Becca Lawton at the oars in the Grand Canyon.
I was 20 when I learned to guide. It was on my 21st birthday, in fact, when I was approved to run commercial whitewater rafting trips in California. So perhaps I could be forgiven for being surprised that the best river guides were small women. Being surrounded by larger and more muscled men than I, I really didn’t expect it. But it was true, for an essential reason that I never forgot.
But before I get to that reason I need to explain some things about running rivers. Running rivers is a lot about understanding the flow and dynamics of water running downhill. Most of these dynamics are the same whether you are talking about a tiny stream or the Colorado. Observing and understanding the flow of water downhill is the first thing you learn about guiding, and it forever changes how you see flowing water. After first learning to “read” (or understand the flow of) water, I couldn’t sit by the smallest stream without imagining a tiny boat navigating the tiny rapids. It was more like a disease than a benefit, frankly, although you would not have found me complaining about it.
The thing is this. You can either be really good at reading (and working with) flowing water, or you can rely on brute force to get you out of scrapes your lack of finesse gets you into. It’s your choice. If you are a burly man you might not care to pay that much attention to what the water is telling you, until, that is, it is all too apparent. If you’re someone with less bulk to use handling the oars you have no choice. You must learn how to use the flow of water to your benefit so you don’t have to fight it to recover.
A prime example of the less brawny but skilled guide is my friend Becca Lawton (pictured). Becca guided for years on the Grand Canyon, including the flood of 1983 which created rapids of epic proportions. I’d ride in her boat through anything.
This isn’t so different from your typical work situation. We are frequently put into situations where there is the finesse way and the brute force way. And I’m here to tell you, there isn’t even a contest. If you can finesse it, you need to do it.
About Becca: After guiding for many years she has published several books that I can highly recommend. The first of hers that I read is Reading Water: Lessons from the River, which remains one of the best books I’ve ever read by a river guide. Recently released and queued up on my iPad is the fiction work Junction, Utah. And soon to be released is Sacrament: Homage to a River, about the largest river in California, the Sacramento.
About Roy Tennant