Welcome to BrashTalk #30
The Newsletter of the Polar Tourism Guides Association

In This Issue:

• Happy Holidays Message
• Antarctic Pre-Season Summit Video Recording
• Updates
  • New Provisional Assessors 
  • Board of Directors Update
  • Advisory Board Update
• Scuttlebutt
  • GUIDE-BEST Online Event 
• Training and Development by Rusty S. Hackle
  • The Art of the POB (Person Overboard) Briefing
• Guano Happens
  • Broken Kneecap and Training Karma
• Meet Your Colleague: Pelin Asfuroglu
• PTGA Guide Status Updates

 

Happy Holidays from Sarah

As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude to all of you—whether you’ve been with us from the beginning, joined along the way, or are new to the industry. Your ongoing commitment to training, development, and participating in PTGA’s community of professionals is what keeps our organization thriving.

The Antarctic season kicked off early, with the first trip heading to South Georgia in September! It has looked like a great season so far along the Antarctic Peninsula, especially the cruising options along ice-filled bays. Stunning photos so far, thanks everyone for sharing and tagging us on social media when you can.

It’s been a busy and exciting year for the PTGA and we continue to collaborate with our Accredited Providers to improve your access to PTGA Assessors. This past August, we hosted our largest Assessor Training course yet, and two more remote PTGA Assessor Training Courses took place onboard ships. We are proud to introduce our newest PTGA Assessors listed below in this newsletter.

I joined the PTGA in this role mid-year and it’s been a pleasure to stay in touch with you, our membership, and hear about your adventures around the world. I have spent a lot of time working with Graham to understand the inner workings of the PTGA—there is so much more to this organization than I ever imagined.

While I work from my base in Patagonia with my little one, I miss the friendships and connections on ships. Your messages and feedback help keep us all connected, so thank you for reaching out with questions and for keeping the community feeling alive.

In this issue of BrashTalk, we are excited to share that it is our 30th issue! We have some great content to share so be sure to read through until the end.

Wishing you all a peaceful and joyful holiday season, wherever your travels take you.

Thanks to our fantastic panel, to PTGA’s Board Chair Colby for moderating and everyone for your contributions attending!

You can find the video recording here.

Our panel consisted of Graham Charles, Meagan Dewar, Marieke Egan, Lisa Kelley, and Stephi Walker and covered the following:

• PTGA guide definitions
• Major takeaways from the 2024 Polar Field Staff Conference
• Avian Influenza updates
• 3D modeling of penguin colonies
• Leadership development as guides
• A discussion around managing sexual harassment onboard
• Season updates from Antarctica and South Georgia
• Live Q&A

Updates

Congrats to our New Provisional Assessors
on board the Silver Cloud and Magellan Explorer! 

Silversea Provisional Assessors on board the Silver Cloud (from left to right): Gert van Dalen, Denis Elterman, Tania Jeken and Dave Ritchie (Assessment Advisor)

Antarctica21 Provisional Assessors on board the Magellan Explorer (from left to right): Kirsty Dick, Nico Danyau (Senior Assessor), Sandra Walser and Marcelo Flores

 

 

Board of Directors Update

Thank you to Kim Crosbie!

Kim stepped down from her role as a PTGA board member. Kim recently accepted the position of Chair for the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust and has increasing demands. We wish Kim the very best and extend our sincere appreciation for her wise counsel and dedicated service to the PTGA Board of Directors over the years.

Advisory Board Update

Welcome to Bill Davis!

We welcome Bill to our Advisory Board. Bill has arrived to PTGA with decades of experience in the polar industry, including the management of staff training and development at several notable polar operators.

Thank you to Carolyn Wiseman!

After many years of service, Carolyn stepped away from PTGA’s Advisory Board. We thank her for sound counsel and significant contributions to forming our mission and value statements and to our original strategic plan, amongst other special projects.

GUIDE-BEST Sharing Event Next Week!

In late 2023, a new research project focusing on the role of tour guides in Antarctic tourism was launched, primarily focused on the role of tour guides in protecting Antarctica, and pro-environmental tourist behavior.

On 11 December at 8:00 PM UTC, GUIDE-BEST is inviting all polar tour guides and especially those with Antarctic experience to attend a sharing event. Several researchers from the project will informally present their work-in-progress to the guiding community, and invite you to share input and feedback.

More Info:
GUIDE–BEST (Growing Understanding of Individual Drivers of Expectations and Behaviours to Enhance Sustainable Tourism in Antarctica) is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and it is part of the PT-REPAIR program, together with 3 other projects, each of them exploring Antarctic tourism from a different perspective. The key foci of GUIDE-BEST include: the concept of Antarctic Ambassadorship, the role of tour guides in protecting Antarctica, and pro-environmental tourist behavior. The PT-REPAIR program (with most projects ending in 2028) has the ambition of developing recommendations and tools for Antarctic tourism management and regulation.

