When people talk about river leadership they mean different things. Similarly when someone is described as a 'good' river leader, there are many ways in which their leadership may be worthy or praise. Perhaps they have good interpersonal skills, maybe they work in a very safe manner or they lead a group with great efficiency, allowing for speed of movement. Perhaps they just took you through that last grade 4 without you capsizing! Because river leading covers such a wide range of skills, I am going to look at it on 3 'levels':

1. The 'interpersonal' level – how the leader interacts with members of the group. Much of this is applicable to leaders in all fields.
2. The 'principles' of sound river leadership. There are several rules that a good leader will follow. It is sometimes OK to break the rules, but you must know that you are doing so.
3. The 'techniques' actually used to move groups around on rivers, and when each technique might be used.

1. Interpersonal

At a basic level, two extremes of leadership styles may be identified: autocratic and consultative. The autocratic leader tells the group what to do whilst a consultative leader will simply allow the group to run itself and accept anarchy. Both styles have problems: a purely consultative leader might as well not be leading at all, whilst an autocrat will soon cause the group to degenerate and risks making poor decisions by not using the ideas of others. In practise, an effective leadership style will lie between these extremes, and will depend on two main factors:

• Situation. On an easy section of an artificial course, it is acceptable to have almost complete anarchy, as long as you keep an eye on it. When inspecting a drop on a warm day in the alps, you might as well chat the whole thing through with the group as this will probably create the right environment for decision making. Conversely, in a crisis or rescue situation, autocratic leadership works well (as long as the leader has a good plan). In general, autocratically led groups will react faster, whilst group run 'by committee' will come up with good strategies, which everyone agrees to. The latter is clearly desirable, but there are many situations on a river where speed is important, and some where speed of reaction is more important than doing exactly the right thing.
• Group. A group of novices is generally led in an autocratic manner as the novices have little experience to contribute to the decision making process. A group of experienced paddlers will need to be run consultatively. The best groups exhibit the 'psychic team' phenomenon, where each member of the group knows instinctively where they should be and where everyone else is. Such groups require little leadership. There are exceptions to the above – in a crisis situation even experienced paddlers benefit from more autocratic leadership and a novice group may benefit enormously from having the leader talk through his decisions (and giving the novices the chance to discuss their problems).

Perhaps a good guide is to make decisions that are obvious or need making quickly for yourself and consult the group on matters where you feel their experience could be useful. On a river, there may be few situations where you need to consult the group. However, it is often useful to at least give the group a chance to contribute. This can be done by explaining your plan to the group before executing it and then inviting suggestions. This cuts out a lot of discussion, but allows any new ideas to be considered.

So, having considered how the leader carries out their task, you might be asking what a leader actually does. It is possible to identify 4 core activities:

• Provide. This covers a lot of the 'prevention is better than cure' stuff. Make sure the group has the right equipment and that it is in good condition. Make sure your kit is up to standard. Brief and train the group so that they know how to react to common situations. Make sure there is a high enough ratio of experienced to inexperienced paddlers.
• Plan. A good plan before starting can make life so much easier. Plan the trip beforehand and think the trip through. At the top of each drop or section create a strategy for taking the group down. Always consider what happens if things don't go according to plan: where can we walk out?, what if someone misses the line and hits the tree?.
• Communicate. Communication should be concise and to the point. Don't tell the group that you are 'going to go over that that eddy over there to take a look and I'll come back to tell you how we're going to run this drop' if all they need to know is to 'stay there'. The latter message takes less time and is more likely to be understood. Always check for understanding. This may involve anything from actually asking each person 'do you understand' to making eye contact with the paddler immediately behind you.
• Control. The methods for controlling a group have been discussed. Make sure you are following your plan. Control the position and speed of the group through your communication. Delegate jobs to competent individuals where necessary. The leadership role ceases when you lose control of the group through losing communication with them or due to their inability to control themselves. It may be worthwhile making the occasional break out even on easy sections if only to check that you are still communicating and the group is still in control.

2. Principles

In such a dynamic environment it is impossible to define a set of hard and fast rules. If you need to work beyond these principles, do so for as short a time as possible and be aware of the consequences.

When you start out,

• Communication
  • Have a visual signalling system. Keep it simple and make sure the group know it. Make communication clear and concise
• Avoidance is better than rescue
  • Work with small numbers. An ratio of 1:3 is reasonable on most non-extreme rivers. If you can, operate a buddy system, with a competent paddler looking after each less competent one.
  • Always try to anticipate problems before they occur. This will allow you to react faster. Good leaders do this on a subconscious level – they are said to have 'river sense'.
  • Appoint a good end paddler to look after the tail end. Make sure you look back at the group regularly.
  • Be totally self-contained in your equipment.

