Re: [Paddlewise] Impressions from a boat demo and rolling tricks

At 06:41 AM 5/8/00 -0700, Mel Grindol wrote:
>Hey, was that subject line long enough?  Maybe I should have written the 
>entire message in the subject...  :)
>
>The rolling trick:  Two guys rolled a double kayak.  The first time they 
>made it look easy but commented once they were up that they didn't think 
>they would make it since they were so loose in the boat (it was a big boat, 
>as most doubles are).  They tried a second time and the guy in the front 
>fell out.  The rear paddler still made the roll but he cheated.  he didn't 
>realize it but all of us on shore pointed out that he stuck the paddle to 
>the bottom of the lake (he was only in three feet of water) and used that to 
>roll.  Their first roll was a "legal" roll.

A couple of friends of mine did their first sucessful tandem roll last
weekend too.  One them, along with another person took out a Seaward Naia
for it's maiden voyage as the new tandem for my friends rental fleet.  Josh
is primarily a whitewater kayaker (as was his paddling partner) so he was
getting a kick out of how stable the Naia was and how much he had to lean
to get it on edge.   I was at the dock when they came back in and Josh's
partner was up front paddling while he was standing up between the cockpits.

They pulled up to the dock and another friend (Mike) got in so that he and
Josh could try rolling it.  They knew it wasnt' going to be easy since the
boat has a fairly flat hull and is 30" wide.   Their first attempt failed,
as did their second so they wet exited and emptied the boat.  Then Josh got
in, and tried rolling it by himself.  He rolled it twice, giving everyone
an opportunity to jokingly point out "where the problem was" when they had
tried to roll it together.   Mike got back in and they decided Josh would
tap on the hull three times, then they'd both try to roll.   It worked
perfectly and they came up easily.   Next, the woman that was paddling with
Josh got in and they tried rolling it together.  Another successful roll
ensued.   Josh wanted to try rolling it with the woman (never did get her
name) just leaned forward and grabbed the cockpit.  After the first attempt
failed, the woman exited and Josh waited and try to roll it after she was
out.  Unfortunately, she came up just about where he was set up for his
roll, and the paddle pushed her back under.  He came out of the boat and
she came back up and they decided that was enough.
>
>Learning to roll is high on my list this year.  :)
>
>The real reason I went to the demo wasn't to paddle kayaks (I already have 
>my Romany Explorer on order, 1.5 weeks till I get it).  

The Romany will be a good boat to learn in too.  I'd love to have one myself.

>So we tried:
>
>Wenonah Adirondack:  This ended up being our favorite.  Tracks well, but it 
>can really turn when you need it to.  Had great glide and could really move 
>in a straight line when you needed it to.  Stable without being overly 
>stable.  Just felt comfortable.  We paddled it three times during the 
>comparison.

My wife and I bought an Adirondack a couple of summers ago.  We really like
it too.


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