The GUIDE-BEST project is led by Annette Scheepstra from the Arctic Centre at the University of Groningen. Other members of the consortium include North Carolina State University (USA), University of Canterbury (New Zealand), University of Surrey (UK) and Bucknell University (USA). More info: https://www.rug.nl/research/arctisch-centrum/projects/pt-repair/guide-best/

Opportunity for Polar Guides: 

On 11 December at 8:00 PM UTC, GUIDE-BEST is inviting all polar tour guides and especially those with Antarctic experience to attend a sharing event. The GUIDE-BEST team aims to create an inclusive and safe forum where research can be discussed and conducted in collaboration with important knowledge holders.

The meeting will last approx. 90 minutes. It won’t be recorded, and feedback shared with the researchers through Zoom polls will be anonymous.

(If you cannot attend because you are already in Antarctica by then, don’t worry! GUIDE-BEST is planning another sharing event, with the same format, at the end of March. So – stay tuned!

No registration needed. :)

Topic: GUIDE-BEST sharing event for PTGA and tour guides
Time: Dec 11, 2024 08:00 PM Universal Time UTC
Join Zoom Meeting

https://canterbury.zoom.us/j/96782296589?pwd=tjZtmgqLnz10btQvTDdVqibsOjZQzd.1

Meeting ID: 967 8229 6589
Passcode: 619802

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Training and Development
by Rusty S. Hackle

The Art of the POB (Person Overboard) Briefing

When briefing passengers on how small boat operations work, it is quite common practice to save part of this briefing for the first time they get into the boat, specifically what to do if someone falls out of the boat into the water.

This works well as it splits the briefing up, making the material easier to digest, and also puts the briefing into the real world context of boat operations.

However, it does require that all of the drivers are skilled at giving these Person Overboard Briefings. I’ve seen several done, some good and some bad, and here are my reflections:

— The one thing we are ALWAYS short on during operations is time, so make the briefing short. These briefings are necessary, however don’t belabour it – most of your time should be devoted to actual guiding and letting passengers appreciate and enjoy the outing.).

— People have a limited attention span and can only take on so much at once, especially when surrounded by the distractions of being out in a boat for the first time. Make the briefing short and don’t include anything unnecessary.

— Knowing why something happens very much helps to remember how something will happen (“what is the why?”)

— We should avoid frightening people and making them not want to get into the small boats again!

So firstly we need to reflect on how we keep things short. The way to do this is to think about what people do or don’t *need* to know. Briefings get long because there’s extraneous detail or unnecessary information, like long anecdotes or going off at tangents. What is the crucial material you need people to know that you need them to *remember*? And why do you want them to remember it?

1. What to do if a passenger falls in.
2. What will happen generally if a person falls in.
3. What to do if you (the driver) fall in.

1. What to do if a passenger falls in.

If someone falls in, as driver we need to know that it has happened, so ask to be told that! I don’t think it is necessary to introduce special vocabulary like “man overboard” (even if they’re a native English speaker they don’t need to waste time trying to recall a specific jargon phrase) – I ask passengers to “tell me if someone falls in and point them out”. I reinforce this message by pointing out that there are seating positions in the boat which are not in my field of view 100% of the time. It is a natural reaction to leap up to point out the person who has fallen in, and it’s highly likely that this will happen so I add an instruction to stay seated.

So for part one of what we need people to know I say:

“If someone falls in, tell me and point them out as there are some people in the boat who I can’t see. Stay seated so I can maneuver quickly to collect them.”

I’ve communicated the essential information and added the context that reinforces WHY they do that and it’s taken me about 10 seconds. Many drivers add additional instruction on nominating a spotter who will be continuously pointing at the casualty, people who will be assigned to helping with recovery etc. In my opinion this is all unnecessary – in the very unlikely event of an actual POB you as driver will use command and control to assign these roles.

The passengers are unlikely going to remember anything more complex than “tell me, show me, sit down”, and if they do these things then you can manage the rest. Dealing with a POB should not be a panicked, high-speed maneuver – while RYA teaches driving away from the casualty which necessitates the pointing role, in Zodiacs I strongly believe it’s a far better approach in the vast majority of situations to stop driving *immediately*, make a plan while stationary, then turn around on the spot and go to them. On the subject of making a plan while stationary and close to the casualty, this is the time you would use command and control to get the rest of your passengers in order.

