RE:[Paddlewise] Fear of rolling.

Here's my two bits worth. I'm in the (hopefully) final stages of 
learning to roll (no, not learning the last roll there is to learn, but 
of learning the first roll there is to learn.)  I'm not fearful of being 
inverted or of wet exiting, but I want to mention another limiting 
factor on the practice - energy. From reports here and just the looks of 
it, rolling takes very little energy when done properly. But when done 
improperly, that's another story. The best thing to happen to me was to 
have a coach (preferred) or just a non-paddler standing at the bow so I 
can make a roll attempt and if I don't get the boat under me, I just 
relax and fall back into the water, tuck WAY forward grasping the hull 
in the universal "I give up" signal and have them roll me up. Laying on 
the fore deck makes it easy for them to do. I can breath, discuss what I 
did wrong, and have another go. Very little energy  wasted.  I can make 
a lot more attempts before I am too tired to give it a good try.

Maybe one step in the journey would be to get the student comfortable 
with the coach rolling them 360 while grasping the hull. Then once they 
decide to stop trying it's only two or three seconds until you are back 
on the surface. The only extra equipment I use are  nose plugs. Any 
other stuff like breathing tubes would be a big distraction. A mask 
would be OK if you are a visual learner, but so much is going on outside 
the range of vision that it might do more harm than good to try and look 
at it.

Carey
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