Chandos Lodge
Eye
Suffolk
IP23 7AQ
Tel 01379-679043
email:
email: brathay at Stable-Software dot co dot uk
home page: http://PeterSeaman.go.to Some
years ago IBM sent me on a one-week course entitled “Development through Action”
at Brathay Hall, near Ambleside in the Lake District. I benefited immensely from this course. It was not directly concerned with work, but
with personal relationships and life in general. On return from Brathay I feel
greatly refreshed - my family have noticed this and they tell me the change is
for the better. Whether or not the
effect will last remains to be seen!
However, if I had paid for the course out of my own pocket I would have
considered it money well spent. There
were 32 IBMers on the course: we were divided into four groups of 8. Each group was guided by a Brathay “tutor”
and an IBM assistant. No information on
the participants is fed back to IBM from either of these people. Each of us decided for ourselves what we
learned from the course and what we wanted to apply in our everyday lives. Each team
carried out an enormous variety of projects.
Many of these were done when members of the team were confused, tired,
annoyed, upset or uncomfortable.
Usually we felt under some sort of time pressure, and this also created
a condition to stimulate learning. As most
of the activities were out of doors, the fact that I did the course in late
November was of some relevance. I would
strongly urge anyone else considering the course to also go in the wintertime
because the darkness and discomforts tended to accentuate the things one
learned. Much of
the time I was doing something I had never done before. Even after a short project we always had a
review and discussion. I found it remarkable how much I could learn from a
discussion following a project that might last little more than an hour. The
general scheme was to go through a new experience, discuss and review what
happened, then try to apply the lessons to other experiences, i.e. do something,
reflect, transfer, apply and be aware that all this is going on. We were
encouraged to be open and frank and to listen to what other people said even
when they were wrong. Often a given
event was seen in a different way by different people. There was
no pressure or coercion; each person took part and contributed or opted out as
he or she wished. Of a
great many projects, I have picked three that were of some significance to
me. One was short, one medium and one
long. In each case I give my personal
view of what happened and also try to list some lessons I learned. At the end of this report I hope to add the
perception of other people who were present if and when I receive them. The
narrative is deliberately in the first person as this is the way our Brathay
tutor ex-actor Tony Rumgay encouraged us to review each experience. I was extremely impressed by the approach
taken by Tony Rumgay and wrote to him afterwards a letter of thanks. I found all the review sessions exceedingly
interesting and he made me think about things in a way I had never thought
about things before. We
collected our “rations” for dinner, breakfast and lunch and packed our
rucksacks with all necessary equipment as listed by Tony. My rucksack was heavy and overflowing, as
were most others. We left
Brathay in a minibus in the dark at about 7pm, uncertain as to where we would
be going and how far we would be walking that night, though both Tony and Colin
were with us. The driver dropped us
near a pub and we then made for the hut where we were to spend the night. The exact location and distance of the hut
were unknown as Tony led the way up the road.
As it turned out the distance was not great, and when we arrived we were
amazed to discover that the “hut” was in fact a house. There was even
electricity and bottled gas laid on.
There were no carpets or anything like that and very rough beds but
nevertheless, compared with our expectations this place was a palace. We cooked
and ate a meal from the food we had brought, and washed up. Tony then
instructed us in basic map reading skills, use of a compass and gave advice on
estimating time, direction and distance - 4 km per hour plus one hour for each
1000 feet rise, plus 10% for each 1000 feet decline. Apart from this basic information from Tony the organisation of
the walk was almost entirely in our hands, whether we went one mile or twenty
miles, whether we climbed a mountain or stayed level. We discovered later that
one of the other teams did not like the conditions the following day and
decided to pass the time in a pub! After
dinner we discussed and planned our forthcoming walk. I took little part in
this discussion, but a route was soon proposed which involved following a track
to the summit of Wetherlam, 2502 feet.
(There are 47 higher peaks in the Lake District, the highest being
Scafell Pikes, 3204 feet) Although
Lesley was Manager of the Day Rosemary wanted a leader to be appointed and
became concerned that no-one else seemed to consider this necessary. She told us she had been on a hill walking
course, modestly indicated she had some basic knowledge that perhaps the rest
of us did not, and volunteered herself as leader. At that time I could see little need for a leader as the track
was clearly marked on the map and only a few turnings were involved. I wondered why Rosemary was so keen to take
over and felt that she was being over-cautious. Altough I was willing to go along with it, at the time I had a
slight preference for a more demanding expedition. We
discussed the pace at which we would go.
Bran (the oldest) said he could go on all day at a good steady pace and
did not want to doodle about. Neither
did Rich, neither did I so on this point we seemed to be in agreement. The route
was checked with Tony for prudence - he confirmed it was OK except we might
have to take a short cut at one point because of the need to cross a
stream. Eventually we agreed on a
shorter route and allowed an hour for unplanned contingency. The intent was to arrive at Conisiton 21:35
around 3pm. The objective did not seem
to me too difficult, but how mistaken I was later proved to be. After
dinner we all walked down to the pub and had a fairly jovial time. I talked to
Andy about IMS CICS and other IBM matters.