2. What happens if a person falls in.

The main aim here is to discourage falling in but also not to create fear. I say:

“I’ll turn around and be with you very quickly, then we’ll pull you into the boat and we’ll whizz back to the ship to warm up as you’ll be very cold”.

We should probably disclose that the water is very cold(!) and the fact you’ll take them back to the ship communicates that this is of concern. However we don’t need to add extraneous detail regarding how dangerous it can be, or how prolonged a recovery effort might be, as we can’t really increase their efforts to stay in the boat and all it achieves is fear and the risk they won’t come out at all. This takes 5-10 seconds to say.

3. What to do if the driver falls in.

A realistic situation is the kill-cord stops the engine and you swim back to the boat to self-rescue over the transom. If you experience difficulties then another boat comes to get you. However, it’s not a big deal to give the passengers something to do and there are some situations where them being proactive might actually help.

I start by demonstrating the killcord. You could just voice this, but I’ve noticed I get a lot of reassured or approving nods when I demonstrate it so I always try to include the demonstration to make the passengers feel good. I tell the passengers that I will try to swim back to the boat and they should use the paddles to paddle towards me (make sure to show them where the paddles are). I also tell them to scream, shout and wave to other Zodiacs to get their attention. I DON’T mention any spare kill cord!

I also tell the passengers about the throw line in case paddling and appealing for help aren’t working. Personally I think it’s not immediately obvious how to use one so I would devote a small amount of time to showing them which bit to hold and which to throw. This whole section is the longest because of the killcord demonstration, but again do your best to not have any extraneous detail or unnecessary anecdotes or words. Make sure it’s to the point. The only addition I would make is an injection of humour as this helps keep people relaxed and receptive to information – just try not to spill over from dark humour to gallows!

So let’s throw all of this together.
Here is the example briefing: 

“Hi everyone, as this is our first* time actually out in the Zodiacs I want to give you a quick briefing on what to do if somebody falls in. If someone falls in, tell me and point them out, as there are some positions in the Zodiac which I might not notice immediately. Then just stay seated so I can maneuver quickly – I’ll turn around and come straight back to you, then we’ll pull you back into the Zodiac and take you back to the ship to warm up. If I fall in, the killcord will stop the engine – I will try to swim back to the boat, and you should use these paddles to paddle to me. Shout and wave to other Zodiacs to get their attention to come and help. If you are struggling to get to me you can use the throwline, here is how to use it…”

This is really fast to deliver and it consists of a small amount of the most crucial information, making it easy to remember and for them to execute. Everything else they might need to do in the moment will be directed by you as the skipper of the craft.

*It’s quite good practise to give this briefing the first two times in the Zodiac so they hear it from more than one driver and it helps the info sink in. Your operator may have this outlined in their operations manual so do consult that as well. 

Guano Happens

Incident Report – Broken Kneecap and Training Karma

This edition of Guano Happens reviews an incident and cautionary note about karma and training for limb compromised evacuations using zodiacs.

Narrative

Sometimes you get to watch what’s coming around, and sometimes you are what’s coming around.

Towards the end of a landing on the second last day of the trip I spoke with our EL about running some staff training focused on transporting patients in zodiacs.

After some consideration the EL decided that we would be pushing our luck with tired staff and all the various time considerations to be managed and declined the opportunity. I walked away to commune with penguins a little disgruntled while the EL returned to the ship to prepare for the next operation.

A few minutes later a female guest slipped and fell forwards onto the baseball sized rocks on the beach. She presented with a sharp pain in her knee and was unable to articulate her knee or stand without assistance. She certainly could not walk.

No one saw her fall so we could not be sure of the exact mechanism of injury  – it could have been ligaments or just a bruised knee. Her pants were not torn and there was no blood or other external injury clues.

We gathered a team of nearby guides, alerted the ship’s bridge and medical team and got a zodiac to the beach for extraction.

The most effective way to transport her to the zodiac was by making a “hand chair” with a guide on either side while a third guide supported her straightened leg in front. This was awkward over the rocky beach, but quick and effective in getting her to the zodiac waiting nearby. She was laid along the pontoon (our zodiacs have double pontoons on each side) and stabilised by hand  – giving us the opportunity to remain in close contact to reassure and continue checking in. At this point it is worth noting how incredibly stoic this guest was, despite what must have been a very painful injury.

The zodiac ride to the ship was mercifully short and happened in relatively calm conditions. The medical team was at the side-gate ready to receive the patient with others in attendance to help with the stretcher manoeuvres.

