I am a roller wanna be but I have gotten advice from several teachers and have experimented to see if the advice works. Also I am a short, senior woman so may have some different issues than a younger, bigger man. Here are some things that keep me from rolling. 1)Falling off the brace inside my boat when I'm upside down and therefore not being able to do a hip snap. Fix by customizing the cockpit so knees and hips don't lose contact with the boat. I fit pretty good, side to side but not from top to bottom. 2)Having the foot petals too far down and thus not sending the energy from the hip snap to the boat. Fix by shortening the petals, especially when learning. They you can relax a little as you get better. Going into the roll too soon and too fast. Especially in a sea kayak this is a problem because the large amount of inertia makes the boat lag behind your movements if you are going too fast. Using a sweep roll or a screw roll keeps you slowed down enough to coordinate with your boat. Also I think the screw roll is the best to learn because you have many opportunities to come up without having to start all the way over. Most seakayak teachers are not teaching the C to C for this reason. However I started learning it and now have to unlearn it to do the screw. I am currently at the stage where I must make my kayak cockpit much smaller. I really need another boat because I can't lean one way and work on the other side. But ruling out these problems should help you roll. I also think it is why you can roll one boat but not another. And after you learn to roll well, you don/t need to fit as tightly. As you perfect your roll, you will get more able to roll in less tight boats and in boats that fit you different.y. But I have seen instructors change boats because they can't do a particular roll in a particular boat. Marilyn Kircus ===== Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. John Cotton Dana *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I think you make a lot of good points that beginners can understand. Making sure the progression is solid is another important part of the process, assuming one has good boat fit. Many people jump too far forward without learning the basics and committing them to muscle memory. Having someone stand next to you and lead you through the motions is very helpful. While I do like the sweep roll for sea kayaking, and also being short don't always get my body wrapped around the kayak like I should for the c-c, I think different individuals tend towards different rolls and a good instructor can see that at the beginning and have the student evolve towards one or the other. Andree Kayak Instruction Excellence http://www.onwatersports.com/KIX/ Webmaster, Canoe Magazine http://www.canoekayak.com/ - March issue is live Viewit.com - Website Design, Hosting, Maintenance, E-commerce http://www.viewit.com/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:20 PDT