Book Review: Bounce, the myth of talent and the power of practice

Do you want to race as well as Ben Ainslie?

It sounds impossible, super human performance out of reach to us lesser mortals, but this book by Matthew Syed shows how it could be achieved.

Alas the starting point for the über athlete is childhood, so if those days are a dim memory you're going to be disappointed.

The key task is practice and lots and lots of it. The expert (for its not just about sport) typically has 10 years practice or maybe as much as 10,000 hours.

Its also got to be the right sort of practice, the sort that stretches you outside your comfort zone. As important is feedback, to learn from mistakes, and often these two come from being part of a small highly competitive group.

Motivation is also key, to keep going and it helps if practice is not a burden but a pleasure. As an example the author notes how a top skater could have fallen as many as 20,000 times, but every time she picked herself up and kept going.

One important lesson is to praise effort rather than natural skills. In an experiment by Carol Dweck in 1998 students were split into two groups and give a test. Afterwards one group was told "you must be really smart" and the other "you must have worked really hard" and then asked if they wanted to do an easy or difficult task.

The results were dramatic with the first group choosing to do the easy one, fearing to do badly and hence found out as not smart while the latter more likely to rise to the challenge and choose the harder. In addition when given another test those given the smart compliment scored 20% lower while the workers scored 30% higher.

Matthew Syed is clearly one to favour nurture over than nature, arguing that our minds are sufficiently plastic to learn almost anything.

That is great, as it means anyone could excel; but it is also sad, because so many don't.

Towards the end the book flags a bit and I did wonder whether information that didn't fit the story had been excluded (e.g. given two groups which both had practised equally wouldn't there even be the possibility of genetic factors influencing who wins?).

However its a great read, in particular for those that involved in training or motivating the young.

London Kayakathon 2012

There's so much going on in London its impossible to keep up.

Apparently back in 2010 someone had the great idea of having a kayaking marathon on the Thames on the same day as the London Marathon. This year was the third outing, but the first I've caught: no doubt the previous two either missed or pigeon holed as just yet another group out on the river.

It's called a "Kayakathon"  which to be honest sounds a little close to the "Jubilympics" of the wonderful "Twenty Twelve" docu-comedy just finished on the Beeb.

Anyhow congrats to all of those taking part and in particular well done for avoiding getting run down by Kingwood (above).

There is that little voice in my head saying that as the river is tidal the distance through the water isn't 26.2 miles but I've just told it to shut up its all about raising money for charity and I didn't see you heading out on the water!

"So its all good then!" (*)

(*) my favourite quote from Twenty Twelve which I'm rather enjoying using at random but vaguely appropriate moments

Buff's 50 Rules of Boating

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Ok, I've got a beer in my hand, its Friday evening, and its time for Buff to let you into a few of the secrets of my success. How was it that I got my own shown on Queensland Community TV? You've got to know THE RULES!!

And here they are:

1. Obey the rules, but only if you want to. They're more like the pirate's code, i.e. guidelines. I mean you don't want to end up like my ma, do this, do that, "be home by 9 sharp or I'll lock the door". Jeez, I mean I was 27!

2. Lead by example - and I do, living life the Buff way!!

3. Guide the uninitiated - "mine's a beer, cheers mate"

4. Don't say you're into water sports; for some reason people will smirk.

5. BIFF - Boating is fucking fantastic fun!!! I mean all this baloney about HTFU, jeez, what have they got to prove? Buff doesn't need to play that game.

6. Don't sail a Laser - they're too small for an adult and yet too big to get the right way up when they flip over (which they inevitably will)

7. Don't go kayaking - the cockpits are always too small to squeeze into, you have to wear a skirt and for some reason I always flip over upside down, stupid bloody things

8. Don't row - you face the wrong way, it makes you feel sick, it tips over if you sneeze and rowers barf on about pain as if they like it

9. Do become an internationally renown sailing journo / tv celebrity as then you don't have to do any of the above

10. Never go out in bad weather - jeez, didn't you read my post on navigation? Weather should be like this:

11. In particular never ever ever go frostbiting. The only place frost should be is on the outside of your beer glass

12. The correct number of drinks is n+1 where n is the number of drinks you've had so far

13. A real sailor drinks beer

14. You can drink beer at any time - before sailing, during sailing or after sailing

15. You can drink white wine only when you've got lady company

16. You should order bubbly when you win the lotto or your lady company is rich

17. Red wine is for steak and chips

18. Cocktails are wonderful, but never admit to that as they're a bit girly, though of course lots of flirting fun to be with had with their suggestive names

19. Speedos are essential Buff wear - see figure above, ain't that fab! After all what is better to look at, a micro-bikini or an all-in-one cover it all up?

