I first became aware of Jonathan at the beginning of my stint as a British Canoeing #ShePaddles Ambassador in early 2020. As a fellow brain injury survivor & paddler, Jonathan was championing my work & fundraising efforts at every opportunity. There started my admiration of Jonathan with his own battles fighting injury & illness where, like me; he utilised paddlesport to continue his rehabilitation, have fun, push himself & remain social in what can be a very tiring, unpredictable, dark world following a change in cognitive function & abilities. Given his paddling pursuits, you’d barely know that Jonathan had been through with what he has accomplished & boundary smashed left, right and centre. A paddling man of all trades; Jonathan has dabbled & competed in everything from slalom to white water racing & freestyle to canoe polo. Chatting with Jonathan is always extraordinary!
I hope you enjoy Clare Rutter’s Paddle People: An interview with… Jonathan Esk-Riddell!
So who is Jonathan Esk-Riddell and what’s your paddling backstory?
I could paddle before I could walk, or so I’m told. My dad ran a canoe club so I got out on the water early. I did slalom as a child which gives good focus and lots of medals to keep a child interested but when it became hard work as a teenager I did white water racing. Now as a growned up I do whatever it fun: whitewater river paddling, surf kayaking, freestyle, occasionally polo, I did some sea kayaking this summer and enjoyed trying out ocean racing in surf skis.
What’s your contribution to or stamp on paddlesport? How or why do (or should!) we know you? If you were nominated by a previous guest or invited by myself, why do you think they or I nominated you?
I guess most people won’t remember me as 1992 Scottish Schools J12 slalom champion and my record breaking days as Scottish Champion U16 at White Water Racing 1996 will be lost in a filing cabinet somewhere.
I expect I’m best known now for maintaining the web page SCA Where’s the Water which calibrates the SEPA river gauges for paddlers in Scotland. https://www.andyjacksonfund.org.uk/wtw/map/
I also helped edit the SCA Scottish White Water and Paddle Scotland guidebooks which raises money for the Andy Jackson Fund for Access. The Access Fund is a charity which provides money for people working to get better access to get paddling on the water. If you want to organise building some steps, putting up some signs to reduce conflict with a landowner, removing a tree from the river or driving to meetings to discuss access issues with estates we can provide grants for this. https://www.andyjacksonfund.org.uk/
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not paddling?
Travelling places for free and open source software and paddling there (or calibrating the rivers). I work making Linux on the desktop systems which makes no money for anyone but it does take me all over the world. And when I go somewhere I like to paddle there. I’ve taken groups along the River Nervión in Bilbao infront of the Gugenheim. I’ve paddled the Hacking river after a meeting in Sydney. Florida is probably the most wildlife rich waterways I’ve paddled on, we saw every tropical plant and animal there. And I paddled around Alcatraz jail by San Francisco before being told it was a federal protected zone and I’d probably be shot if I landed there.
Your biggest regret?
We can be really proud that our sport has a strong club system. Many people getting into the sport and progressing will be able to do so under the guidance and safety of a local club. And, it’s really important that those of us who have benefited from clubs and the coaching and leadership they can help with give back by being on committees or offering coaching or trips. But actually one regret I have is staying in one club for too long, being part of other clubs or casual paddling groups can help to expand your knowledge and experience and contacts. It’s so easy now too to start a group chat on messenger for your paddling buddies I worry that can be exclusionary for people who happen not to get into the groups, so I’m always mindful to try to invite anyone in when that sort of situation gets set up. I also look at come club committees and see people who are hanging onto roles they can no longer perform well. It’s important to help your club but also to step down gracefully when you can no longer give the role the attention it deserves.
I’m always dreaming about my next #clarerutterwherenextadventures, if you could paddle anywhere in the world, where would your #wherenextadventures be and why?
I’ve always thought that Iran must have good paddling potential that is under used. There’s great skiing and rock climbing there so there must be good white water too.
If you could paddle with anyone in the world, who would it be and why? Living or not, past or present, paddler/non-paddler…there are no rules here!
Tall Stories is the biography of Andy Jackson who did lots of pioneering paddling in Scotland in the 90s when plastic boats were opening up the rivers. I never got to paddle with him so I’d love to have done that.
https://www.pesdapress.com/index.php/product/tall-stories/.
Running Where’s the Water river gauges site I get to see many distant rivers as they rise and fall, it would be great to paddle on say the Snizort on Skye, the name amuses me (it’s Norse) and I doubt many people have gone down it. [Scottish Andy Jackson is not to be confused with English Andy Jackson who is on the English freestyle committee. Neither is to be confused with the Jackson family of Eric, Dane and Emily in America who make the kayaks].
Your happiest or proudest moment in paddlesport?