A decision was made to approach the sidegate with the patient close to the ship – ultimately this created a situation where the stretcher had to be lifted over the prone patient in order to place it on the floor of the Zodiac so we could easily lift the patient down and into the stretcher. The lift down to the floor of the Zodiac was reasonably straightforward, however it created a very cramped area in which to work, with 8 people gathered around in order to lift and manoeuvre the stretcher up and onto the sidegate platform.

Of all the smaller tasks that were performed during this incident, this was the one that needed the most interaction between teams (Medical, AB and Expedition) and this was the one we had not practiced and it was the one that was performed poorly.

The Doctor took charge of the movement out of the Zodiac and into the ship but it was unclear to the Expedition team members how much experience the Doctor had in moving patients out of moving boats into big ships through the intricate constraints of side-gate ladders and platforms. There didn’t seem to be a clear plan and people were improvising their positions on the stretcher and the sidegate. People were at times looking to hand the stretcher onto the next person in line when they could no longer move in the narrow confines of the ladders, only to find that no one was there because they were still stuck in the Zodiac. A few moments of planning and explanation prior to the shift onto the ship would have saved a lot of raised voices and uncertainty – all of which would have been more reassuring for the patient and safer for the extraction team.

Ultimately the patient was recovered to the ship, examined further by the medical team by x-ray and determined to have broken their patella clean in two – a totally freak occurrence requiring a perfect strike on their knee in order to happen.

Review

The incident and injury don’t offer much to learn from unless the guest had a history of trips and falls and this wasn’t monitored. It is the management and movement of a limb compromised patient and the expedition team reminder to train from the extraction site to the medical room when you have the opportunity.

1. It is relatively easy for expedition teams to practice “pack and extract” scenarios on a beach – it doesn’t take long and can be arranged with a minimal disruption, working quickly with the equipment and people you have on hand.
2. It would have been better to approach the sidegate with the patient on the distant pontoon. This would have allowed the stretcher to be simply handed in and put on the floor with less problems and movement over the top of the patient. If conditions had been rougher this would also reduce the exposure of being injured by the sidegate.
3. If a doctor isn’t familiar with the transition from the zodiac to the ship this part should be run by the guides who have trained for it.
4. The bigger issues for this team came at the zodiac/vessel transition where they had to engage with more equipment (the stretcher and big medical bags) and other people from the ship (medical and AB’s). Inter-team training is much more difficult to arrange but this was the weakest part of the operation on the day. Keep this in mind for your own training scenarios.

 

Meet Your Colleague: Pelin Asfuroglu

Pelin has been guiding in the polar regions for 4 years and in Patagonia since 2013. She currently works as a Historian and lecturer on board ships in the Arctic and Antarctic. Pelin grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and now lives in Puerto Natales, Chile. Before working on ships, she worked as an Outdoor/Nature guide in Chilean Patagonia and was leading multi-day hiking trips in Torres del Paine National Park. Pelin is a PTGA certified Polar Guide.

PTGA: Could you tell us how you got to be where you are?

Pelin: For me everything began with a rather unexpected journey to Antarctica in 2019. I was invited to join four Turkish guests for a short trip to the Antarctic Peninsula on board the small expedition ship Ocean Nova. That voyage changed my life in a way I would never even dare to dream of. I was completely enchanted by the pristine beauty of the white continent. It was love at first sight and I knew I had to be back. And given my guiding background, to seek out the opportunities to join the Expedition Team seemed to be the logical way to go back to the place I had hopelessly fallen in love with.

PTGA: As a participant with one of our Training and Assessment Providers (the Expedition Guide Academy) could you share how the courses prepared you to work on ships as an expedition guide?

Pelin: Once I knew I wanted to be back to Antarctica as an Expedition Guide, I started to look into training options. I had been an outdoor guide all my adult life so I was quite comfortable with the essential guiding skills that the job requires. But my trip to Antarctica made me realize that I had to gain some technical skills that were specific to the industry such as working with and driving small boats. That’s how I came across the EGA. They were the one of the few providers back then that offered industry specific training and I must say the training I got with them laid a great foundation of skills for me. I still am a firm believer that most of the learning happens in the workplace but to have a head-start helped me tremendously. I was often praised by senior expedition guides I worked with about having very good boat-handling training.

PTGA: What lessons have you found important to pass on to new guides working alongside you?

Pelin: We are extremely lucky to call such special and unique corners of our Planet Earth our office but we also need to understand the difficulty and intensity that comes from living in your workplace. I was very fortunate to have worked with incredible individuals and learned from them. I guess, I would say to the new guides “don’t feel intimidated by the intensity of the environment and seek mentorship, you would be surprised how generous people can be when you genuinely seek their advice. Also keep training, there is no end to training.”