20. Don't bother with suncream, boring stuff for wimps. Red is a great colour

21. Oh, and if you've gone all red then definitely wear white, its a great combination.

22. Shades, yup, you want to keep these on all the time. After a night on the tile its mighty bright out there, plus you can doze off when you want to

23. Only buy lots and lots of pairs as you'll leave them all over the place.

24. Its really cool to buy gear from, say, the America's Cup, as people will think you were on the team.

25. Buying team stuff together with dropping into the conversation you're a TV star with his own shown and soon you're be considered a legend!!

26. Hats are a pain as they blow off your head in anything over a force 2

27. But they're just the ticket if, like Buff, you're commentating on the race from the shore

28. In particular hats are a must-have for those, er, a bit, er, thinner on the top if you know what I mean

29. Tan lines are great - women really appreciate it if you to ask if you can see theirs

30. Knee pads are essential for boats with wooden decks

31. SHOUT A LOT when in a race: it doesn't matter what or when. Try yelling out "starboard" and "water" even if its not the right moment (and jeez, who knows when is) as it will distract other sailors.

32. The race committee is filled with idiots who are as blind as a bat and usually get it wrong. I mean I never touched that buoy!!

33. Stickers are fantastic way to identify which boat is yours: Lasers all look the same to me.

34. Sailing at night is a must. Remember that yachting includes motor boats and motor boats include cruise ships and its easy peasy. Just take the ferry to Spain.

35. What happens on the towpath (*), stays on the towpath. Yes Tanya, I mean you!!

 (*) or sail locker, Hooter's bar, stairwell of Holiday Inn etc etc etc

36. Most clubs are full of officious types who like to do all the work so you shouldn't volunteer for anything

37. Peeing off the side of a boat is the sign of a man

38. Peeing off the side of a boat in the middle of a tight fleet of boats is a bit gross, I'll admit that

39. Peeing off the side of a boat when alone on deck at night is not a good idea (believe me, I found out the hard way!!)

40. Mates come first. Unless they're douche bags.

41. Mates understand if you have to ditch them for a hot shiela

42. Its not the size of your audience that matters, its the number of hours of TV you broadcast

43. No, YouTube doesn't count

44. TV is so much better than Twitter, FaceFriend or blogging!!!

45. Any race can be made more exciting by imitating Michael Jackson or other top celebs on Channel 16!!

46. If that doesn't work you could use your VHF radio for an emergency karaoke session!

47. Don't let your ma join you when you go sailing. It just spoils things

48. Keep an eye out for that special someone - you don't know when she might appear!!

49. Remember, it always seems a good idea at the time.

50. How difficult can it be?

So there you go!! Buff's rules of boating. I might have a ponder for a bit over another stubbie and see if they can be polished up.

This is Buff Staysail, rule master, over and out!!

The 2012 Devizes to Westminster Race

Along with the University Boat Race, Easter weekend also saw the annual Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race.

This races is 125 miles long and starts in Devizes, near Bath, from where the competitors follow the Kennet and Avon canal until they meet the Thames which takes them into the heart of London (above).

It is a very tough race with 77 portages and the weather didn't help, being grim with grey skies and lots of rain.

There are two categories: those that do it in stages over the long weekend and those crazy brave enough to do it non-stop.

To give an idea of how demanding it is: the non-stop race is the longest in the world and this year even Olympic legend Sir Steve Redgrave pulled out due to tiredness.

As you might have guessed, it was thought up in a pub.

Big "respect, mate!" to all those to have completed it.

The kayaker and the speaking rucksack

T-shirts and sun glasses at dawn, JP's been paddling!

Ok, got to get these things right, preparation is key:

• Passage plan: it might not be a LAT but the range at Chelsea was over 6m and anyone on the Thames in London must think tidal. Headed downstream with the outgoing tide and then came back up near slack.


• Clothing: short, boots and t-shirt (ok, plus something long sleaved) and of course life jacket


• Equipment: water bottle, VHF radio, waterproof camera and some rope just in case. Oh and shades.

The VHF radio was set to listen in to channel 14 and then stuffed into my rucksack behind me. 

I then kept hearing these voices from it on the lines of "This is London VTS: proceed through span Delta" which was at first disconcerting but also useful as there were updates on river status including tide at 15 and 45 minute past the hour.

All in all a good first paddle to add to those two day sails - though the camera, alas, is now looking rather battered.

Sony DSC-TX10 waterproof camera review

There's nothing more annoying than seeing your brand new camera go phzzzz at the first drop of water (*) and as I've found out to my cost, not all waterproof bags work as advertised when kayaking on the Thames.