Arriving back at the hut around 11 pm, I was the first to go to bed. As
planned we had breakfast and set off at 9 am. We agreed to take it in turns to
navigate, two at a time for one- hour periods.
After about 10 minutes of walking at a slowish pace Brian [puffing] said
we ought to slow down as we would reach our destination far too quickly at that
rate! There were a number of stops for people to re-fit their boots etc and a
slight impatience began to result. We reached a couple of bends and Y-junctions
shown on the map but at every turn Rosemary (the leader and initial navigator)
seemed slow at making up her mind where we were. This was no doubt because she wanted to be absolutely sure. I and others began to get a little impatient
in this early stage of the walk as the way ahead seemed fairly obvious. The track
gradually became less clear and then suddenly we were at a disused mine by a
stream. There was now some concern:
this was not where we should have been and it was soon apparent we had missed a
turning somewhere. Tony
remained with us and took no part in helping to navigate, though he knew
exactly where we had gone wrong. We
argued for about half an hour as to what to do next but there was no consensus at
all. Rosemary continued her tendency to procrastinate and we were getting
nowhere fast in fact we were going nowhere at all and arguing in circles. It was raining and had become misty; I was
eager to re-trace our steps to find the missing turn and eventually the team
set off to do this. I had a brief chat
with Tony who told me where the track was that we had missed - it was by a
wall. The rest of the team discovered
this independently so at least problem number one was now solved. But what
now? The map manifestly showed a path
leading up the hillside but none was visible however hard we searched. At last we took a bearing of the track on
the map and eventually all agreed we needed to head in the direction 220 degrees
magnetic up the hill. It was now
drizzling continuously and morale was sagging.
We were not exactly lost but the route was not at all obvious. As we strained up the mountain circumstances
did not improve, and we had frequent stops trying to decide the way and to wait
for Brian, who as unable to keep up with the rest of us. Navigators at this time were Rich and Geoff,
but Geoff had given up totally and Rich was getting increasingly frustrated and
angry at the rest of the team taking no notice of him. I was quite willing to follow Rich, and
(unlike several others) did not want to form an independent opinion as to
whether he was right or wrong. Another
long stop, with the team now split into several small groups and no unanimity
as to the position of the path or what to head for. Long altercations and no progress. Rosemary was still leader but unwilling to accept without much
long-winded discussion the inclinations of the navigator. It was getting near my own turn to navigate,
but the previously agreed strategy of navigators taking turns was beginning to
fall down. I was
getting really fed up and made a plan in my mind to get things going. I decided that the only way things would
work would be to have a single navigator that we all agreed to follow. As it was now the turn of Andy and myself to
navigate I made my proposal to him.
This was to announce that we would navigate only on condition that they
would follow us, even if they thought us wrong. I made it quite clear to Andy that I would not attempt to
navigate if this mode was not accepted.
I checked with the manager of the day (Lesley) if this proposition was
worth putting up and she agreed. Andy agreed also, but I did not speak to
Rosemary even though she was leader of the walk. I stood
on a rack and shouted to everyone around to come to a meeting and announced my
proposal. Andy and I would do our best
to decide where to go and they had to follow.
We were not prepared to argue any more about it. They had to agree to follow us even if they
considered we were going wrong. As our
period of navigation was an hour, the worst that could happen would be that we
would be an hour off course in the wrong direction. I was quite determined not to attempt navigation except on this
basis and it was accepted peacefully without too much ado, even by Rosemary. At my
suggestion Andy and I then walked away from the rest of the group with our
maps, and while out of earshot made our decision and set off. The rest followed. Morale improved significantly and I felt a sense of achievement. A little
later Rosemary told me that Andy and I were creating confidence in ourselves as
we were looking around and using our compasses. But Rosemary insisted on being
kept in the picture at every move; to my slight disappointment Andy was more
willing to go along with her than I was.
(In retrospect I see Andy as being reasonable: after all Rosemary was
still leader of the walk). I simply
wanted to do our job without interference but I was determined not to fall out
with Andy and did not make a fuss.
Although at the time I found Rosemary’s attitude annoying I did not
communicate this feeling to her. The rain
and the fog got worse and picking the way became even more difficult. I was not confident and began to be
persuaded by confident sounding noises from people like Brian. Tony was asked for advice. This was to carry on until the fog cleared
enough in order that we could take a bearing of the disused mine that we knew
and could see on the map. But the fog
did not clear enough for this. We
crawled under a large sheet for lunch and this was quite jolly, though one had
to be careful to avoid the seep droppings.
