, 3 min, 463 words
Tags: alaska kayak-adventures
Today I led my first solo full-day trip to Aialik Bay! It was a blast, and I'm fairly sure all my guests had a good time out there. It was my first experience with mixing groups in boats, and I think it worked out quite well. So I wanted to share a little about the reasoning behind my decision and how it worked out in the end.
To set the scene, my group today consisted of two fairly strong, experienced kayakers, plus two relatively inexperienced, less-outdoorsy people. Let's call those pairs A and B, respectively. Normally, we try to keep everyone in boats with people they came with. That would mean an A boat and a B boat. However, I was concerned that in that case, the B boat would be slower than the rest of the group. That would mean we wouldn't get as close to the glacier, which could cause frustration.
That leads me to the possible solution: I hoped that we could set up two A-B boats, with one experienced kayaker in the back of each double. It would balance out boat speed, and hopefully allow us to paddle farther. All I had to do was get everybody on board with the plan.
To do that, I talked first with group A, and then with group B. For both pairs, I pitched it as a way to better accomplish our goal of getting close to the glacier. Plus, it's generally easier to talk to someone in the boat next to you than straight behind you. To my surprise, both pairs were immediately open to the idea of mixing groups. We went ahead with it, and people basically picked their boat partner randomly. Then, we were off!
With fabulous weather and favorable ice conditions, we had a great paddle and got pretty close to Aialik Glacier. Everyone seemed to get along well, and spirits were fairly high in spite of a slight headwind on the way back. Where I really noticed group dynamics kicking in, though, was when we landed. At that point, my group wasn't two pairs of two. It really was a group of four. People skipped stones together, threw rocks and floating ice, got a group photo...a returning guide not familiar with my group actually thought it was all people who'd signed up for the trip together! It was really touching to see how throwing these four together created a bond beyond just letting them paddle in their own boats.
My main takeaway from this experience were that mixing groups doesn't have to be scary. If it's pitched right and you can get everyone on board, it's actually a really powerful tool to enhance group dynamics and create a better experience for everyone.