Re: [Paddlewise] Eskimo Rolling Wide Boats

Peter Rattenbury (ratten_at_uow.edu.au): Do any Klepper or Feathercraft owners 
roll their boats?  I mean in real conditions, not as a 'circus trick' as 
Ralph Diaz so aptly describes it. By real conditions, I mean in the sort of 
sea/swell/wind /surf mix which would put you upside down in one of these 
boats?

Ralph Hoehn: Peter, that depends. 

Khatsalano owners will happily roll all day long and are well advised to be 
able to do so. At least some larger and heavier users of K-Light and Alu-Lite 
will also benefit from a roll even under "normal" paddling circumstances. 

Let's expand your question to the wider range of currently available folding 
boats:

In a broad generalization Folbot, Klepper and Nautiraid singles, as well as 
the Feathercraft K1 and the Pouch E65 will not need to be rolled under normal 
circumstances, nor are they intended to be, but, as Jochen Grikschat points 
out, ("rolling for everyone"): Having the skills to perform a roll will make 
your paddling in general that much more self-confident. 

Seavivor singles (I'm told) and the Pouch E68 can be paddled comfortably 
without ever rolling. However, if you take them into or through surf (where 
they are a lot of fun!) the ability to roll will stand you in good stead, 
increase your enjoyment of the experience and make you safer -- it will make 
the unit of you, the paddler, and your craft that much more seaworthy (no 
boat is seaworthy until it has a competent operator).

Folding doubles should probably not be rolled under real life conditions. It 
is hard and requires very good cordination. If the circumstances are such 
that you capsized in the first place, a technique, which is already 
complicated to perform in a double, will most likely become impossible. At 
that point it's easier and probably safer to perform an inverted exit, right 
the boat and reenter, the one paddler helping the other. Practice this in 
earnest!

HOWEVER: The important thing is NOT the act of rolling, but rather the 
acquisition of the skill that COULD give you the ability to roll. 

Many folding kayakers are complacent in that they love to rely on the 
"legendary" stability of their boats to see them through adversity. In short, 
steep breaking waves however this stability works against you once the 
severity of the sea state surpasses a certain point: The tendency of the boat 
to stay parallel to the surface of the water leaves you perpendicular to it 
even when the surface of the water is no longer level. Eventually that will 
lead to a capsize, unless you have the confidence and ability to brace very 
aggressively into the (breaking) wave that's about to tumble you. In fact, in 
a "stable" folding boat, your brace needs to be much more aggressive than in 
less stable craft.

I contend that having practiced inversion prevention and inversion recovery 
in any boat will be of benefit to you under such circumstances (even if you 
never take it to a full inversion and recovery, the "circus trick"; and by 
the way, Ralph Diaz continues to work hard on his rolling skills, even if he 
has no intention of ever running away to the circus, which is what I 
threatened my parents with most of a life time ago).

PR: This issue is of importance to me, as the owner of a single Klepper who 
is constantly asked about rolling the thing by my glass/plastic boat owning 
friends. My reply to them is why would I want to roll a boat which by reason 
of its air sponsons is difficult to roll in ideal conditions, and in fact the 
whole notion is contrary to the design of the boat.
RH: (pet peeve: It's not the air sponsons that give the boat stability, but 
the area, shape and distribution (along the length of the boat) of the hull's 
submerged cross sections. Increasing beam will tend to increase stability -- 
whether the exterior shape of the hull is determined by the outline of the 
boat's sponsonless frame or by inserted sponsons or by the skin being stuffed 
full of old socks is irrelevant. Inflatable sponsons provide no stability 
until the boat is swamped.) 

I quite agree with you that the notion of rolling a Klepper single (and most 
other folding singles for that matter) is contrary to its design of course. 
These boats were designed for relatively calm river touring, not for sea 
kayaking; they are not intended to invert. However, more and more kayakers 
are pushing the envelope of what is possible with these boats. To do so, to 
take the boats beyond their design limits, you need skills and technique ... 
or you have to change to a boat which is designed for more extreme 
conditions. 