The rain and the fog continued and navigation rights passed to Sarah and
Brian. We found the occasional way
marker but the path continued to be very difficult. We laboured on. Tony
noted that the route up the mountain we were about to take involved slippery
rocks and led us away in order to reduce the risk of an accident. This, he said later, was purely a selfish
decision - he simply did not want to be bothered with having to deal with a
broken ankle or whatever. The Tony
detour was only a few minutes. After
that we were on our own again and climbed and climbed and climbed until we
reached what seemed the summit. It became
very windy and cold and the rain and fog continued. Every time you squeezed a gloved hand masses of water poured
out. Some people were getting trouble
with blisters. Colin kindly took enough
photographs for us to have one each. At the top
of the mountain we were about an hour behind schedule but less than half way to
our destination. The path down was again not clear and no surrounding peaks
were visible through the fog. Rosemary
used a technique she knew for navigating in bad visibility. This was to send Sarah ahead in the required
direction until almost out of sight. We
then walked to Sarah and repeated the process.
After two or three attempts we got fed up with this tedious approach and
gave it up. We went
on and on, a bit lost and several people having difficulty descending the steep
wet slippery slope. Rosemary said it as
a good idea to lean forward, and to tread sideways. A few times we stopped for long discussion/argument about where
we were but people were feeling more and more tired and resigned and less and
less inclined to argue. I for one soon lost our supposed place on the map and
stopped attempting to use it. I was
relieved my period of navigation was now over! After
what seemed a very long time and a fair amount of uncertainty and assistance
from Tony we arrived at Coniston about 4pm and telephoned Brathay for the
mini-bus to collect us. Someone treated
us to mars bars and we stood there eating them in the pouring rain. |For a brief period I sheltered in the
telephone box and made a quick call to my wife - the opportunities for any sort
of these none-Brathay activities during the week were rather limited. See flip
charts for people’s reactions to this experience. 1. Authoritarian leadership can improve morale considerably. Several people’s charts shown at the review
revealed a significant uplift when it was decided to accept the firm approach I
would take. 2. If people are taking actions with which I am not comfortable I
should say it. It is an insult to a
person to avoid telling them my feelings.
If I think I am sparing someone’s feelings by not telling the person
what I really think I am fooling myself; it is my own feelings of unease I am
more concerned about. 3. Some unnecessary suspicions could have been avoided if I had told
Rosemary how here words and actions were coming over to me. Other people might have done this also. During the post-project review Tony
indicated that he suspected there were sentiments present in the group that may
or may not remain buried. I think what
we really thought of Rosemary was not brought out properly: in its place Colin
(supported by Brian) said we had achieved what we had set out to do and that
Rosemary should be pleased and not disappointed. That evening and the following morning Rosemary was very upset. 4. What seems an obvious route on a map may be extremely difficult to
pick out when you are there on the ground, especially if the weather is not
good or if one is tired or fed up. [You
see what you want to see] 5. I learnt how to take a compass bearing from a map. (Tony showed us all this in the hut but
later in the week I discovered that several people had not understood and could
still not do it) 6. I learned a tiny bit about recognising where you are by studying
the hills and valleys and the contours on a map 7. I found I had sufficient stamina for activities such as this, more
than some people present. I did not
however have more stamina than the women.
This came as a surprise to some. I would love
to do a similar walk again and hope that my wife will buy me a walking compass
for Xmas. Brathay whalers are large heavy
rowing boats seating 5-10 people. There
are 4 oars (two long and two short) each of which can be operated by one or two
persons. There is a rudder at the stern
operated by the only person who faces forwards. They are heavy boats and quite long – with 8 rowers sitting
single file communication from one end of the boat to the other can only be
achieved by shouting over the heads of the
intervening crew. Some teams were introduced to the
Brathay Whalers in the dark on the evening of the day we arrived on the course,
but we did not experience the boat until the Wednesday morning. I had volunteered to be leader as far as
usage of the boat was concerned, and did not offer to lead other projects. On Wednesday about 10:30 am Tony
showed me the boat and how to organise things before the others arrived. This involved a number of tasks, such as There was a lot of information to
absorb in a short time and Tony said he would not be coming with us. Then I was on my own to take out the
team for a row with a requirement to return within 20 minutes, as the boat was
then required by the Halifax Textiles Training Council. The 20 minutes included the time necessary
for me alone to give all necessary explanations and to get the team organised
in what for most of us (including myself) was a totally unfamiliar
activity. I find it very difficult to
work things out in a group environment especially when under severe time pressure
as we were now. I was somewhat nervous and though I
had played around in dinghies for some years I had not rowed and everybody was
expecting me to be the expert. Deciding where to sit was not
obvious and a bit of a problem. I did
not instruct clearly and let things drift.