When working out how to run a section

• Line of sight
  • Once you lose visibility of any paddler in the group, you lose control of them. Ideally you should, therefore be able to see all paddlers in the group at all times. This may not be possible at all times. In the very worst case a 'chain of sight lines' should exist along the group, everyone keeping the paddlers immediately in front and behind in sight. This allows signals to be passed, and all paddlers are constantly being watched in case they get into trouble.
  • You should inspect any section before paddling it. This may be done from the bank (slow and tedious), from the boat whilst running the river or from an eddy above a drop. You will need to put yourself in a position where you can see what you need to. This position may not be the ideal place for the entire group (particularly if it happens to be the last micro eddy above the grade 6 section).
  • If you cannot keep track of the whole group when running a drop, you should at least be able to see potential trouble spots. For example, you won't need to see all the paddlers in the eddy above the drop, but you'll need to know instantly if they hit the nasty pinning rock.
• Position of maximum usefulness
  • The leader should try to be in the most useful position at all times and this sometimes needs thinking about.
  • Sometimes, this will be dictated by the need for communication. When running the group down together, lead from the front in order to control the group effectively. On some drops there may be only one place you can be whilst still retaining your line of sight to another person.
  • If you have a choice of positions on a drop that have a good line of sight, you need to think more carefully about where you are most useful. In general, you should be near to potential trouble spots. That could mean the eddy behind the pinning spot, or possibly at the bottom if the worst thing that could occur is a swim into the next section. In some cases you might need to be on the bank, with some rescue gear. This links in with the idea of anticipating problems before they occur.

Some people like to remember all this with the pneumonic 'CLAP'.

So, how do you apply all this to a real situation? Most of the time on a river, the leader will control the group by one of three different leadership 'styles':

• All come down. The leader is at the front of the group, picking the line and the group follows him. A 'tail-end-charlie' watches the group from the rear. The leader should remember to keep looking over his shoulder at the group. This works well on easy sections of constant difficulty. If something goes wrong, a 'rescue on the run' will be required. The system breaks down, of course, when everyone swims in the same section. If this is a possibility, use:
• One at a time. The leader runs the drop then directs the paddlers to come down one at a time. Clearly a set of signals is required here. Those not running the drop will be sitting in an eddy, so only one paddler can be in trouble at any one time. The beauty of the system is that you can successfully cope with everyone swimming as you only have to pull one out of the water at a time. Unfortunately it's slow. If, having run the drop, you feel that it's well within the group's capabilities, signal everyone down at once to save time. It may be worth giving some thought to the order in which people come down – you'll probably want the good paddlers at the bottom (or maybe halfway down?) as they are more use there in a rescue situation. This may be that you want your tail end paddler to run the drop immediately after you, as he's probably the most competent in the group.
• Eddy hopping. The leader eddies out regularly. Before moving he nods to the paddler behind, who then moves to the eddy that the leader is vacating. Either have the entire group moving into the next vacant eddy or (better?) have people working in pairs, one leading, the next moving into their last eddy. This system offers a compromise between the two other systems. It is almost as fast as having everyone coming down together, but in the event of a problem the group can stop quickly. Crucially, you can be sure that there is only one paddler on a given trouble spot at a time, and the paddlers above are either safely eddied out, or will be soon.

Which style to use depends on the group and the type of water being paddled. A good leader switches between styles as required. Briefing the group and having a good set of signals will help you to move fluidly from one style to another. Practise these techniques on easy rapids and drops with the group before you get to the hard section. You may find that eddy hopping on easier water gives you a good way to gauge the group's ability early in the trip, whilst familiarising them with this leadership style.

More competent groups will also work with similar river running 'styles'. The transitions will be very fluid and may not even need communicating. Formal signals etc. may only be required on large drops. Eddy hopping has the potential to acquire a range of variations: whoever is in front becomes the leader, and this may change regularly. The frequency of eddying out may vary considerably, depending on what the leader can see ahead.

That's the theory. How do we use this in practise? I've taken a few photos of rapids that I have run, constructed a diagram and suggested a way in which a leader might tackle problems. I've presented them in a 'problem, then solution' format, so that you can come up with your own ideas before I unveil mine. My answers aren't necessarily the right ones and your ideas might be better – it's more important that the process of coming to the answers is correct and robust. Current examples are from the Tryweryn, the Dart and the Ubaye.