Incidentally, Edi Hans Pawlata writes in his introduction to "Kipp, kipp 
hurrah!" (published in 1928) describes how he was not only proud to see his 
first student perform a roll in a narrow, Greenland-type hull, but for that 
same student to effect the technique in a "normal" river touring (folding) 
boat. The design of the latter is likely to have been very similar to 
traditional folding singles like the Klepper (as opposed to the more recently 
developed folding boats entering the market in the last few years).

PR: And  how are you going to hang upside down in a Klepper, without 
dangerously compromising your ability to safely and efficiently wet exit. I 
just do not think you can fit out the Klepper's large and wide cockpit 
without going to ludicrous measures. 
RH: 
- Retrofitting solid footrests (if they are not factory installed) is 
something one should do to any (folding) boat unless the transverse frames 
happen to provide decent purchase for your feet. 
- A firm, fixed seat and back rest should be a standard requirement. 
- I've had no problems bracing my knees under the coaming of Klepper doubles 
for my third vital contact point to effect boat control (in single paddler 
mode). 
- The only modification I made to my Pouch RZ96 for pool training was to 
strap inflatable buoyancy bags to the frame at the gunwales on either side of 
the seat: Perfect, cheap, infinitely adjustable outfitting. 

None of it ludicrous in my book, none of it interfered in any way with my 
ability to exit inverted. Try it (especially the exit!), practice it ... 
Jochen Grikschat is somewhat of an extreme paddler (about whom one might here 
more in this respect in due course); nonetheless he admits to fear in a boat 
and a decrease of that fear after learning certain techniques AND practicing 
them. This does apply to folding boats no less!

PR: All this, however, places even a greater onus on owners of boats like 
mine to religiously practice self rescue techniques other than rolling.  And 
because I paddle mostly in open sea,  this means practice in realistically 
rough conditions.
RH: Rolling your Klepper single is NOT a rescue technique until you are VERY 
good at it. Preventing an inversion is your first best form of "rescue" and, 
I trust, you practice this religiously, too. Of course practicing reentry 
techniques is a prerequisite for your type of paddling for the time when all 
else fails ... but I'd prefer not to put myself at risk of hungry critters 
(;-) or, more importantly, hypothermia in the first place. 

Therefore I strongly advocate that even, no, especially (complacent) folding 
boat owners wake up and practice boat control techniques (which, in my 30 
years in folding boats, I have seen very few do ... including me for the 
first few years until the usefulness of technique use was pointed out to me 
by courtesy of a relatively benign mishap, which could have ended in 
disaster). If of course you only paddle on a mill pond on a perfectly calm 
sunny summer Sunday afternoon you may wish to laugh me out of court.

PR: It seems to me, that rolling is something which my friends constantly 
obsess about; ... At this end of the world [ Australia ], there is such an 
emphasis on rolling ability that it has now become a dictum that if you don't 
roll, you aren't really a seakayaker. 
RH: Yep, people obsess about this mystical thing misnamed rolling -- wrongly 
and at the expense of seeing the greater picture.

PR: We recently had a 'club incident' in which a number of kayakers found 
themselves floundering around tipped out of their boats [ all glass or 
plastic ] in worsening wind and sea conditions about a kilometre off a rocky 
lee  shore, and unable to self rescue.
    In other words they needed other kayakers/ or rescuers from shore to help 
them get upright and/or out of danger. Some of these folks had probably 
practiced rolling,  but when they encountered a suprise capsize, which is 
quite a different kettle of fish to a controlled set up roll in flat calm,  
they failed to rescue themselves.
    Again, it is my observation, that if you are going to rely on a roll as 
the primary  self rescue technique, then this should incorporate a re-entry 
upside down, and roll up.  And how many of us can do that, or practice this?
RH: No comment!!! 

PR: Any thoughts, folks, particularly from the good 'ol folding boat 
community?
RH: A few ... now, where to start ... ;-)

Ralph
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