Eventually we were in place. I
cannot remember my own position or whether I initially had a blade but
eventually we settled down a bit and I as shouting in! in! in! to try to
get the team in unison. I soon began to
realise there were all sorts of things I should have though about in advance
and sorted out. People were sitting on
one side of the boat operating blades in the water on the opposite side. I was facing backwards trying to tell the
person facing me how to steer. Port and
Starboard became hopelessly confused in my mind and I had to think very
carefully how to instruct people to turn.
I took care and don’t think I got it wrong, though some instructions
were probably less clear than they could have been. Then Brian (who had previously
indicated that he loved rowing and had considerable experience of it) began to
take over. He became impatient at how
I/we were operating and he told everyone to take SHORTER strokes, which went
against what I was trying to do. This
annoyed me intensely so I opted out - OK, your turn Brian I said, you be
skipper and lead the boat. We changed
places. To turn round, Brian got things
wrong and had the wrong side of the boar rowing furiously against the direction
of the rudder. Then we decided to go up
to a buoy and stop with the buoy by the bows.
This we failed to do, Brian had not taken sufficient account of the
momentum of the boat and we short right past it far too fast. The 20 minutes was soon used up! 1.
I should
have admitted that I had just as much to learn from the experience as everyone
else, and that the boat should follow the skipper even when they think he is
wrong. 2.
I should
have stamped on Brian immediately he started to take over and insisted that I was
the skipper until such time as it was handed over to someone else. Even if Brian was the expert I needed to
make my own mistakes so that we could ll learn from them. 3.
Before
going out I should have made sure everyone understood port and starboard and who
rowed on a starboard turn and who rowed on a port turn. The method by which the steering
instructions were to be communicated should have been laid down in clear terms. 4.
Before
going out I should have sorted out the seating arrangements and decided whether
I was going to row, steer, shout instructions or all three, I should have announced some change-over
arrangements. Or better, I could have
delegated seating arrangements. The final
project, known as the “climax” project was unusual in several respects. First, it
was very long and split into three stages.
The first stage started at 3 am on Wednesday afternoon, and the third
stage finished around 11 am on Thursday morning - a total of 20 hours,
including all night. Second,
it involved many different skills both practical and mental. It was a splendid opportunity to put into
practice what we had learnt the rest of the week. Third,
the whole project was done without the tutor’s help or even his presence! We were entirely on our own and had no
expert with us if we got lost or found ourselves in a dangerous situation. This
was November in the Lake District and the weather was wet and cold. This time
Geoff was Manager of the Day and the de-facto Project leader of Stage 1. The brief was obtained by Geoff at the
manager-of-the-day meeting when no-one else from our group was present, and he
returned with it to the library at about 2:30 pm. With only one copy available and some fairly complicated
instructions I found it very difficult to obtain undisturbed time to understand
the requirements. I for one was keen to
follow the rules and to beat the other 3 teams who were separately doing the
same exercise. The first
activity was to collect the “Stage 1 brief”.
Two of the three parts were available by boat trips, but our team only
had about 20 minutes experience of boat work, and I was doubtful that our
navigation was adequate for the task.
However, Sarah was confident she could navigate successfully by
following the shore line, and I reluctantly conceded, even though it seemed
likely that - at least for the final part of the time - we would be on lake
Windermere in the dark, not to mention the wind and the rain. The goal
was to complete stage 1 by 7pm, but because of the group confusion and extended
discussions, I formed the impression that we only had to obtain the three parts
of the Stage 1 brief by 7pm, as opposed to the problem of solving the Stage 1
clues specified in the brief. (The full
set of clues turned out to be extensive). An
important rule was: “The only transport available to you is by foot, whaler or
public transport”; this raised interesting optimisation problems, but as usual
there seemed insufficient time for the group to discuss all the possibilities
and reach much agreement. There was
a tremendous rush in the locker area as we had not already prepared our
rucksacks as had some of the other teams.