1. River Tryweryn – Ski Jump

The Tryweryn is well known to many British paddlers. Many know it's drops intimately. However, leading on some sections requires a little thought. The Ski Jump rapid is essentially a long ramp, with a small stopper half way down and a more meaty stopper at the bottom. There are eddies to either side of the main flow at the top. There is a large eddy on river right at the bottom, and a much smaller eddy on river left. The bottom stopper can be avoided by going river right, or, with some skill, by going hard river left. The picture above is taken from eddy D in the diagram, looking at a paddler playing in the large stopper. The top of the backwash of the smaller stopper can just be seen near the top of the ramp. Eddy C can be seen in the lower picture, which is a view looking along the large stopper from eddy D. High banks restrict visibility upstream, but paddlers in the bottom of eddy B can be seen. We will assume the group being led are on their first visit to the Tryweryn, but are competent grade 3 paddlers.

The ability of the paddlers and the combination of an off putting small stopper followed by a boat stopping stopper suggest it's probably best to bring the group down one at a time. The position of maximum usefulness is at the bottom of the drop, as this allows for rescues in the slacker water and from the larger stopper. You can't expect to help anyone higher up. You might consider putting someone with a throwline at the top of eddy C. So, leave the group at the top, run the drop, then bring them down using the appropriate hand signals. The problem here is mainly one of line of sight. The view from eddy C is very limited, and you can only see the bottom of eddy B from eddy D. So, you'll need to instruct the group to wait at the lower end of eddy B, and signal from eddy D. However, you don't want the entire group to join you in eddy D – there isn't space and you want them to go right to avoid a munching in the stopper. So, using hand signals, direct the group to make for eddy C, whilst you sit in eddy D.

2. Ubaye at la Fresquière

The two pictures show views upstream and downstream of the Ubaye, taken from the bridge at la Fresquière. The section being paddled, down to le Martinet, is given grade 5 in the guidebook, due to the danger of pinning, however, the river feels more like a class 4+ paddle. The group are competent grade 4/4+ boaters. On a river such as this one each paddler must be able to look after themselves. So, how should the group negotiate this first section of the river?

The water should be within the capabilities of the group, particularly if they are planning to negotiate the harder rapids downstream. So, the options are to run the group down together or to use the eddy hopping techniques. There are just about enough rocks and eddies to make the latter viable, but do you need to bother, when the visibility downstream is so good? With a group that you know well, running down together will be the best option. However, if there is any doubt about the group, try eddy hopping. This will provide a good warm up, and let you see what break outs the group is capable of making. This will become critical later on, as a river of this grade may well have awkward 'must make' break outs above horizon lines. On a river of this level, you must be prepared to stop the group and ask some members to walk back up to the bridge if, after this first section, it is clear they are not up to the required standard.

3. Upper Dart – Pandora's Box

The Upper Dart is one of the best class 4 runs in the UK. The crux rapid is called 'Pandora's box' or 'Surprise, Surprise'. The river above is normally negotiated by some form of eddy hopping. Shortly before the drop, the river splits around an island (main flow river right) then disappears around a corner, and most leaders would get out to inspect, probably getting the group to do the same. The lead in to the drop is at a similar standard to the rest of the river, but not exactly easy. The lead in comes into the left of the photo (from river right). Below the section shown in the photo, the channel turns left then right into slack water (large eddy river left, behind some boulders). The diagram attempts to show a bird's eye view of the rapid, take a minute to try to relate it to the photo (photo is taken form the rocks above the large eddy). The major hazard on the rapid is a rock, labelled on the diagram and visible just below the water to the right (river left) of the line. This has a worrying propensity to pin paddlers.

The first thing to think about is who should run the rapid. There may be group members who you are sure will show a magnetic attraction to the pinning rock. Tell them, as positively and constructively as possible that you think they'd be better off portaging. You may need to discuss the rapid in more depth with the other group members so that they can decide for themselves. Assuming some people want to run the drop, how should this be organised? Again, there is a line of sight problem, as may be seen in the photo. However, you can see better from the bank, and you're out of your boat anyway. Indeed, once standing up most of the rapid can be view from most locations. Where, then, is the position of maximum usefulness? Clearly, you'd like to be in a good position to get to any paddlers pinned on that nasty rock. Being at the bottom is less useful, as the group should be able to self rescue in the slack water below. The best place to be is probably somewhere between the island and the pinning rock, with a good view upstream. Sitting on the rocks to the right of the photo might be good. You'll need to either break out in the micro eddy, or break out higher up and walk down the island to get there. Send your best group member down first – if he has problems there may be little point in anyone else trying. You might decide that some assistance would be useful in a rescue, so get someone to join you near the pinning rock (don't rely on them breaking out into the micro eddy – walk down from higher up). The whole leadership process is simplified in lower water, when there is more space to move around above the pinning rock and the pinning hazard becomes worse and more obvious.

On to leadership signals.