So I decided to invest in a waterproof camera and after the usual googling of reviews I plumped for the Sony DSC-TX10 on the grounds that its small and neat plus Sony are known for their quality images.

It turned out that two of those three assumptions were correct.

So the plus points:

• It is small and dinky, easy to stash in a small pocket and carry anywhere
• Despite not having that encased in plastic look it has been dropped on concrete and been well soaked in muddy Thames water without complaint
• The battery life is pretty good - though buying a spare I've never needed to use it and now rely just on the built in batter
• It can take HD video and has a 16 mega pixel sensor

However the images aren't that great, with soft images and high noise. For example look at this picture of sea kayakers on the Solent that was taken when out sailing two weekends ago:

That's pretty fuzzy.

In a way its reassuring that all that weight and money spent on a DSLR really is worth while - those big sensors and lenses do have a point.

So overall a camera that does do what its meant to - as long as you don't expect crisp images.


Updated: alas there is a design flaw - see this post.



(*) ok, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the point.

Camera picture from: Amazon

The Patagonian Expedition Race 2012

I did another trip to the gym this evening and had that nice warm healthy feeling, but then I read about the Patagonian Expedition Race and that put my 25 minutes in perspective.

The "Last Wild Race" as it is also known, involves competing teams of four biking, orienteering and kayaking their way across remote parts of Patagonia including Tierra del Fuego and the Strait of Magellan. Each year's course is different and no GPS is allowed, just old fashioned compass and map reading.

Over around 10 days they will navigate across between 500 and 1000 km of incredibly beautiful yet hard landscapes.



There is a wicked part of me that thinks "Across the Andes by Frog" but that's probably because I'm jealous of the experiences they will have - if, that is, they finish it, as the drop out rate is around a third.

Anyway, good luck to the British teams and in particular Nick Gracie who is looking for his fourth victory!



Map of 2012 route: from Patagonian Expedition Race

This isn't Buff either

It's a bear on a stand up kayak of course!

What'd you mean, you've never seen one?

One rather wet bear to be honest, having just fallen in - probably thought it saw a salmon or something.

Buff's kayaking joke

G'day all! Buff Staysail here! Buff by name and Buff by nature!

Well JP has stepped away from the keyboard leaving me in charge so how about this for a joke:

There were two paddlers out in a kayak and they were feeling a bit cold. So one of them suggested they light a fire in the kayak. Not surprisingly the kayak caught fire and sank. Which only goes to show that...


........ you can't have your kayak and heat it.

Geddit!!!

Blog review of 2011

It wasn't an easy year, what with a death in the family and the riots in London. There was also not just one but two periods where work loads were excessive for weeks and weeks in a row.

But there were good moments too. Despite the riots London proved it was great with a wide range of culture from Gauguin to the Book of the Dead to Steve Reich's Drumming to Miro to theremin SF to Iain M. Banks to string quartet plus didgeridoo to Barber's Knoxville to the Proms to John Martin's Apocalypse (and sewage system) to Film to Wild Beasts to Swallows and Amazons.

Just check out what was packed into one day off in London.

There was of course one rather well publicised wedding.

Hmmm...... looks like there was more culture than boating. But I did get paddling on the river, go ice skating and race in the Fowey Classics (allegedly). We were "not bad" three times in a row - yeh!

This year is already promising much, with both the London 2012 Olympics and the Queens Diamond Jubilee, and I've been plotting options for sailing routes and destinations.

Above is the classic yacht Mikado which we beat at the Fowey Classics - one definitely good memory to take from last year.

Of course Buff's year was even better.......

The Cockleshell Heroes Health and Safety Report

Last night the BBC had a TV program about Operation Frankton, the operation that was turned into the film Cockleshell Heroes. I had only heard a little about this WW2 raid by on Bordeaux by canoe and so found it very interesting indeed. 

However in addition I was lucky enough to be sent anonymously the following Health and Safety Report:

Diversity Objectives

The first question about this raid comes from the selection of the commandos, and whether there was a proactive inclusivity policy? Given that all marines were white males, I think not!

Time Management

The unit set off from a submarine in the English Channel in the evening of the 7th December 1942. Over the next few days it was clear that the marines were forced the exceed the mandatory working hours limits laid done in EU Directive 2003/88/EC. Furthermore the anti-social hours were counter to good home/work balance and there were no child minding facilities.

Equipment

The unit were in paddling low profile kayaks, painted a dark colour, at night, in a busy shipping lane up the Loire river with a significant amount of traffic (Nazi patrol boats), and yet they didn't have a single high visibility jacket between them! Why?