It has to be the adrenaline rush moments surely. Chateau Queyras on the River Guil in the French Alps is the fastest boiliest gorge you could ever slide down backwards, quite the rush to do.
Your silliest / funniest / unbelievable / strange/ bizarre / DOH! paddling faux pas or moment you’ve ever done, said or experienced?
Paddling off the Falls of Falloch north of Loch Lomond, a 10m waterfall. I didn’t realise for three days I had broken my tooth.
Have you ever experienced any barriers or difficulties in participating in paddlesport? If so what, and how did you overcome them? Or did you overcome them? What more could be done or what lessons could be learned? Tell us about them.
In 2011 I was living in Guadeloupe, a department of France that is also an island in the Carribean. One day coming home from the beach crossing over the dual carriageway my car was hit by another car and I had to be evacuated by helicopter to the local hospital. After a couple of days in a coma I woke up enough that they tried to send me home but I collapsed and they had to keep me another day until they sent me home in a taxi with my hospital notes which I left in the taxi.
After getting back to Scotland I had to work out how to recover which ended up being lots of watching box sets and drinking Irn Bru. After a few weeks I could work out how to reintegrate with society and paddling was the obvious way. At first I’d just go down to the canoe club and watch. After a few more weeks I got into refereeing the polo matches, even with brain damage I could wave my arms around and blow a whistle. The fatigue was bad, and still can be, but once I got back in a boat it was a great way to aid in the recovery as the fatigue mostly holds back until I’m back on land.
People with head injuries often find themselves isolated from friends and society because of the low energy levels. Paddling helped me keep social contacts and exercise at the right pace for me. I ran some sessions for the local Headway group just paddling about on the canal, I ran into a participant 5 years later and it was still one the highlights of his recent life, it’s really great to know you’ve given people an experience they can remember so positively.
Many people paddle to aid their mental health and wellbeing, what does paddling do for you and what does it mean to you?
The flow of the water below my canoe beautifully clears my mind. One of the other symptoms of the head injury besides fatigue is to get ruminations. My mind cycles over the same episode or imagined problem again and again for no great purpose, it’s quite energy sapping. That doesn’t happen when I’m out paddling and it’s just lovely to have the calm.
Most memorable paddle?
In January 2018 I found myself on the Hairy Lemon playing drinking games with Dane Jackson. Dane is the world champ at kayak freestyle and this was the day before the final Nile River Festival freestyle competition on Nile Special wave. The Hairy Lemon was an island in the River Nile next to the Nile Special wave with backpackers hostel accommodation. To beat Dane the next day I knew I only had one tactic to go on: get him drunk. I had my secret tool: a six pack of Brewdog Nanny State, alcohol free beer I’d brought from Scotland. As the evening wore on and we completed such classic games as Never Have I Ever and Beer Pong and Fuzzy Duck, I stayed pleasingly sober while Dane was on the hard stuff. Amazingly, Dane got up at sunrise and won the freestyle with all the Airscrews, Trickywoos and Tripple Blunts you could ever hope to see. I’m pleased to have not come last being 51st out of 52 competitors. Still it was a privilege to see the world’s best competing there. Later that year the new dam got turned on and the Hairy Lemon and Nile Special sunk under the waters so it’ll never happen again.
Picture: https://live.staticflickr.com/4721/38546410360_c5614b5658_h.jpg
Looking after the environment and playing our part as paddlers towards clean, healthy, thriving and beautiful blue spaces is really important to me, would you say that this is high on your agenda and, if so, why and how do you play a part yourself?
One significant problem we can cause as paddlers is the spread of non-native invasive species. It’s so easy to pick up plant seeds or insects inside your boat and then your next paddle takes them upstream or into a new water catchment. It’s really important to rinse your kit to remove debris either at the river you paddle at or a site which drains into a treated works. I’ve never had anyone highlight this need to me or point out facilities to use in all my years of paddling except once at a competition at Holme Pierrepont. Do read over https://www.invasivespecies.scot/biosecurity. If ever land owners or ghillies want an excuse to ban paddling from our rivers then the spread of non-native invasive species is likely to be high. For example in Scotland we have a post-glaciated ecology which is different from England and Wales. Now the killer shrimp is in rivers in England and Wales and I can easily imagine someone paddling there then heading to a Scottish river and before you know it the ecosystem of a whole river catchment will be changed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dikerogammarus_villosus
A hot topic now is sewage being put into rivers. Brexit has made that a lot easier in England and Wales unfortunately. Scotland hasn’t seen any changes in the requirements on our publicly owned sewage company Scottish Water but they were always pretty lax (and the regulator got hacked recently and kept all their workers at home during Covid so they are often ineffective. How many wet wipes can you see on your paddles? Think of the antibiotic resistant bacteria that this becomes a disease vector for. Climate change means we’ll have more flooding and more sewage overflow incidents which will make this problem worse. It’s something out society needs to invest in.
