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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Karate - defense
Posted By: M. Hamilton In Response To: Karate - defense (mike allen --->)
Date: Wednesday, 15 November 2000, at 9:51 p.m.
Folks, fellow paddlers, I'm not one for slogans, and I've had four micro brews, so perhaps my typing will sufffer. To roll is good. To roll when you really need to is awesome. This silly stuff about the need to roll as being a sign of failure - come on. In the surf you WILL BE ROLLING OR SWIMMING!! Make no mistake about it. Yeah, on a moderate day I may ride 20 waves and never get flipped, but on a big day I may roll a dozen times while trying to just get out! What is more powerful than all of us studly guys typing stuff on the internet? Nature. As my very good friend George Gronseth says in his literature "Skills are necessary, sooner or later nature will demand them" Rolling a kayak is a simple manipulation of a number of variables. In surf, a good paddler is feeling what is happening to the kayak and knows when to simply place the paddle blade out and let the force of the upwelling water right his or her boat. Other times the paddler senses extreme forces and huddles into a tight crouch and simply tries to stay in the kayak and not lose the paddle till things settle down. I gotta say that I'm no longer concious of how i roll in the surf - I don't think about it, but no two rolls are the same. I agree with what I'm reading and what Greg has said. A loaded boat with no deck crap in the way is no harder to roll at all! No matter what your ultimate opinion, the true test is in the surf, and in my mind true masters do not speak in absolutes. I can think of a half dozen surfer friends - all superb boaters - no two roll the same - none swim. Take care ya'll, and keep rollin away.

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