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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Are we alone???
Posted By: Jed In Response To: You are alone/not entirely (Ian Johnston)
Date: Wednesday, 22 November 2000, at 12:25 p.m.
Ian,
Thanks for starting this back at the top. The indentations were starting to get deep. I agree with most of your beliefs regarding the value and importance of a roll and it's clear superiority over all other self and assisted rescue techniques. I think the most recent direction of this thread is responding to a comment I made about the roll not being completely neccessary in all cases. I made this comment in a response to a non-roller's musing about the possibility of never learning to roll.
Immediately following my having learned to roll, I could not understand why all of kayakdom didn't dedicate itself to learning this wonderous technique. Rolling is the best rescue, period. Not just the best self rescue but the best of all possible rescues because of the reasons that you and others have mentioned, over-all speed, minimal expediture of energy and minimal exposure for / danger to the paddler. Sencondly, a solid roll eliminates the penalty associated with a capsize and lets the paddler explore the limits of balance, finding a level of comfort at extreme lean angles and greatly facilitates the learning of advanced skills like sculling for support. I see the roll as a very important skill for those that really want to accelerate their skills acquisition.
But again, I say that a roll is not neccessary to be able to paddle and enjoy our sport safely. It is so convenient and so powerfull that I can't imagine a worthwhile agruement against it but it is not strictly neccessary. Most of our fellow paddlers do not roll and I can't believe that only rollers have a lock on the sublime joys of paddling. Some people avoid conditions, other paddle big and stable boats, still others have an insane sense of balance that makes then very comfortable in a kayak. These people for whatever reason have not been motivated to learn to roll but they still enjoy the sport and can do so safely as long as they are careful to stay out of trouble.
We rollers tend to think that everyone should learn to roll and we are right, they should. But to think that they shouldn't paddle until they can roll is ridiculous. Even many WW guys don't learn to roll before they start paddling class II+ water. Many kayak tourers have paddled for 8 to 10 years without having learned to roll. Would these people be well served by a good roll? Hell yes! But that doesn't mean they can't be safe and enjoy the sport without one. What it does mean is that they will progress more slowly, they will be significantly less safe in all conditions, their definition of acceptable conditions will be greatly reduced and to some extent their safety will rely on the availability of outside assistance. For me that is unacceptable, as it is for you and for Brian and many others on this list.
I personally believe that I am the only person I can rely on to keep me safe and out of harms way, but not everyone have this same sense of self responsibility. I am convinced that this self-reliance is what seperates leaders from the rest. Not every self-reliant person can be a good leader, but no one can be a good leader without first being self-reliant. Not everyone wants to be a leader and these non-leaders are no less deserving of happiness than anyone else. Let's lead by example rather than by dictate. Again I say, there is room enough on the sea for all of us.
Ian wrote:
: In severe conditions a paddle float outrigger will trip you up just as
: sponsons will.: Once you are at this point it is no longer a self rescue, it is now a matter
: of relying on someone else to save your life which is exactly what we are
: trying to avoid.: Actually, I want to revamp my original statement. All these self rescue
: techniques were not developed as backups for the roll. They were developed
: to try and replace the need to roll with another more usable solution.
: They did not work as such but turned out to be good backups. The roll has
: not yet been displaced as the best self rescue technique.: I disagree. The best method is the one that solves the problem with the least
: expenditure of energy and keeps the paddler the safest. In both catagories
: it is the roll.
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