>> I would say that if you don't emphasize teaching the roll, then your course has completely missed the boat!! (so to speak :) What good Greenland kayaker cannot roll?? And rolling with a proper Greenland paddle is so easy! Your course sounds too good to settle for mediocrity in this way. >> Not to differ with Kevin, whose point I agree with, but merely as an historical anecdote: F. Spencer Chapman, in one of his books about the British Arctic Air Route Expeditions in East Greenland, said that only about a quarter of the Inuit in the Angmagssalik district were good at rolling, and many, if not most, could not roll at all! Chapman several times comments on the fatalism of the natives, whom he admired and apparently got along well with, which might have contributed to a lack of interest in learning to roll. I think the ACA Coastal Kayak Instructors Manual emphasizes the importance of learning to roll, though it does not include it in the two-day Introduction to Coastal Kayaking course because of lack of time. As Nigel Foster pointed out in Sea Kayaker some time ago, a roll is considered a basic skill in whitewater, so why not in sea kayaking? Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 09 1998 - 07:22:45 PST
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