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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: What I learned in rolling today...
Posted By: David In Response To: Re: What I learned in rolling today... (Don Beale)
Date: Tuesday, 5 September 2000, at 9:46 a.m.
: I am actually kind of crouched up-wards, not hanging vertically. I think its
: more in the theory that the face has less distance to go... I did notice
: that the paddle blade is deep when I finish the roll. I had to scull it
: back up a little, at the end of the roll. I think the problem is that the
: elbow isnt tucked. I cant figure out what's wrong on the right, though. It
: should have worked. On the "up" side, the paddle float reentry
: is a lot stronger! I might be able to do that in rougher water. Maybe.
: Alder Creek is about an hour from here. I think there's an outfit in
: Forest Grove, I'll check. The budget's a little thin... You are quite
: right, an hour or two with someone who knows would assuredly do the trick.
: Maybe somebody in Beaverton or Hillsboro haunts the board?: Another question; Do croakies work? Anybody out there with glasses had the
: nerve to roll with them on? And were they still around afterword?Don
Two things. One, Jed and Murray's advice is sound, try to get an instructor. The hip snap part of a roll is just not an intuitive movement, very hard to get the motor set working. To introduce it, I have students get to shallow water on a lee shore, working in partners. They plant their paddle on the bottom securely, and capsize their boat progressively further and further over until the hull is almost completely visible, then they push off the bottom to right the boat. The next step is to have them lie back on the boat and twist their hips sharply to get upright, this is a tricky stage of learning. All kinds of little tricks help, one that is very useful is to think of driving the knee on opposite side from the roll (if you are leaned over left, the left knee). Push the knee up, rather thrust it up, like kneeing someone. I teach karate, so I like to use this idea of punching the knee up hard, it starts the hip momentum. Think of kneeing a Neo-Nazi skinhead in the nuts, that usually gets them going. The real key is to remain lying back on the aft deck during the hip snap, it lowers center of gravity and it is an easier motion to get, twisting the body around, rather than thinking of flicking the hips. I have them do sets of 10 reps on each side. This also gets folks comfortable with the in-between zone, neither upright or capsized (the zone the Greenlanders love to play in).
Problem is, limited air supply, so it invites a powerful paddle motion and lots of muscling up, to get precious air, this invites sculling motions and basic panic dog paddles, and ultimately, a sloppy wet exit. There are so many things to synchronize, paddle angle, timing of hip snap, body position, head position...instruction is the ticket. And if the boat has alot of excess roominess in it, ie., poorly fitted, then rolling is a nightmare, you start to exit the boat unintentionally as soon as you go over, the PFD is pushing you hard up against the boat, so you need to use the ab muscles to stabilize the torso enough to set up the paddle. Lots of work and practice. I don't know how anyone learns on their own, but those I have seen, have alot of bad habits, and they take a long time to get it right. By contrast, I have seen students get the roll in one class (not reliably, and usually with an attached paddle float, doing Pawlatas) with instruction. My advice, take that cruise to WA and do some instruction with M. Hamilton, he sounds like he is a good teacher.
But the San Juans....personally, I find them to be a virtual Disneyland of tide rips. There are big tidal currents coming in from both the West and the North (Juan de Fuca and Georgia respectively). Tide rips all over the place. Don't like paddling there, read "Deep Trouble", so many incidents in the San Juans, part of it is stats, lots of paddlers, but so easy to get into trouble in those Islands. I suppose experienced WA paddlers know the way to get around in the San Juans in one piece, but personally, I can't stand paddling there without a guide who knows where the bad rips are. Just shooting my opinions off about the locations, have lost a couple of friends in there, never did get excited about them since. But I guess anything beats the damned Toronto harbour where our teaching season is about to come to close. Gotta' find a job teaching tele skiing now, as our blessed teaching gig is coming to a sad close....ah, Autumn, dry tops, bigger waters, colder waters....always sad when the last course finishes (next weekend)...
Anyhow, good luck with rolling. It is such a feeling of accomplishment when the first one works w/out paddle float, and you come up shaking your head to get the water off your face, like a happy little dolphin.
Last comment: all sunglasses disappear in the water, whether practicing rolls or just plain capsizing. The water comes up and fills the space between your eye and the glass, drips out, leaves a film of water droplets on the glass, you can't see anything, you pull the glasses off and they hang around your neck for about 2 seconds, then mysteriously drift off and are never recovered except by folks using small submarines or by deep sea divers. Seriously, all eyewear disappears kayaking in my experience, so I buy real cheap glasses and hope they get me through the season.
Cheers, David
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