7 Management Lessons from Rafting on Friday the 13th

The Trip:

This past weekend, I went rafting with a Meetup group. It turned into a bit of a mess, and we ended up in a potentially life-threatening situation (yes, that's us in the picture - those are my legs and shoes on the far right), but it also makes a great story with some powerful management and leadership lessons.

The river we tackled is the Gauley, home to the most Class V rapids in the U.S. Class V is the highest difficulty for commercial rafting trips.

This was my fourth time on this river, and two other group members joined me two years ago. The other five had varying levels of rafting experience, and none had faced anything as intense as this.

We didn’t know who our guide was until we arrived at the river. When we met him he said he had just passed his test. I thought he was joking, but now I think he was serious. We also learned during the trip that one of his passengers died on one of his previous trips. In fairness, the individual was over 300 lbs and had a heart attack, so the odds weren’t exactly in his favor that time.

Two members of our group immediately disliked the guide’s personality. I noticed what they meant but shrugged it off, saying it seemed fine. I don't mind some personality quirks, and I didn’t want to start the trip on a negative note. That quickly changed for me though.

Our trip began with a delay because the guides left later than usual to inflate the boats. When we got on the river, the guide gave a quick introduction, but it felt shorter than on my previous trips. We hit some small rapids almost immediately. The guide told us we weren’t quite in sync yet, but we were approaching our first Class V called Insignificant. Shortly before we reached it, I told the guy across from me, who had come on the trip two years ago, “We’re going to end up flipping today.” It also didn't help that the guide brought up the fact that it was Friday the 13th, which none of us realized until he said it.

It turns out that I was right. As best as I can piece it together, this is what happened:

At the beginning of Insignificant, we were off course because our boat wasn’t moving well. One crew member fell backward. Her feet were still in the boat, but we were heading for a hole and the extra drag pulled us in. The guide yelled, “Get down!” while also telling us to pull her back in. The guy next to me jumped across the boat to help, and as he did, the boat kicked up, ejecting everyone except the guide.

The woman who fell initially managed to hold onto the webbing on the side. The rest of us were thrown into the river and swam the entire length of the rapid. Swimming a class V is really just trying to catch an occasional breath of air between the massive waves and hoping that you don't get smashed into a rock, or worse under. That actually happened to one girl. She got stuck in a swirl and sucked under an undercut rock. Luckily, she emerged on the other side.

The guy who had tried to help pull the first person in and the girl who went under had just been married about a month earlier. The experience really shook them. Another woman on the boat also struggled emotionally and broke down in tears, saying she didn’t feel safe with the guide and that she couldn't continue.

The guide was affected as well. He apologized for dumping us but also said we needed to paddle harder when he gave instructions. The issue was, we couldn’t hear him. I’m not sure if it was before or after the ‘swim’ that we began telling him he needed to speak louder, but I know we told him at least 20 times. It was fine when we were on the small stuff, but when we got to rougher water it was louder and he got quieter. When we couldn't hear, we didn't paddle and it made for a dangerous situation.

To play it off, the guide made jokes and tried to downplay the situation, but since he had just apologized and expressed regret for dumping us, it came across as mixed messaging. He also pushed us to high-five with our paddles, which is normal, but in this situation, it only irritated the group further.

The guide's actions and comments made it feel like he was trying to be part of the crew and looking for our approval. He kept saying we were his “family” and that he would take care of us, but after we got ejected, his comments felt empty and forced. He also frequently mentioned how getting dumped hurt his knee and shared his own near-falls, which didn’t inspire confidence.

We also felt like we were behind the pace and constantly rushed. Our boat wasn’t moving as fast, possibly due to an issue with the boat that we had not yet discovered, and we never had time to relax between rapids. When the guide gave commands, he spoke quickly and repeated the same instruction multiple times when it should have been said once. His delivery felt reactive and chaotic rather than calm and planned and it wasn't helping.

People began whispering that they wanted off the trip, and I felt the same. Even before the flip, I hadn’t felt safe—a stark contrast to my previous experiences.

A couple of hours in, we took a short break, and the guide noticed a bulge in the front of the boat. He said it was a “blown I-beam,” which, combined with having the two heaviest people in the front, was creating drag and steering us right. We shifted the weight, and the boat’s performance improved immediately. Another guide said it was likely the weight distribution causing the issue rather than the blown I-beam. Either way, the guide should have recognized the problem and made adjustments earlier.

