RE: [Paddlewise] Eskimo roll

I said:>
> Dana, don't let these nattering nabobs of negativity get you down.

Rob responded:
>>Negative???  Oh do you mean when I said it took me forever to learn to
roll?<<

Several people had said how hard it was, not just you.

Rob said:
>>One of the things I don't like to hear from a new
student is "I've been trying to teach myself to roll all winter".  What that
usually means is that they have committed every conceivable bad habit to
muscle memory, and instead of beginning with a fresh canvas I have to strip
of a bunch of old paint.<<

Great metaphor, I always found it much easier to teach somebody that hadn't
ever tried rolling before (either by themselves or with another teacher--but
had not succeeded). Yes, breaking bad habits is a lot harder and more
tedious than teaching good ones.


Jed said:
>>But it is much easier and faster to have an
instructor direct your first efforts. I know of only a handful of paddlers
that have taught themselves and actually have good rolls.<<

I agree totally, but if there isn't an instructor available and you are
coordinated and determined (and willing to use a few artificial aids like a
dive mask and flat foam paddlefloat) it can be done, many paddlers have told
me they taught themselves using the advice in the rescues section of our
website on rolling.

Jed said:
>>So keep Matt's post, but don't try to understand all of it at once, there
is too much there. If you try to remember everything in his post, you will
find yourself concentrating on the components and not become fluid in your
overall movement. Have you even seen a cat flip over in mid air? (Hasn't
everyone tried this?)  Rolling is a similar movement, not difficult but
neither is it instinctive for mere humans.

    As Rob Cookson must have said in his series of great rolling tips:
    If it feels strenuous, it's wrong. A roll should feel like a stretch,
first to one side then to the other.<<

And I started out with such good intentions to try to prevent the main
difficulties new students have. Unfortunately my comments just kept growing
and growing until I probably just added to the students confusion. if you
are going to get an instructor forget most of what I said and listen to the
instructor (unless he or she is too verbose and confusing like me):^)
Rolling is eeeasy, sometimes we just make it hard by trying to hard. Relax
and have a nice stretch, first to one side and then to the other. Whoever
said it, I like it.



I said:
(although you have already rotated it a lot just by reaching as far
 out as can as you sweep the blade around on its glide path).

Rob commented:
Although you don't want a violent snap at the beginning of the sweep it is
never too early to start rotating the boat.  (assuming we're doing some form
of screw roll)

I think this usually takes care of itself if you stretch way out. The danger
of thinking about righting the kayak too early is that it is usually
combined with a downward pull on the paddle early on before the paddle blade
has gotten far enough away from the kayak to be an effective lever and
therefore a lot of energy is expended pulling the blade down into the water
without getting much rotation of the kayak. Your first job is to get the
paddle blade perpendicular to and a long way away from the kayak. If you
stretch out like this to perpendicular the lower knee will rotate the kayak
the first 90 degrees without you being aware of it. This gets you to a
position where your body is still totally in (and suspended by) the water
and with the kayak only 1/4 turn to go. If you swing around further to the
back deck as you pull strongly on the knee to right the kayak the back deck
practically scoops you out of the water as it is righted and brought
underneath you. A hard pull down on the paddle at this time can make for
success even if things were pretty sloppy. At least as long as you laid back
enough so you don't have your body and head too far out from the center of
rotation of the kayak (thereby letting gravity use your head and body
mass--too far from the centerline of the kayak--lever you back down into the
water). Remember, to try and take your head out last, not first. This is
counterintuitive to a being that is probably looking to get a gulp of oxygen
as soon as possible so fight the tendency to get your head up, let the water
support it as long as possible until you slip it up onto the back deck.
There I go again into that cursed verbosity. Sorry.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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