Re: [Paddlewise] Big Rolls

On Sun, Mar 23, 2003 at 03:59:52PM -0600, Keith Wrage wrote:
> Correct me if I'm wrong here:  But in the sweep roll that Kent teaches in 
> his video, they don't advocate or suggest finishing lying on the back deck, 
> right?  If they do, maybe this is why I can't get it!! :o)  I may have 
> missed that nuance of this thing!

And it may have been too long since I've watched that particular
video: I'll have to find it, drop it in, and watch it again.

The sweep roll that I learned ends up with the paddle in the same
position that it would be at the end of an ordinary forward sweep:
nearly parallel to the boat.  The body ends up arched back over
the back deck.  I actually *do* use this roll under very special
conditions: when playing in deep water where I know (a) there is
no chance of hitting the bottom and (b) if I miss it, I'll have
plenty of time to set up and roll again before washing into anything.
Mostly I do it sporadically just so I don't forget it. ;-)

I use the C-to-C roll under all other circumstances, though, because
if I'm upside-down, I probably got that way because some river
feature pounded me and left me that way.  My goal is thus to get
up FAST before something even worse happens, to keep my face protected
while it's down there, and to come up in a position that leaves me
prepared to take a hard forward stroke immediately.

BTW: I should have probably mentioned some of the other exercises
that I do: one is to take my feet off the footbraces and my knees
off the pads.  This means that I can't use my lower legs and have
to rely entirely on my hips -- I find it useful for isolating and
training those muscles.  Another is to blow the skirt and roll
the boat several times -- it gets much harder and this usually
ends with a swim to the side of the pool.  Another is to set up
left, then re-set up right and roll; another is to flip, pass the
paddle over the top (hull) of the boat and roll; and another is to
do 5 left, 5 right as rapidly as possible.  Everybody has little
games like this: I think all of them help turn the roll into a reflex
action and to make it more reliable.  They're also kind of fun.

Now my C-1 roll...well, let's just say that it's rather an iffy
thing at this point. ;-)

---Rsk

***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************