Stress Management

At the entrance to the river were a number of tidal races with overhangs resulting large waves with steep sides. In the confusion and conditions several boats were lost, either to the elements or ending up in enemy hands. Only 2 of the 6 boats made it through.

In such situations it would be understandable, as an act of respect and sensitivity to those lost, to return immediately for intensive counselling at the Happy Bean Bag Therapy Centre. That they continued is indicative of a retrograde phallocentric management style rather than modern inclusive whole-person holistic decision making.

Consumables

The remaining commandos then encountered some local French fishermen and their families who provided them with fresh bread and half a bottle of red wine. At no point did they enquire as to whether they used approved baking processes or what the bread's use-by date was. As to the consumption of alcohol while carrying high explosives, well words fail me!

Health and Well-being

After leaving the fishermen, the remaining two kayaks paddled on up the river, covering 25 miles in one stretch. And yet none of the team was a qualified physio-therapist and the constant repetitive motion was simply asking for RSI!

Ear-muffs

On reaching Bordeaux the two kayaks split up and laid their limpet mines against the sides of ships trading with the enemy. In the resulting explosions, yes, they did destroy 5 or 6 ships, but did no one consider the noise and provide them with ear protection? That is was ISO 4869 is for people!!

International Impact Analysis

At this point they ran away - and not just back to home as they should. The remaining four (well two, as the other team were captured) made their way through France, into Spain and thus to a Crown Dependency, Gibraltar. Did they have no idea of the amount of paper work that would generate? Had they no consideration for others??

Conclusions

Officially the two survivors, Major Hasler and Marine Bill Sparks, were welcomed back with a DSO and DSM respectively.

But if Health and Safety had had their way they would have been awarded an F-.

Shark tows kayak

I like kayaking, don't get me wrong. It's just you have to keep paddling, like, all the time. So big thumbs up to Devon vet Rupert Kirkwood who has found an alternative - get a tow from a shark!

Ok, it was unplanned and he's yet to work out how to direct it, but the idea is definitely worth further study. As reported at the BBC here, he went out in his sea kayak to go fishing, caught himself a tope shark and then it towed him half a mile or so.

So what's it like being dragged out to sea by a shark in a little plastic kayak? "Fun" of course, though he did admit its nose "came to within inches of my sensitive parts."

Hmmm..... further research definitely required into the safety implications of this form of propulsion.

World Rivers Day and time passing

Today is the autumn equinox when days and nights are the same length. For the next six months those of us in the northern hemisphere will have longer nights than days.

Time rushes on, 24 hours every day - unless you're waiting for World River's Day (which of course you are so you can blog about it).

As you can see from the screen capture below they are using a special extra long day:

Evening on the river

Its is one of my favourite times of year to go for an evening paddle.

You get that transition from day to sunset, dusk, twilight and finally night, and the waters go from brown to mirrored sky blue to black. While you need lights the water and air is warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt.

But the nights are drawing in and how many more evenings like this will we have?

Oops, I did it again

Yup, I've been out on the Thames- again! Cue the music, roll the credits, its that big screen spectacular "The return of the stranger".

But it was a lovely evening so leaving the office a little early to go kayaking was definitely worth it.

 

Who knows, one day soon I might even go sailing.......

Stranger on the river

INT: Wild west saloon, honky tonk piano bashing away, polished wood bar with assorted cowboys with their beers, miners drinking whisky etc etc. To one side are racks of kayaks, canoes, PBDs, skirts, paddles etc - the art director isn't sure about this bit.

Soundtrack: clip-clop / squeak of bike brakes / theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

There's a shadow by the door, then enter: the Stranger (JP)

All look round: the bar goes quiet.

Sheriff

Howdy stranger (he spits) Haven't seen you around these parts.

JP

I've been out East

Sheriff

We don't want no trouble (spits again - what is it about spitting?) We want a nice safe paddle.

JP nods then walks over to the bar.

Old timer serving behind said bar

Oh my giddy eyes. God-darn it if isn't old JP. How've you been youngster? (ok I made that last bit up) You look older (alas didn't make that up)

JP

It's been a tough 6 months, old timer. Been back East working, and had family troubles. RP is dead.

Old timer

I'm right sorry to hear that JP

Enter glamorous woman, think Jane Russell / Scarlett Johansson / enter your choice here. She approaches JP and slaps him on the face

Glamorous Woman / Scarlett

That's for leaving me lonesome, you double timing no good heart-breaker (ok, totally made that bit up, but its what should have happened).

Old timer

Go easy on him, Scarlett, life hasn't been good to JP - sounds as bad as finding a rattle-snake in your jack-pants

Glamorous Woman / Scarlett

Oh you poor thing, you come here now and let Scarlett take care of you (still making it up)

Old timer

No time for that Scarlett, I'm taking JP off up Thames canyon for old times sake. What you riding JP?