What else do you do while paddling? Litterpicking? Fishing? Camping? Yoga? Etc.
I’ve volunteered at the Forth Rivers Trust where my wife works. They run projects which bring wildlife back to the rivers of the area by removing or altering weirs which historically have shut off many rivers to fish and other animals. Even where weirs already have salmon ladders that can still shut off the waterway for other fish such as eels which are critically endangered. Baby Eels returning to our rivers don’t jump they slide and climb so need different passes installed. Being on the water you get to see our world from a different viewpoint and it’s really rewarding to guide people around the canals and rivers of Scotland.
What lessons has paddling taught you?
Training to become a coach is really great for learning to understand my own and other people’s psychology. How we learn and why we act the way to do is helpful in every aspect of life.
What would be your advice to people thinking about getting into paddling, new paddlers and/or those with experience?
For beginners join a club to get experience. And, for everyone else help out your club however you can. Do ask for help or coaching, many people are happy to give their time and experience and often just need to be asked. Remember to invest in your paddling. Once I did a trip near Glasgow and felt the need for some extra rest so stayed in a hotel over night. Everyone else fell about laughing when they heard this as they just got up early or slept in their vans but being in fragile health sometimes it’s useful to just pay a little extra to be sure of a good time.
If you could restart your paddling journey, what would you keep or change and why?
To keep your paddling progressing and fresh you can restart by trying different craft in the same old environment. Paddling on the Tay in Scotland is where loads of people start, but if you ever get bored of it try it in a freestyle kayak, or an OC1 or a surf kayak. One day I’ll work out how to buy a squirt boat that fits and try that.
What’s your top safety tip?
Don’t report access issues on Facebook. It’s transient and anyone looking for issues you post there won’t be able to find them after a day or three. Instead send them to the SCA or the relevant governing body for your country.
Top general paddling tip?
We used to call the whole sport “canoeing” but as the language has become more Americanised it’s become known as “paddling”. I long ago got over my snobbery of the language change but one issue with it is that now we always talk about the paddle. If you want to turn the craft or move it forward you can put the paddle in here and out there. But the paddle usually takes care of itself in most strokes. To get a strong effective move you need to care about the craft itself and that means concentrating on what you’re doing with your feet, knees and hips. Whenever I try to get into a surf wave on a river I know I’ll need to concentrate on my feet rather than the paddle to get there. Beginners on a river who never make the eddy they are aiming for suddenly get a lot better when they are concentrating on what foot to push with to turn the boat. So always remember you are wanting to move the canoe, kayak or paddleboard and the paddle is but one component in how to do that.
What tips would you give to coaches and leaders?
Whenever I go on a course or a trip I always fill in the pre-course information form highlighting that I have had severe head trauma leading to head injury. I’ve only ever had one or two coaches query how this affects my paddling. Some will be nosey and ask what happened which I don’t mind but is the wrong question for a coach to ask. And most will just ignore it. Which sometimes causes problems when I get to the river and I’ve left my kit bag at the overnight venue. So always ask if there’s relevant medical issues and if so then check what needs to be done to compensate.
Favourite websites/apps relating to paddlesport or your participation in it?
Recently we have a really nice partnership with whitewater.guide [https://whitewater.guide/] which is a mobile phone app. For Scotland it follows the existing setup where the gauged river sections are available free of charge and the detailed river guide is a one off purchase. They also have a load of sections for other parts of the world including England and Wales.
Where’s good to paddle?
I recently went with a paddling crew from St Andrews to discover the Kirkaig on the Assynt peninsula. It’s a two hour hike in but well worth it for lovely continuous grade 3 and 4 rapids.
Anything else you’d like to add or any last words of wisdom?
Why is surf kayaking such an under-rated discipline? Surfing in Scotland is not the most reliable of venues but board surfing is cool and kayaking is cool so I’ve never worked out why the combination is still so niche. Often it feels like surf kayaking is something people get into when they’re old and having time to go when the waves are up. I recommend everyone tries it.
And finally, where can paddlers follow you? What’s your social media and weblinks etc?
Hire me at https://www.edinburghlinux.co.uk/#coaching
See pretty pictures at https://www.instagram.com/riddellcanoeist/
And keep watching those river levels https://www.andyjacksonfund.org.uk/wtw/map/
Jonathan it’s been a pleasure!! A trip your way is on the cards someday, hopefully we’ll get a chance for a meet and paddle! Keep being awesome, you’re totally smashing it!
If you are or know someone who would be ideal to be interviewed for Clare Rutter’s Paddle People: An Interview with… please send a brief and the best way of getting in touch to email@clarerutter.com.