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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: More technique queries
Posted By: Brian Nystrom In Response To: More technique queries (Jo Lefler)
Date: Monday, 6 November 2000, at 3:18 p.m.
Congrats for having the good sense to practice the skills you need to paddle safely. That puts you miles ahead of "Joe Average Paddler".
I used the method in The Essential Sea Kayaker to learn to roll. You can do the basic work with the paddle float solo, but when you take the float off and go for broke, it's best to have someone standing in the water to help you. Perhaps you can bribe a non-paddling friend to assist you?
Jay Babina has an interesting method of teaching rolling. You need a gently sloping beach and quiet water. Start out with the boat parallel to the shore, in water just deep enough to float. Extend the paddle fully (one hand on the near blade tip and one on the shaft) to the shore side in the high brace position, then roll the boat in that direction. Brace off the bottom with the paddle blade flat and snap back up. Repeat the procedure, gradually moving to deeper water as you get more confident. Soon, you'll be laying the boat over and bracing without touching bottom in a classic high brace. Continue the same motion, but roll the boat deeper into the water each time. Eventually, you'll end up upside down and you'll be doing a half roll. From there, it's a pretty short jump to a full roll starting by capsizing on the opposite side you've be practicing on. You'll probably still have to do an occasional wet exit, but you'll quickly be rolling consistently.
Once you've mastered the extended paddle roll on one side, work on the other side. When you've got that down, start choking up on the paddle; holding it at the base of the blade instead of the tip, and eventually in the normal paddling position. Taken in stages like this, learning to roll is pretty easy.
BTW, I concur with the recommendation of wearing a scuba mask or goggles with nose plugs. It makes the process considerably easier, far more interesting and much more pleasant. Once you have your roll down, do a few without the aids to simulate real conditions. It gives you a good incentive not to capsize in the first place. ;-)
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