Re: [Paddlewise] teaching rolling

At 09:42 PM 2/12/02 +1100, Bay and Beyond Sea Kayak Tours wrote:
>Hi Everybody,
>
>I have just started following the digest format of paddlewise. Lots of 
>good advice.
>
>My questions:
>
>1) Looking for opinions on what is the best resource/ source of 
>information about teaching /how to teach rolling.
>
>2) Also if you have tried to teach people the counter intuitive skill 
>called rolling, what are your favorite techniques. What works, what doesn't?
>
>I start by getting people comfortable hanging up side down in their boats 
>with me standing beside them in waist deep water. I get them to count and 
>then tap the side of the boat when they want to be brought back 
>upright.  If they haven't done a wet exit before we practice that as well.

As I'm mentioned here before the club that I am associated with has new 
people do a couple of wet exits before anything else.  That means that they 
are told not to attach a spray skirt until they've done a dry run of a wet 
exit outside the pool, and only after they've demonstrated a good wet exit 
are they given a paddle.



>Next we start working on hip flicks explaining that the paddle looks 
>really sexy with all that sweeping but the power is your roll is in the 
>hips.  I get folks to hang on the side of the pool/ on the nose of 
>another  boat/ on to someone elses hands or what ever is close by that 
>offers support.

I spend a little more time here.  I'll have them get parallel to the edge 
of the pool and ask them to grab hold of it well. Then I'll ask them to try 
and put their head near their hands, or their ear in the water.  Then I'll 
them to try doing again but try to keep the bottom of the boat flat to the 
water. Once they're in that position, I'll have them slowly rotate the boat 
with their hips as far as they can, then rotate it back up flat, then bring 
their head back up.  This isn't really a "hip flick" but what it does is 
help loosen their hips.  One of the things that I've notice with beginner 
trying to "hip snap" the first time, is that they are usually very stiff in 
the hips. Rather than try and get them to just do a hip snap, I think just 
slowly rotating the boat with the hips gives a better idea of what they're 
trying to accomplish.

Once they look like they're turning the boat over and back with their hips 
I have them progressively move their head deeper into the water until 
they're able to turn completely upside down, holding onto the edge of the 
pool with one hand (the hand away from the edge of the pool), and then hip 
snap the boat back up.  One trick I often use to keep their head coming up 
last is to tell them  to look at the bottom of the pool until the boat is 
completely back under them.


>Then it is time to start to introduce the paddle. I have the student get 
>into the set up position with paddle on the deck of the boat and body 
>leaning forward. Once upside down they slip the paddle out and pat the 
>blade twice on the surface of the water to be sure that they have broken 
>the surface of the water with the paddle.

Jolie asked about the set up position and specifically about "with the 
paddle on the deck of the boat".  Rather than use the term "set up 
position" I prefer to use "check point positions".  The first checkpoint 
has the paddle parallel to the boat on the side opposite the side that 
they'll be coming up.  From that point one can capsize in either direction 
to get to the next checkpoint.
I make it a point to stress that they should hold the paddle next to the 
hull until they're completely upside down.  The next checkpoint comes when 
they're upside down with the paddle parallel to the boat.  I suggest that 
they check the position by pushing the paddle toward the sky and bending at 
the waist, stretching their side out as much as they can.  Assuming they're 
going to do a  C-to-C roll, the next checkpoint is achieved by bringing the 
paddle perpendicular to the boat with the hand that is closest to the boat 
reaching around the bottom as much as they can.  If they've got the blade 
angle correct the outside blade should remain on the surface.  Slapping the 
surface of the water with the outside blade confirms that they're in the 
third checkpoint position.  Now do the hip snap and roll up.



>I will then guide the paddle through the rolling motion asking them to 
>just feel the motion of the paddle with their muscles to try to develop 
>kinesthetic awareness. When the paddle is perpendicular they are starting 
>to come out and they finish off with the  hip flick. After guiding them a 
>few times I will get them to try it on their own and start giving 
>corrections to the usual errors. (pulling across the deck of the boat 
>underwater or pulling straight down instead of sweeping across the surface).
>
>It is then a mater of doing less and less guiding of the paddle while they 
>get more and more of a feel for it. I usually end up supporting and 
>guiding the paddle with one finger at the end of the blade.

You're teaching more of a sweep roll than a C-to-C.  One of the most common 
failures that I have noticed when sweeping the paddle from parallel to 
perpendicular is the inability to keep the outside blade near the surface 
due to the angle of the blade.   If they're rolling up on the right, make 
sure that they're cocking their right wrist forward as they sweep.


>What do people think of using paddle floats to give the feel of the sweep 
>with out having to worry about the paddle being pulled down? The paddle 
>float is deflated a bit more each attempt to decrease the buoyance.

Personally, I think they're useful if they're only used to demonstrate 
paddle positions.  As others have mentioned, one can rely on the support 
for the paddle float to roll up in lieu of a good hip snap, but I still 
think they can help a lot to achieve some muscle memory.  Even with a 
paddle float, if your hips are locked, it's difficult to come up.  Here's 
how I use them:

I have the person just set the paddle out with the float to the side 
perpendicular to the hull and try tilting the boat with their hips over and
vigorously hip snapping back up.  Then I have them progressively go over 
farther and farther until they can lie in the water on their side with just 
their face out of the water and have them practice a few slow hip rolls to 
turn the boat over with just their hips and back up, while leaving the side 
of the head on the water.  Next I tell them to put their face in the water 
and hip snap back up.  As long as they keep the paddle perpendicular to the 
boat it's difficult to actually get their head under water so the next 
thing I do is have them fall over with the paddle perpendicular, then bring 
the paddle parallel to the boat, then back to perpendicular and hip snap 
back up.  At this point they're pretty much rolling up from a position 
where they are completely upside down.  Once they've got that down, I have 
them set up in the  first checkpoint position I describe above. If they're 
rolling up on the right, start with the paddle on the left side of the boat 
and capsize to the right.  I tell them to let the boat settle upside down, 
bring the paddle to a perpendicular position, then roll up.  At that point 
they can try letting the air out of the paddlefloat but I think that just 
going directly to an attempt to roll without the paddlefloat is better at 
this point because they just can't get the feel of the blade on the water 
with a paddlefloat attached.

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