Perception

During the Deception Pass Dash I was engaged in my duties on the bridge as the Safety Director for the race when there was the need for an assisted rescue in site of my position. The spectator standing next me became upset thinking the capsized paddler was in great danger. 

A short discussion with her following the rescue found that her PERCEPTION of the rescue was indeed much more serious than mine. Living in the area, she's heard many stories about incidents in the Pass, but never had first hand experience with the waters. Those stories have led her to believe that being in the water in DP would be certain death. She rarely ever stopped on the bridge, but heard about the race and stopped to watch. When I told her that skilled sea kayakers trained and played here all the time she looked at me like I was crazy.

Leaders and Instructors with a great deal of training and experience have a much different perception of engagements that students see as incidents. I've had these discussions with the Tacoma Mountaineers SK program Leadership committee when they were developing their standards for leaders. The presentation below is a little slow, but it addresses the issue of PERCEPTION. 

In my past career, perception vs reality was much more closely aligned, as the teams I worked with were all of similar training and experience. We needed to know how each other were going to react when the shit hit the fan so we trained together in extreme environments. It was no place for the amatures. 

On the water, my perception of what is going on is much different than many because of my training and experience in both my past career and as the leader/teacher with 1000s of hours of seat time in a seakayak. For you all starting out or as a new instructor/leader, keep this in mind. Everyone sees things differently.

http://www.internet-of-the-mind.com/perception-vs-reality.html