Re: [Paddlewise] Offside roll: how useful?

On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Karl Coplan wrote:

> So my question is for those who have actually rolled in combat 
> conditions (I have not) -- has an offside roll ever been much help 
> under conditions in which an onside roll was unsuccesfull?  I dont 
> buy the argument that if you may save time with an offside roll if 
> your paddle happens to be closer to the offside set up position, 
> since it hardly takes a second to work your paddle into the onside 
> setup position.  I am also not entirely convinced by the argument 
> that, beam to the seas, there are conditions under which one side is 
> favored over the other.  From my own experience practising in a chop, 
> successful rolling with beam seas is more a matter of timing than 
> direction -- you cant roll uphill into either the front or the back 
> of the wave.  In any event, I'd rather be using a strong onside roll 
> into a wave than a weak offside roll.  Even if one side is favored 
> over the other, can a disoriented upside down kayaker in rough seas really 
> figure out which is the favored side in a few seconds?
> 
> So is the offside roll just a pool trick to impress people, or has 
> anybody on this list ever needed it to save their skin?

i know of conditions were it was certainly needed, high winds, and the
person who went over kept getting blown back over while trying to roll,
and finally did an offside roll to get back up...then the wind helped!!

mark

#------canoeist[at]netbox[dot]com----http://www.diac.com/~zen/mark ----
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mark zen                      o,    o__              o_/|   o_.
po box 474                   </     [\/              [_|   [_\
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http://www.diac.com/~zen/paddler  [index to club websites i administer]

Rocky Mtn Sea Kayak Club, Colorado River Flows, Poudre Paddlers
The Colorado Paddlers' Resource, Rocky Mtn Canoe Club Trip Page 
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