Jed wrote: "I'm am convinced today that rolling should be taught first [...]". Reminds me of an American colleque I invited for an afternoon on the water. I asked him if he had ever paddled before, and he answered that he could perform a roll. I naturally assumed that someone who is able to roll is also able to paddle forward, backward, sideways, is able to brace and has no trouble entering or exiting a boat. It was a warm day, paddling the small creeks of the Biesbosch in the Netherlands, so his skill didn't matter. I was just very surprised that rolling was the ONLY thing he could do with a kayak. He explained that he had been invited for a paddle trip once before, somewhere upstate New York. Americans take safety serious, so his host had insisted he should be able to perform a roll before the trip could start. At the end of that day, he was able to roll, but there was no time left to do some actual paddling. I agree with Jed that rolling is a basis for a lot of advanced skills and maybe is the first advanced skill to practice. However, when I take people for an afternoon of hanging out on the water, I am very glad when they manage to move their boat more or less forward. Paddling a 10 meter wide canal without hitting the shore is considered to be an advanced skill on those trips. There is no point or lesson in this story. Just thought it amuse you. Niels. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Apr 03 2001 - 04:10:20 PDT
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