is a short intense trip with plenty of things for the guides to concentrate on narrow canyons separated by tree infested flat sections. I needed to spend 30mins with each guide taking control of the raft. It took each of the guides a few minutes to adjust to the speed of the water and the trees but after this they were all fine. I got to see some really good examples of client care and good raft handling techniques.

The Melloul: a perfect warm up run.

We stopped at the confluence with the Ahansal river where our camp was conveniently situated. A quick lunch stop and 5 minutes warming up in the sun before we headed back up for the 2nd run in the afternoon. All of the guides now noticed that they really had to keep on top of there water intake so we stocked up for the afternoon run. The afternoon run went really well, the guides were starting to settle into there new surroundings. We ended the practical side of the day at the take out looking at how to get a line across the river. I could see that the boys really wanted to get stuck into the rescue & rope work aspects of the course.

Our evening session consisted of a short anchor and knot trying session which was to come in handy for the days to come.

Day 2 started with 2 more runs of the Melloul. During these runs we started to explore the role of the safety kayaker on a raft trip. The kayakers practiced exiting their kayaks into the raft and taking command of the raft mid rapid which was something they had never done before. We practiced towing the rafts along with multiple techniques of taking charge a guide-less raft from the position of a safety kayaker.

Oli taking charge of the raft by vocally guiding the raft down a rapid from his kayak

We ended the 2nd day with the practical rope work assessment. Each of the guides needed to set up a functional 3;1 mechanical advantage system inside 5 minutes. This was a great example of how we need to spend some time investing in the correct rescue equipment. We discussed the benefits of a 5m length of tubular webbing along with good carabineers & pulleys. My advice to any guides is to practice practice when it comes to rope work. All of the guides passed and I wanted to give out bonus points as they were all rigging their systems in the dark!

Day 3 kicked off with a short session on packing for a multiday trip. For the next 2 days we were going to operate the workshop on a multiday trip down the Ahansal river.

                                       

This set up had a very Nepalese influence to it. 

We eventually set off down the river. The high water levels gave us continuous rapids with lots of  testing technical rapids. This really allowed the guides to sit back and enjoy their surroundings. Without knowing they started to relax and just guide naturally which was a pleasure to watch. Our lunch stop was set at the bottom of a class 4 rapid.

                                               

We continued rafting after lunch and entered a spectacular canyon just before we hit our camp for the night. Once at out camp we decided to finish off the day with the throw bag & swim  test. Each guide had to make 2 throws inside 20 seconds, one of the throws had to be a recoil throw. After a few practice throws the boys were on fire. The swim has to be a challenging swim which all of the team agreed it was as the water was snow melt water and freezing cold.

After the guides had all completed their swim and throw bag test it was time to set up camp for the night. Make a fire, sit back and enjoy our surroundings.

During dinner we discussed the role of a trip leader on a commercial river trip. The next day was to be the trip leader assessments. Each of the trip leader candidates were to be given 1 hour to take control of a scenario on the river. It was up to me to create a true to life scenario that could happen on a commercial trip. This could include panicked midstream stranded swimmers, multiple swimmers from a flipped rafts, entrapment and treatment of unconscious casualties. The list could go on and on. 

Each of the trip leaders were really put to the test with some life like scenarios. The guides all loved the chance at a bit of play acting and we got to see some true Oscar award winning performances.

The trip leaders coped very well with the demanding scenarios put down in front of them. The relentless sun and hot weather made life a little more interesting. 

We paddled down the last sections of the Ahansal through the spectacular canyon relaxing in the shade. 

The Ahansal flows in to a dammed lake. We paddled the flat water out into the lake where the water went from a muddy brown color to a deep turquoise. We boarded the ferry with the rafts for the 10km journey across the lake to our waiting vehicle. We had to take advantage of this turquoise water at the takeout by finishing the day off with the flip drill test. Despite having 4 action packed days the guides were still managing to make their flip drills inside 1 minute which was great.

The final day of the course allowed us to complete the last remaining aspects of the safety kayak session and also this involved dealing with multiple swimmers, panicked swimmers, & unconscious swimmers. We also looked at some live bait rescues. After lunch we decided to have an open session where the guides could take a more in depth look  at any subjects they still wanted explore. Being typical guides they wanted to geek out on rope work especially mechanical advantage. We had a short session on the land before finishing the session off with building a high line across the river. The local took the chance to get a cheeky ride across the river. Our high-line now became known as the Berber ferry!

Over the week a few consistent themes came out of the course and they were.

• Keep it as simple as possible.
• Keep it safe always. 
• Actions speak louder than words.(demonstrate with actions where possible) 
• Practice ropework & safety talks as much as possible. 
• Spend a little cash to have the correct equipment for the job. 
• Think professional & act professional. 

Overall it was a great week and we look forward to hopefully running another course in Morocco next year. 

Congratulation & many thanks to 

Yann Coppen @ Berber rafting adventures,James, Ed Patryk,Hugo,Simon,Damien,Oli,Nell 

Happy paddling 

Mark