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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Smoke before fire
Posted By: Jed In Response To: Re: More technique queries (M. Hamilton)
Date: Monday, 6 November 2000, at 7:56 p.m.
: But what I ofter see with sea kayakers who can roll, even hand roll, in calm
: water, is a severe lack of combat rolling practice. Often these same folks
: swim in real world big conditions.True enough. The same is true of most kayaking skills. Most people have beautiful form on flat water that goes to sh*t when the conditions pick-up.
: So I think all sea kayakers should learn the roll immediately if they aspire
: to any sort of competence as paddlers. I'll get flamed for that, but it seems
: such a shame that folks argue against it with so much energy as apposed to
: just learning the skill and enjoying what a kayak can do. How can anyone who
: cannot roll truly develop good boat handling skills?Wow, I never would have said it on the net but I believe it to be true! No other skill will so empower a paddler as a good reliable roll. With it a boat handling error is just another excuse to roll. Without it you'll not push yourself to explore the limits. By all means try to find an instructor, but if that just is not possible use the paddle float technique to develop your hip snap. The hip snap is the single most important part of a quality roll, and like the forward stroke is something you will work on and improve upon for quite some time.
Far from being flame-bait, you have come to the right place for gentle advise. The vast majority of posters are very considerate and happy to help someone new to the sport. Now go out and get that dry-suit and become a rolling fool. ;-)
Good Luck,
Jed
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