PTGA: What do you see as the biggest challenges to the polar tourism industry over the next five years?

Pelin: What I started to notice more and more, Polar landscapes are changing. Expectedly, they are responding to the changing climate. We see more unforeseen incidents happening as a result of that. That certainly would be one of the major challenges we will have to learn to deal with. I also think the industry is growing very fast. Every season we see more and more vessels in the Polar Regions. I mostly see the growing interest of Polar Travel as a positive thing but of course more vessels means more operational and environmental challenges. Certainly things we will have to address sooner rather than later.

PTGA: What advice would you give your younger self about a career in this industry?

Pelin: For a very long time, I thought working in Polar Regions was only possible if you were a Polar Scientist with a Phd Degree. I wish I knew before that was not the case at all. So I would have gotten into the industry earlier rather than later. I guess that would be my only advice I would have given to my younger self.

PTGA: What are your personal career goals in the industry?

Pelin: I hope to keep doing this job until the very end of my days on this Planet. I am not a very ambitious person I guess. I have no desire to go for the leadership roles but I eventually would love to take on more mentorship roles to new guides and focus on training.

PTGA: What is your favorite way to rest and rejuvenate between long contracts and seasons?

Pelin: Ah, being at home with my two kitties and having a simple daily routine. I feel like it is the only way to cope with the extremely social aspect of our work. I tend to do very long contracts (2-3 months at a time). When I am finally back home after months at sea, I truly enjoy simple, slow living. I wake up, put on good music, have a nice long breakfast, work out, go on a bike ride, and walk with my cats in the garden, go grocery shopping, go on hikes with my friends etc. I usually don’t want to see anyone for the first week I am home. I guess I truly need that alone time to slow down and reground.

PTGA: Where is your favourite place in the polar regions and why?

Pelin: That is becoming a very difficult question to answer lately. When I first started in the industry my answer would be Antarctica without a doubt but I grew very fond of the High Arctic with the years passing by. I always say, Antarctica is this majestically beautiful land that bewilders you at the first sight. The Arctic on the other hand, is less pretentious. The Arctic, in my opinion, shows its real beauty slowly. And when it does, you know that you are standing in front of an unprecedented grandeur, a simple, unpretentious beauty you desperately want to go back to.

But If I must choose A place, that would be Lazarev Bay in Alexander Island, in Antarctica where I had the best zodiac cruise of my life. It was almost a spiritual, dream-like experience. We cruised around 4 hours in the most spectacular place I have ever seen. We were surrounded by gigantic and the most sculptural icebergs I had ever seen while hundreds of crab-eater seals were chilling on the ice floes. If I could, I would have stopped time and drift there until the very end of time.

PTGA: Who is your favourite animal and why?

Pelin: My favorite critters are of course my cats, Gandalf and Aragorn :) but if I must choose a wilderness species, that would be Killer Whales for sure. They have a really special place in my heart since I first saw the documentary “Blackfish” way before I had my first encounters with them. And somehow I have been extremely blessed when it comes to Killer whales. I had pretty unique, not so common encounters with them in Antarctica I shall cherish forever.

PTGA: As a Historian, I can imagine this might be a difficult question to choose. Who is your favourite polar explorer and why?

Pelin: Another tough question to answer indeed. I very much like Scandinavian school when it comes to Polar Exploration. I am a big fan of Otto Nordenskjold and the Swedish South Pole Expedition to Antarctica. Apart from being an incredibly good story to tell, they made great contributions to Polar Science. In the Arctic, Fridtjof Nansen would be my favorite. He was of course way more than a Polar Explorer, a true polymath. I truly appreciate how his mind worked, the decisions he took while he prepared for his voyages. I guess the fact that he dared to do things in spite of huge skepticism about him and his plans. And of course he proved to be right.

PTGA: Thanks so much, Pelin! Keep up the good work out there.

PTGA Members – 620
Senior Polar Guides – 273
Polar Guides – 238
Polar Guide (Aspirant) – 53
Provisional and Full Assessors – 60
Senior Assessors – 5

Congratulations to our New Status Guides and Assessors:

Polar Guides: Matias Cervilla, Kevin (CK) Cheuk, Andres Garcia Diaz, Andrew Harpster, Ignacio Marino, Tyrone McKendry, Paola Villatarco
Senior Polar Guides: Nicholas Bredenkamp, Kirsty Dick, Justin Hoffman, Aaron Lawton, Sam Liscoe, Sara Rodriguez Ramallo, Jimmy White, Richard White
Provisional Assessors: Gert van Dalen, Kirsty Dick, Denis Elterman, Marcelo Flores, Tania Jeken, Sandra Walser

Be your best guide. See you next time.