JP

I'll have that fibreglass slalom kayak

Cut to: EXT: Thames Canyon. Sound track clip/clop splish/splash, backdrop ol' Father Thames

JP

So what's new, Old Timer, looks just the same to me.

Old Timer

All the same? Haven't you seen that darn yellow monstrosity? Those PLA boys did that (he spits - its ok, they're on the river.)

JP

And that?

Old Timer

(shivers) We don't talk about that JP. No good comes of asking about that.

JP and the Old Timer go paddling upriver towards a fine sunset...

Fade to black. 

- The End -

Will makes a splash with his chopper

Yes, the daring-do all-action Prince William from Blighty-land showed those doubters what he's made of, successfully piloting his helicopter to a perfect water landing.

Newly wed Kate glowed with pride at her hubby's performance, and then he went on to show who's on top with a bit of full-on dragon racing action, just nudging her into second.

The Canadian visit seems to be going a smoothly and sweetly as pure maple syrup... what water sport can these two get up to next?

Updated: go paddle a canoe of course. And when in Canada....

The risks of kayaking

I once read a rather sombre book called "Total Loss" which was packed with accounts of the events that led to a yacht going down. It was, however, a useful read in warning of the dangers of going to sea and hopefully will encourage better practice.

Today I skimmed through a similar document: the MCA's 2010 Canoe and Kayak Incident Annual Report, available from here. It categories incidents into Rescued, Abandoned, FAWGI (which means false alarm with good intent), fatality and other.

Alas there were in total 9 canoe and kayaker deaths during the year, 4 of which were in April, when people are tempted out onto the waters still cold from winter. Two got trapped in rushing rivers while another two were adverse conditions in coastal waters.

But two might have been avoided as one involved drinks and drugs, while another apparently was in the Aberffraw Estuary in challenging conditions without a life jacket or buoyancy aid. Its hard to know what to say; those are two definite no-nos, as was the hoax.

Quite a few stories of members of the public misinterpreting capsize drills and also a lot of abandoned kayaks, plus some intriguing human interest like this one:

"St Austell Coastguards were called to a report of MALE in a Kayak overdue between Lostwithiel and Golant, by his wife. Unit stood down when missing MALE called his wife from Fowey."

I wonder what was said on his return - but what an appropriate place to get lost in.

Let's be careful out there.

The return of the Great Stink

I didn't need the BBC to tell me what had happened. My nose knew straight away as the smell was just awful, terrible.

The Thames was full of shit again.

Apparently last week after heavy rain 450,000 tonnes of sewage overflowed into the river, returning the upper reaches of the Thames to the "Great Stink" days of Victorian England.

In 1858 the smell was so bad that Parliament decided that something had to be done, and after much deliberation by men with impressive whiskers chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette set to work building a sewer network for central London.

He and his team did a very good job, but since then London has grown quite a bit and the system can't cope with intense rain. Hence the plan for a Super Sewer, as described here by an article on a very good local canoe club, a member of which described recent events as if "some monster had had a problem with diarrhoea, and even I didn’t roll that night".

Indeed it was so bad that there were not one but two Thames Water's Bubblers (above) out patrolling the river by Putney pumping life restoring oxygen into the waters. Such a flotilla was a sight I hadn't seen before and reminded me of some lines of Macbeth:

Double, double toil and trouble 

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

Hopefully soon this blog will return to more reader friendly topics. In the mean time I will quite understand if you leave suddenly for other sites with posts of bikinis and crystal clear Caribbean waters.

Sevylor Rio: first impressions

My 21st of May date with destiny was the first trial of my brand new Sevylor Rio, and a lot of fun it was too.

As you might have gathered went down from Putney to central London and back taking advantage of the tides in both directions. I hadn't planned to go so far but there was a certain amount of this-is-fun-I'll-keep-going to the trip.

Alas my planning hadn't included sun cream, so slightly red today - should have read up on Bonnie or Tillerman's lists.

It felt a very stable craft just about right sized for one person. It wasn't terribly fast and there was noticeably more windage than low lying kayaks and I did think that it would be a right struggle to paddle up against a strong current and wind.

It has the advantage that its easy to store and can be ready to go at a moments notice - pumping up takes only a minute or so. Having said that it isn't as light as you might think and hauling it up a ladder four or five metres did leave me thinking about tricks to reduce the load (pulleys came into it).

Apartment dwellers short of space wanting the flexibility to go out solo should certainly consider one: I'm already looking forward to the next trip.