Since there are so many non-rollers out there on the list, I thought I'd post my recent experience. I had signed up with L.L.Bean in Freeport, ME for a rolling class. The class was on Sunday in Bath, ME so I drove up Friday afternoon and camped and paddled in the area Saturday. The advertising was somewhat (a lot) deceptive. The course was listed as a Sea Kayaking rolling class and from that, one might assume sea kayaks would be used. A pool was mentioned in the ad and that gave me a little hint at reality. The class date fit in with my schedule and other classes didn't so I went along with the program. When I got the class particulars in the mail, it then explained ww boats would be used in a pool but the skills learned were 'easily' transferable to sea kayaks. I was naturally disappointed but as it turns out, was more than happy with the smaller boat. I got to the YMCA in Bath, ME and Bob and Jenn were waiting outside with a trailer full of boats. No one had showed up to open the doors. Others started trickling in and we ended up with 4 men and 4 women with no couples. Ages ranged from late 20's to a woman in her early/mid 60's. I guess at 55 I was the second oldest. One guy was ww, could roll a little on one side but wanted to improve his roll and pick up an off side roll so he could move up to class IV & V (class III with almost no roll at all?). Another guy had just bought a ww boat and didn't care what kind of water he paddled in. The women were all just getting into sea kayaking and thought rolling might be a good idea. After we carried the ww kayaks (half Pirouttes and half something else) through a gym and down a bunch of steps, the class got underway. Bob is/was a ww guy turned sea kayaker and was the lead instructor. He gave a few demos and helped set our expectations. He indicated only 25 per cent of us probably would hit a roll during the 3 hour session and that his primary goal was to instill us with the fundamentals we could then practice on our own. After the demo, it was time to get our boats and gear fitted. I got the foot pegs set on a Piroutte and got into a spray skirt and PFD. It was then time to get into the boat from the edge of the pool. I had never done a dockside entrance and Jenn helped stabilize while I struggled in and then pushed out. I took one stroke of the paddle and almost did a 360. I guess ww boats are a little more responsive that sea kayaks. We broke up into 2 groups of 4 with the women gravitating to Jenn. The first thing they wanted us to work on was the hip snap because that's where the power of the roll is supposed to come from, not the arms and shoulders. The instructors spent about 10 minutes with each of us, one on one while the others went over to side of the pool to practice hip snaps. When my turn came, Bob held both my hands while I leaned the boat over until I was parallel to the water and then I had to hip snap up, putting as little pressure on his hands as possible. When he was satisfied with that he got a paddle float. I held the paddle in a normal paddling position and then leaned forward and positioned the paddle along the (left) side of the kayak and rolled over towards the right. After a count of 3 (to show how cool and unconcerned you are), I raised the paddle out of the water (now on my right side) as far as I could and moved it to a 90 degree angle to the kayak. My left elbow was over the left edge/chine of the kayak, trying to press against my side. My right arm was extended and I had my ear on my right shoulder. I was supposed to do a hip snap, exerting as little pressure on the paddlefloat as possible. My head had to stay on my shoulder the whole time and actually be the last thing to come up out of the water. I was supposed to do something with my left elbow but I forget what it was already. That was the theory, anyway. Of course my left elbow would go flying off somewhere on it's own. And my face wanted air, <now>! I think my head must be more buoyant than most because it would start to rise immediately. Maybe I need some ballast to keep it down. After the 10 minutes with the instructor, we more or less paired up with someone to practice on our own. I came out of my boat a couple of times which is one thing, but then I had to empty it and then climb back in from poolside by myself. I finally discarded the paddle for the entry. Instead, I'd sit poolside, place my feet in the cockpit, then twist my torso around and kinda hug the floor while I slid my legs and butt in. After a couple of dumps I got pretty good at that and even did a couple of poolside exits. After a while we switched instructors. The first thing I should mention is Jenn is an attractive lady in here 20's. The second thing to mention is if your head comes off your shoulder, you (I) can't even begin the roll. Well, we do the hand thing first. I go all the way over holding Jenn's hands but my head comes off the shoulder and I go nowhere. I let go of her hands and start to grab her for support but think better of that. So there I am upside down waiting patiently for her to get me upright again. Finally she grabs the boat and pulls me up. "Why didn't you help?" she asks. I told her I didn't know what to grab. She laughed and said she gets grabbed all the time. I told her I wasn't taking any chances on getting her mad because I had to rely on her to get me back to the surface. I went off to practice but didn't have a paddle float. So I tried to roll without one. After rolling a couple of times with a little of assist from the bottom of the pool, I finally hit one right near the end of the session. That really felt good, like my first successful high brace into a breaking wave. The 3 hour session pushed most of us to the edge of being really tired. A friend of mine will be taking a rolling class with a local outfitter that is in 5 one hour sessions spread over 5 weeks. I thought that was a crappy way of doing things but think a little differently now. 6 of us ended up hitting a roll. The older woman didn't and I think a large bosomed woman didn't either. She may have had buoyancy problems too. The ww guy ended up hitting a hand roll after a couple of attempts. As for prior experience, I think I was probably the most experienced sea kayaker there. Bob did a paddle float rescue (in a ww kayak) and most of them didn't even know you could do things like that. There was no pressure and the instructors were patient and understanding. I don't know this for sure but I'm getting the impression that many (half) sports instructors now-a-days are women which probably takes additional pressure off of some. I hope to get off to a local pond to do some practicing soon, before I forget everything I think I knew. Guess I'll have to dig Derek's book out too. I suspect I'll be back on the list looking for help on outfitting the cockpit for a tighter fit. I don't think there's anything in the archives. Clyde Sisler http://csisler.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Timely discussion. I'm working on teaching myself how to roll. I've a lot of experience being in boats, but just started sea kayaking. Last Monday I rented a Looksha IV and paddled over to a quite place in the lake. I steeped through the exercises of holding on to a dock, then a paddle float, then with paddle. I spent a fair amount of time hanging up side down. There were quite a few failed attempts where my head insisted on being the first thing up. And I was swimming several times. But in half an hour I could roll up on both sides reliably. I was using what was described as a "high brace" roll. Basically hold the paddle perpendicular to the boat and set up by pivoting it all the way to one side. A long bracing sweep cross body to the other side, with hip snap, and I'm up. I chose this one to start with mostly because it was one that I could understand from written description, but I don't think it is that effective of a roll. By the time I ran out of paddle oomph I was about 85% up - just on the edge of tipping back over but could recover. My guess is that to have a good chance of success in unstable conditions I have to be able to come up very solidly in stable conditions. Next step is to get a mask so I'm comfortable hanging upside down and go practice a screw roll. Anyone have any other suggestions for developing a solid, reliable roll? Tom Unger unger_at_tumtum.com http://www.tumtum.com Seattle, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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