The Human Factor
Tuesday, March 2nd at 6:30 pm PST
The LCCC’s online River Safety series continues with a discussion on decision making with Paul Rymarz and Rainey Hoffman. See event details below.
Recording and Slide Deck
Did you miss it? You can watch this online discussion, and many others, on the club’s youtube channel HERE. We’ve also posted the slide deck.
More Information
Humans are prone to quick, intuitive decisions. Critical thinking is much harder than simply going with your gut. And your gut is usually right. Indeed that’s why we make gut level decisions so frequently. Following your hunch is fast and it works most of the time.
A heuristic is an unconscious understanding that guides quick action. Heuristic traps are the situations that we get into by operating at this level when we might have been better served by careful analysis. Heuristic traps can lead to mistakes. When we run rivers, every now and then something happens that has never happened before. We may have no heuristic that really applies to the situation, but we fail to recognize that and in turn fail to think hard enough about the situation we’re in. To be ready for situations where you have no heuristic to draw on, we have to prepare using a conscious thought process.
The second session in the LCCC’s Safety Series, The Human Factor, explores the collision between human nature and instincts, and our desire to manage risks and run rivers safely. We will cover the heuristics known by backcountry skiers (FACETS) plus a few more that are river-relevant. Last but not least we will dig into strategies for recognizing, avoiding and escaping heuristic traps.
If you plan to attend, we have two suggestions for preparation.
Pre-Talk Assignments
RIVERTALK Podcast with Lee Baker on Heuristic Traps.
https://www.rivertalkpodcast.com/podcast/ep-96-lee-baker-talks-heuristic-traps/
This podcast is an enjoyable exploration of heuristics and paddling. They get most things right. We will address questions that they leave unanswered.Read about Thinking, Fast and Slow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow
Pay special attention to the examples of System 1 and System 2 thinking. Daniel Kahnemann got a Nobel prize for this work, but you know it intuitively.
Meet the Speakers
Rainey Hoffman is a longtime paddler who first learned how to navigate whitewater in aluminum Grumman canoes in Western North Carolina. He studied Earth Science at Dartmouth College and studied how rapids form on whitewater rivers with field assistance from Teresa Gryder. He went on to work on river conservation issues at American Whitewater in Washington, D.C. where he met his wife on the Potomac River. Since attending law school at the University of Virginia, he has practiced corporate and securities law -- representing technology companies at a Silicon Valley based law firm and currently at Cascade Investment based in Seattle. He hails from New Orleans, Louisiana, the whitewater capital of the deep south.
Paul Rymarz has had comparable training in ice climbing, mountaineering, and kayaking. He also enjoys backcountry skiing and the occasional motorcycle race. He started kayaking in 2016. Living in White Salmon, he paddles 150-200 days a year. He received an ACA level 4 certification in 2019, and is working to learn more. Paul's professional background is mechanical engineering and fluid dynamics. He worked most recently as VP of Product Engineering for a consumer products company. One of his job functions was to develop and oversee the procedures that helped his team avoid design mistakes, particularly mistakes that could result in user injury. Paul tends to think like an engineer, and enjoys the subjects of teaching, learning, leadership, and communication.
About the River Safety Series
Guides and instructors are routinely trained on safety, but regular recreational paddlers can get years into their paddling life without any training. These talks are for you: regular paddlers.
The River Safety Series is organized and hosted by Teresa Gryder, the LCCC’s Safety Chair, who has made it her mission to help paddlers manage the risks of being on the water. Guides, instructors and subject matter experts will share their vast knowledge and experience gained over decades on the river. Instead of learning the hard way, join us to hear their insights and stories, and let useful tips sink in so that you might lower your risks and prevent injuries and fatalities on the river.
FREE and open to the public, you do not need to be an LCCC member to participate in the online River Safety series. Join us via Zoom on alternating Tuesday nights, starting Tuesday, February 16 at 6:30 pm PST and running through April 13.