Michael Daly wrote; >Kirby Stevens wrote: > >> IMO Clearly everyone has missed the point, rolling is not the end all for all. If one has to perform an Eskimo roll then they are doing something wrong. > >I roll to cool off on a hot day. This is wrong??? I think a more careful reading of Kirby's post would be in order. The key words "has to roll" qualify the statement. If you want to roll, good for you. Knock yourself out (figuratively speaking, of course) If you intentionally put yourself in a position that will probably cause you to have to roll then good for you again. Knock yourself out (figuratively speaking again, of course) If, on the other hand, you have to roll through some mistake on your part then Kirby has hit the mark. Now, some people may find their paddlintg lives incomplete unless they can do one-hundred and forty-three different rolls and I say, good for them. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, those who prefer paddling right side up are getting their kicks looking at the sky, waves, shoreline, paddling partners - those are nice - and maybe even doing their strokes all wrong. It drives paddling instructors right up the wall. Elsewhere some one said that "serious" paddlers rolled. Well, I guess I don't qualify. I patently refuse to roll and all those thousands of kilometres I spent paddling in open water and never once rolling or even capsizing were just a dilettante's mucking about in the serious paddler's rightful territory. There may be other people like me too. That old hacker Hannes Lindemann couldn't roll his kayak so I guess he wasn't serious. According to what I have read a lot of Inuit couldn't roll so I guess they weren't serious either. It just boggles the mind that so many people won't take sea kayaking seriously. Why, some serious paddlers even roll for relaxation. I have a friend in the swimming pool business who also paddles and he sells a rolling pool for serious kayakers (watch for his unabashedly commercial post here on Paddlewise soon). I would not doubt that some serious kayakers have logged more distance rotationally than translationally. And I say, good for them. When they go to meet their maker I know St. Pete will welcome them with open arms as good rollers and serious paddlers one and all. The rest of us will probably get stuck in purgatory paddling upright for eternity. Well, that might not be so bad. Maybe the whales will be in purgatory too. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Dec 17 1998 - 08:00:33 PST
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