I stuffed as many cans of food, cooking utensils and clothing into my
bag as it would possibly hold. It was rather
heavy and difficult to fill in a neat or logical manner. Finally, we set off in the boat at about
4pm, rucksacks with us, with an estimated time of 1.5 hours before return. The crew were: Geoff and
Rosemary went on foot searching for clue number 1. Our task was to collect clue number 3 from the east side of lake
Windermere and clue number 2 from the west side. Then we were to return to base with these 2 clues, meet up with
Geoff and Rosemary then discover what stage 1 really involved. We rowed
off, me shouting “pull! pull! pull!” or “in! in! in!” as loud as I could so that all members of the crew could hear. Sarah
was at the stern of the boar telling us where to go. It went reasonably well, with Sarah appearing to know where she
was without too much difficulty. Later
Andy swapped with Lesley so that he could warm up and Lesley could rest. We
reached Clue 3 on the east side an reasonable time the set off to the west side
for Clue 2. Sarah was a splendid navigator and we found what appeared to be the
correct bay with little difficulty. The clue referred to a “burnt tree by a
waterman’s garage” which we interpreted as an ash tree by a boathouse. Although it was now almost dark we soon
spotted the boathouse, and sure enough close by it there was a tree. But was it
an ash tree? I myself did not know, but
Sarah assured everybody that it was and this was confirmed by our gardener
Brian. Yes it must be an ash tree because we were looking
for such a tree by a boathouse, and here was a tree by a boathouse. Sarah was
optimistic and confident but I was more doubtful. I beached the boat and a couple of the crew hopped ashore to
collect the plastic container on the West side if the “ash” tree. But we searched and searched and could not
find it. A signpost nearby confirmed we
were in the correct bay but, and though most of us had a very thorough hunt
everywhere within 300 meters, the box was nowhere to be found. Eventually, after about 45 minutes we
noticed another boathouse just round the other side of the bay so we returned
to the whaler and set off for it. It
was now dark and we ran aground into some thick weed, but after a struggle we
arrived at the second boathouse. Sarah
hopped ashore and within less than 30 seconds had found the clue. We had
made no arrangement to telephone base with information in the clue so we set
off for return to Brathay. This time
Sarah’s navigation was not perfect as we went straight past the Brathay inlet
and had to turn round and re-trace our steps, losing perhaps a further 15
minutes. Out mission was accomplished
though somewhat late; morale at this point was not too bad. Someone (I
think it was Bill) from the other group (called “Windermere”) was awaiting us
at the Brathay boathouse. I did not
understand what Bill was doing there, but he, Sarah and I went off to the
village to meet our leader Geoff to decide what to do next. Lesley, Brian, Andy and Rich stayed with the
boat. There was
considerable activity by the telephone box in the village, most of which
centered around Steve (Windermere team), Bob (the magician) and our leader
Geoff. Geoff told us that the stage 1
task was extremely complicated and that it was hopeless for a single team to
achieve it alone. He, as leader of our team (“Coniston”), had therefore decided
(whilst most of his team were on the water) to collude with Windermere and form
a joint effort with the two teams. As I
desperately wanted our team to win I was not therefore at all happy with this
but it was now too late to argue and I felt little choice but to go along with
the joint Coniston-Windermere effort.
People were buzzing around the telephone box like flies, maps laid on
the ground being intently studied with the aid of torches. It was very fortunate indeed that there
was no rain at this time. The stage 1
brief was now in our possession but, with only one copy in the hands of the
leader, it was impractical for me to find out what was involved or to form an
independent judgement as to whether it was soluble by a single team or not. It turned
out that Steve had been appointed overall leader of the Coniston-Windermere
effort. He was humming and harring and
talking about sending off taxis here and there - they had decided taxis were
public transport and therefore allowed by the rules. I was not sure about this but it was too late now to object. Limited time was available and quick
decisions were needed. There were now
too many people involved to my liking, I had little say in the planning and
felt it was getting shambolic. I expressed willingness to go wherever
instructed by my crew, but it was some time before Steve made up his mind. This was to send the boat to three places
quite a long way away (about twice as far as we had done so far). I was willing to go, and we decided to take
another man with us from Windermere. On
arrival at the boat the rucksacks had been removed and carted off to a private
car. We set off a second time for the
East side of lake Windermere. The plan
was to visit two places on the east side and two on the west, one of which was
about 6 km south and nowhere near a telephone box. We arrived at the first
place, Brockhole National Park, a bit later than anticipated as people were now
beginning to get tired and perhaps bored.
Nevertheless, morale was still not too bad and Sarah had navigated excellently. We
counted the bollards and “No Mooring” signs as required by the clue but there
appeared to be no public landing stage.
This was needed because we had planned to send off a couple of joggers
to a hotel a mile North to telephone base with the information. So, with very long journey south still ahead
of us, we decided to make it even longer and row back north to the hotel. Things were no longer looking good with time ticking away and a
10 pm deadline. In fact, the task was
beginning to look impossible. At the
hotel, two people went ashore and soon reported EUREKA! Stage 1 was solved!! and we could now return
to meet up at a pub in Ambleside. We
did not now need go on that long journey South. This was just as well, because I was doubtful that we could have
made it. Time now was about 9pm. (I heard
later - but have not verified - that the clues we were sent to recover from
those remote points were overheard by our team when a member of another team
reported the clue on a nearby telephone!) A jolly
time was had in the pub with most members of Coniston and Windermere present.
There were one or two unsettling moments though. Windermere had used private cars to transport gear around and to
travel to the pub. Private cars were
disallowed by the rules and I was very unhappy about this and said I wanted no
Coniston team members or gear to use cars.
It seemed Coniston were probably OK but by now I had had 2 or maybe 3
pints of beer and my judgement was becoming even more impaired than usual. The stage
2 brief was to acquire suitable equipment and to spend the night at a campsite
at a place called Pull Wyke, about 1 km South of Brathay and approachable by
boat. In the pub many members of the
Coniston team were not present; I did not understand completely where they were
or what was going on but was told they would be arriving at the pub
“shortly”. How long should we wait for
them I wondered, what if they do not turn up?