At lunch, I pulled the group together to discuss our options. Normally, once you’re on the trip, you stick it out, but had we not shifted the weight, I would have refused to get back in and supported anyone else who felt the same. Since we had better control after the adjustment, the group decided to continue. The woman who had been crying wanted to quit, but she would have had to wait at the lunch spot for over four hours for a ride, so the lead guide offered to take her in his boat.

Two of us took our concerns to the lead guide. The main issue was our guide wasn’t loud enough and wasn't sharing crucial information like which direction to swim if we fell out. After I spoke to the lead, our guide approached me and I reiterated our concerns. I normally address things directly with people, but our guide had shrugged off feedback earlier, and this was a matter of life and safety.

After lunch, things improved. Our group relaxed, and the guide finally started speaking louder and giving us the necessary information. It wasn’t at the level of my previous guides, but it was acceptable and the rest of the day went smoothly.

Day two started strong as well. We faced some small rapids, and our guide was loud and clear. Our crew was smiling and actually enjoying the water. But that changed when we hit bigger rapids. The guide started speaking softly again, and people couldn’t hear him. Our boat took less optimal lines, and a couple of people stopped paddling. On one of the smaller rapids, I got knocked out. I distinctly remember thinking I should get down to avoid falling out, but the guide didn’t tell me to, so I stayed up. When we hit the hole, I slid off the edge and couldn't hold on.

It wasn’t a terrible situation, but it destroyed any remaining trust I had in the guide. After that, I started calling out paddle strokes myself because those in front couldn’t hear the guide.

We ended up taking the easier and safer lines for the rest of the day, which was the right choice for the circumstances, but the whole point of this river is to go big so it really diminished the experience.

When I got home, I was sore and bruised. My foot had a large bruise, my body ached from paddling, and a couple of days after the trip, my back tightened up. As I write this, it’s still sore, and I may need to see a doctor about my back.

Management and Leadership Lessons

So what does this tell us about management and leadership?

First, when really bad stuff goes wrong, it's generally not just one thing. This trip was a perfect storm of issues: a sub-par guide, a faulty boat, and less-experienced paddlers. Any one of those factors could have been manageable, but together they created a dangerous situation and ruined the experience. With that said, the guide's leadership was absolutely the biggest issue and with a better guide I believe we would have had a great time.

Second, experience doesn't equal skill. Our guide supposedly had 16 years of experience, but he didn’t know these boats or the Upper Gauley well enough and he wasn't able to speak loud enough for us to hear.

Third, sometimes team members need to step up and take the lead if the designated leader isn't doing a good job, even if that means questioning authority or refusing to comply.

Fourth, hiring and training are critical. The rafting company was acquired this year and all of the guides had to go through a new certification process. Some of the old guides didn’t make the cut, and apparently they hired some new people because it was our guide's first year with this company. Since my previous 5 guides were all fantastic, I wonder if the new hiring and certification process contributed to our challenges and I wonder how that will impact the company in coming years.

Fifth is that people should move at a sustainable pace. Our guide mentioned to the trip leader that we needed a break after the flip at Insignificant, but we only paused for a couple minutes. People were still shaken, and it felt like we were struggling to keep up for the entire trip, probably because of the issue with our boat. Constantly pushing really dampened our experience. As a manager, you should encourage your team to work at a sustainable pace, not push them to exhaustion. It will create better results and likely speed things up in the long run.

Sixth, is that the best way to respond to adversity is by focusing on creating a positive outcome and not by focusing on the past. Our guide referenced our spill many times. He should have responded by acknowledging people's feelings and then focusing on how we were going to get through and have a good day. If he felt like he wasn't in control of the boat, we should have stopped at the first opportunity to assess the situation. Had he done that, we probably would have adjusted the weight sooner and would have had a much better day.

Seventh, bad leadership directly impacts profits. Multiple people said they wouldn’t return to raft this river, and they likely won't recommend it to friends either. Plus, while most of us tipped the guide, it was significantly less than it would have been if he had performed better.

Will I go again? Probably, but only because I know how much fun it can be with the right guide. But from now on, I will only go if I can reserve a guide I trust. If I have a second bad experience, I will probably never raft with this company again.

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