<big snip of some very well considered thoughts on rolling from Mike> > Maybe the secret to teaching the roll to most students (i.e. those who would have > trouble with most rolls) is to start with a butterfly or even a simple sculling > roll. This would convince them that rolling is in the realm of the possible. > Then move on to other easy rolls. Only introduce the harder rolls later. Which > order to follow would, of course, depend on the student. Well, I am guilty of this approach with a few students, especially if they have a troublesome time with indexing the paddle after numerous tries with an extended. My reservation, probably due to the approaches of training I took, is to discourage letting go of the paddle, even if only with a single hand. extended paddle is only to the extent of a slide to the root of the blade, not to the far end of the blade requiring a quick release and grab as I have seen taught. If they achieve an extended paddle, I try for a screw/sweep as soon as possible. I think your point is good though, as some sort of gratification is certainly an incentive to continue the discipline. But again, as is constantly reinforced by experience and watching such teachers as Ray and Margaret, there is no one approach to any student. I find that teaching the screw a better start for the young 'powerhouse' type, they can dive an extended paddle through the tile of the pool bottom. Older folk seem to like a low impact of a light traditional stick, others sometimes like to use their own paddle for the 'security' aspects. I probably prefer the teaching with a GP as it doesn't seem to have the sharper edges to keep an eye out for... > > Perhaps we have to get GPs into the hands of these students. I see lots of > beginners failing due to diving EPs - yet the GP seems to be dive-resistant > (John Winters once told me that thick-edged paddles seem to be dive-resistant > and suggested using a rim band on troublesome EPs). Once they've developed > the basic rolling skills they can move on to a potentially finicky EP. I think this is a generally good plan for someone either not bought into a style of paddling or just starting out. An experienced euro blader would have a good sense of indexing which is less of an issue. I find that if the blade and wrist is cocked right for the beginning of the sweep, encouraging the student to use a looser grip will even allow the euro to take a natural plane as in a GP. > I also am thinking that it's time to emphasize rolling as an achievable skill > for a large number of sea kayakers. White water paddlers roll in great numbers, > even if they stick to only one or two rolls. Why can't we use a broad range > of rolls of differing difficulty to introduce sea kayakers to the skill? > > > Have I been biased by being exposed to a collection of exceptional paddlers? > Or have I seen what happens when ordinary paddlers are exposed to good > instruction with good paddles? I don't know, but I'm not stopping here. I think if I never need a manifesto written Mike, I coming to you...interesting post! -- ø gabriel l romeu ø http://studiofurniture.com ø http://journalphoto.org ø http://kayakoutfitting.org *************************************************************************** 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 Sun Apr 28 2002 - 16:52:52 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:52 PDT