Long after closing time we were turned out of the pub and started the
longish trek to the jetty without yet having met the rest of the team. We met them in a private car on the way and
stopped for yet another long discussion as to what to do. I guess
we arrived at the boat around 11:20 pm.
[We did not know this at the time but the tutors at Brathay were
becoming somewhat concerned that no-one had turned up with a points list to
collect camping equipment]. The task
was to cross Lake Windermere again to the West side to find the campsite at which
we were to stay the night. I was still skipper, Sarah navigator and the
Windermere boat agreed to follow us. It
was becoming foggy and visibility was not good; it was not clear to me that the
other side of the lake was visible and I decided it was necessary to use a
compass. It was
clearly agreed in our boat that I was skipper and Sarah was navigator, and that
Windermere would follow. (Later I was
to learn that my own role was not as clearly understood as I thought) I felt
responsible for safety and as we now had extra crew it was not clear there
would be enough life jackets. I
insisted that everyone must wear a lifejacket or I would not be skipper. Somehow, life jackets were found for everyone. Sarah decided to take position at the bows
in order to navigate more easily. I
remained with an oar at the stern next to Lesley who was steering. Thus skipper and navigator were at opposite
ends of the boat and in retrospect I think this is one reason why the later
conflist between us took place. Anyway,
we left the jetty and had to row slowly in order that Windermere could keep up
with us. I formed
the impression and made the assumption that Sarah was influenced somewhat by
alcohol and decided to check the course extremely carefully by compass. I did not communicate these decisions to the
rest of the boat. Brian started to give
instructions which I stamped on immediately (having learned a lesson in a
previous exercise) - “who is in charge of this boat?” I roared. This abrupt comment silenced Brian
completely and I had no further trouble from that quarter. Shortly
after leaving shore I shouted to Sarah at the other end of the boat (across the
6 intervening rowers) asking her if she could see the shore on the far side of
the lake. If the shore were visible I
intended to allow Sarah to navigate as she had done so successfully earlier in
the day. But the message that came back
to me (making allowance for Sarah’s natural optimism) was that she could not
see the far side of the Lake. It was
late, cold and foggy. Sarah
said she would go South down the East side of the lake until we met a known lit
hotel and then turn through 90 degrees and cross the lake in a dead Westerly
direction. This was fine with me but
there was no compass fixed in the boat and I was not confident anyone
(especially Sarah) could navigate with just a hand held compass. Sarah seemed to me rather casual in her use
of her compass and I decided to make absolutely sure at least that I knew where
West was. I was
aware that I had had some drink so I deliberately took things slowly and
carefully. I decided to change Lesley with Rosemary, as the latter was better
at compass usage. But it soon became
clear that Rosemary too needed much help with setting up the compass along the
line of the boat. I explained very
carefully to Rosemary what to do but she seemed to have little confidence in
me. I stopped
the boat a second time in order to be absolutely sure we had the compass placed
correctly. This took several minutes
and was perhaps another factor in people losing confidence in me. We started off again and I was both rowing
and watching the compass, with the intent of traveling due West which was no
firmly established in my mind. I am not
certain whether or not we traveled far enough down the East side of the lake or
whether the hotel at which we were to turn right actually came into view, but
there seemed to be an overwhelming desire on Sarah’s part to take a short cut
and turn right too early. I reluctantly
accepted this and simply assumed that WEST was nevertheless the direction in
which to head. To my surprise, Sarah
started directing the boat (steered by Rosemary) in a direction some 25 degrees
off course i.e. SOUTH of West. I did my
best to point out this error but it was becoming impossible for Rosemary to
serve two masters. The rest of the crew
wanted to follow Sarah and I lost control, though I did not give up pointing
out that were going in the wrong direction.
Rich said that Sarah was navigator and that I should shut up. Sarah insisted that she WAS going dues West,
I insisted that we were not!. Everyone
was undoubtedly on Sarah’s side, both at this point and indeed for the rest of
the night. After some 20 minutes we at last could
see the shore on the West side of the lake and Sarah headed for the jetty in
the bay named in out instructions. It
then slowly began to dawn on the crew that we were not where everyone hoped we
were and I myself was absolutely certain we were too far South, since we had
been traveling south of west not west. I then felt much better and was sure
that now Sarah had been proved wrong they would feel more inclined to listen to
me. But this assumption was rapidly
proved false, a typical conversation at this time being Someone in Windermere boat (slowly following us wherever we went): Where are
we Coniston? Sarah: We are at Pull Wyke, I am just finding
the jetty. Me: How do you know we are at Pull Wyke,
where is the evidence? Sarah: I am certain we are at Pull Wyke because
we travelled across the lake due West Me: (exasperated) We did not travel West, we travelled South of
West. I was carefully watching the
compass and do not believe you were. Sarah: I know we went west and we must be where I directed the boat to. Me: How do you know? Rest of
crew: (cold,
hungry and getting worried): Shut up, Peter. I was
becoming increasingly agitated and annoyed and was genuinely amazed that they
would not listen to me. Not only my
team but also Windermere were all clearly on Sarah’s side. It was 15 against one. But there
was a way out - clearly it would soon be accepted that we were not at
Pull Wyke and that Sarah’s credibility and unjustified optimism would
vanish. I worked out a plan in my mind,
and kept quite for a bit. I was
some time (perhaps 15 minutes) before it was generally accepted that we were
now lost and at that point I announced my proposal. This was based on getting to a known sport first, and then
tracing the shore from there. So I
proposed going north to the boat house at Brathay Hall, then tracing the shore
line south until we reached the campsite at Pull Wyke. This plan was not liked and rejected! I was really astonished that such an obvious
proposal was not accepted. So we
drifted around. Every now and again we
went near the shore and Sarah saw the jetty she wanted to see but she was
proved wrong time and time again. I
kept pressing for us to follow the shoreline in a northerly direction
especially the extra distance involved in going in to all the bays but no-one
would listen. That fact that Sarah was
proved wrong many times did not seem to affect anyone’s confidence in her
except mine. Even if I was a lunatic
they should have taken the action which to me was obvious; I became more and
more aggravated and frustrated that I could not control the boat. Windermere
were drifting around in a fairly undisciplined manner and every now and then we
had to wait for them. Once we ran
aground on a jetty and Windermere had to wait for us; then we lost contact with
Windermere and passed close to a small island.
We did not follow the shoreline into all the bays, but just drifted
around, sometimes rowing sometimes not, sometimes going to the shore, sometimes
taking short cuts. At this point
Windermere were out of sight to the South of us and their torches were failing.
We were still south of Brathay and clearly at one of two possible points as
there were only two islands shown on the m,ap in the vicinity. However, no-one seemed to want to use the
island as a known point to navigate from; it seemed to me that all rationality
had left this boat. The rest of the
crew insisted that we row south to collect Windermere (as usual, this was
against my wishes, I wanted to shout to Windermere to get them to come north to
us. In fact I would have been happy to
forget Windermere entirely) Morale at
this point was extremely low. People
were cold, their judgement impaired and they were all annoyed at having this
agitator (me) on board. We all desperately wanted to land ashore and get some
food and sleep. I now looked as if we
would be in this wretched boat all night.
Sarah proposed putting two people ashore to find a road to get help. This seemed crazy to me: there was no
suitable landing place, no road or path visible and there was danger of
stepping off the boat into deep mud and getting lost in bushes brambles and
swamps. I am glad the proposal was not
accepted but it got uncomfortably close to being acted upon. In
situations like this I always have a strong urge to opt out and pass the
responsibility on to someone else. But
there seemed no-one else in the boat with a modicum of competence in boat work
and I decided I was trapped and it would have been very irresponsible of me to
give up the post of skipper; even though my authority was being ignored. If anything had happened (such as a person
overboard) I would certainly have been the main person responsible. So I hung on to my post, ineffective though
I was. On
several occasions we were encouraged by flashing lights and tried to go towards
them, sometimes the lights disappeared, sometimes we were impaired by
Windermere, but always we got nowhere.
A voice from within the boat (probably from Rosemary) said “I think I am
suffering from hypothermia” Finally
we reached the island again and now Windermere were close behind. We saw
another flashing light and went towards it.
It was someone on the jetty by the boathouse at Brathay hall. Relief,
relief all round! At 2:30 am we tied up the boat, met up with the rest of out
two teams in the boathouse and discussed what to do now; the rules clearly
requited us to sleep on the campsite at Pull Wyke. I was so keyed up that, unusually, tiredness was not an issue for
me. I wanted to stick with the rules
and go to the campsite by any means - boat or foot - but no one else wanted to
do this. Brian
announced that he was absolutely certain that the whole thing was a big con,
and that there was no campsite in existence. I could
not understand why they wanted to camp (“discreetly”) in the grounds of Brathay
Hall as to my mind this would without doubt have disqualified us - if we were
not disqualified anyway because of the use made of private cars and taxis. I saw no point in doing anything other than
either going to the proper campsite come what may, or simply retiring to bed in
our bunks at Brathay. I announced that
I was going to my bunk and cleared off, fully expecting other people to take
the easy way out and follow later. Yet
again to my amazement they did not do this. I got
into be by 3am but could not sleep and kept writing down the things I found
incredible. These were: 1.
Because
Sarah had wanted to go west she was absolutely sure she had gone west. 2.
Because
everyone wanted to be at the campsite when we first hit the shore there
everyone was sure we were at the campsite! 3.
Because
no-one wanted the effort of rowing to Brathay (my proposal when it was clear
that we were lost) everyone was sure they did not need to row to
Brathay! 5.
Because
they wanted to use private cars they were sure they were allowed to use cars 6.
Most of all,
that they would not take the obvious action of tracing the shoreline in a
northerly direction, even if they thought me an idiot. Footnote
1: The following day I was quite shattered by something Bill (Windermere
skipper) told me. He said he had simply
not realised that the person in charge of the Coniston boat who was constantly
demanding to trace the shoreline was in fact the Coniston skipper (i.e.
me). He said the message to follow the
coastline came over loud and clear in his boat and if he had known it was
coming from the Coniston skipper they would have followed my advice with no
problem. This made my day, but perhaps
I am just believing what I want to believe, perhaps Bill only said that to make
me feel better... That
night, and most of the following day including the review meeting, I remained
truly amazed at what had happened and felt that I had done all the right things
and would do the same again in a similar situation. (This was in contract to earlier exercises where the mistakes
were fairly obvious at the time - when someone else was leader or afterwards -
when I was leader). I decided there is
more to leadership than working out a logical course of action and insisting on
it. I was told that I had got people’s
backs up and that I had no right to over-ride Sarah. They also said that my intentions did not come over in a clear
and consistent manner. I think
now I underestimated the strong desire of everyone to avoid unnecessary rowing
and to take short cuts. They did not
want to row along two sides of a triangle rather than the hypotenuse, they did
not want to travel unnecessary distances all round irrelevant bays, they did
not want to go to a known place (Brathay) to be able to navigate as it was not
on the direct course. Therefore
everyone felt it was not necessary to do these things. I decided
that tact and a persuasive personality were essential requirements and as I had
neither of these skills there was nothing I could have done. Sarah’s
perception related during the review was that I was continually a major factor
in her mind and that she could not sleep because of it. I was less of a factor in other peoples’
minds, just a nuisance. Sarah said that
at one point she decided to trace the shoreline. This annoyed me considerably, tracing the
shoreline is what I wanted all the time.
At no point did a clear readiness to do this by Sarah and the rest of
the crew come over to me. To me they
were just an obstinate illogical bunch of people who would not listen to common
sense. But
things I did wrong are much clearer to me now.
I now think that tact and an ability to persuade in that situation was
no more than simply ensuring that people did not misunderstand my intentions
and the reasons behind them. The following
are some of my conclusions and what I now think I ought to have done: 1.
I should
have limited my drinking to one pint. 2.
I should
have made clear before leaving that I was the skipper, especially to people in
the Windermere boat. If there was
dissension I should have refused to take on the job with its associated
responsibility. 3.
I had
become concerned that Sarah was influenced by drink, that it was dark and foggy
and that I was therefore unwilling to continue to trust her judgement without
question as we had done earlier in the day.
The situation was different now and required a different approach. I should have said all this. 4.
I should
have pointed out that if the far shore was not visible we would follow a
compass course. 5.
Following
a compass course necessitated careful laying of one of our walking compasses
along the line of the boat and that this would take some time. I should have made clear that I was not
willing to trust Sarah following a compass held in her had. 6.
I should
have said that I as skipper could overrule the navigator If I judged it
necessary. 7.
We should
have deliberately headed to a point South of Pull Wyke so that it would be
obvious which way to turn when we reached the west shoreline. Or alternatively, deliberately headed for a
point north e,g, Brathay Hall) and then turn left. This “heading off” technique had been explained to use by Tony
but we had all forgotten it. 8.
I should
have anticipated and explained that accurate navigation could not be guaranteed
and should not be expected. Having
settled the ground rules before leaving, I should have stuck to them
absolutely, by reminding people what had been agreed as and when necessary. Alternatively,
I also see another possible approach that may have worked. This would have been to leave the navigation
to Sarah absolutely and not bother with the compass myself at all. This approach would have been totally in
tune with the feelings of the rest of the crew and would have been consistent
with our successful travels earlier in the day. We would probably have still
gone wrong but it would have taken less time and hassle to sort it out. I was the only person in the boat who was
not willing to trust Sarah and could have considered this sufficient reason to
leave all the navigation to her. But on
other hand I was the skipper responsible for people’s safety and an unknown and
potentially hazardous situation... Introduction
The Mountain
Day
Sunday
Planning the
walk
Sunday Evening
- in the pub
Monday
The Summit
The Descent
Arrival at
Coniston
What I learned
Using Brathay
Whalers
This is what I
learnt
Climax Project
- Wednesday and Thursday
Optimism and
Skepticism
Collusion and
Confusion
Second Whaler
Journey
Stage 2 -
camping Out
Third Boat
journey
Trouble begins
to brew...
Around
midnight...
12:30 am
1:30 am
2:15 am
IN RETROSPECT
- WHAT I LEARNT