Rockport Ledge on saturday...Roll help?

[mathewsjimm]

Anyone going to be at rockport saturday that might be able to help me with my roll? Its pathetic and I feel like its holding me back. Swimming gets old. Any help would be appreciated.


Thanks
Jim Mathews

[Twindad]

My suggestion is to PM Cowper Chadbourne to see when/if he'll be there.

[Renee H]

My suggestion is to go to the pool on Wednesday night or bug someone to help you before the water gets there or after it goes down. This has been an unusual year with the drought so the short releases on the weekend are the only game in town, so you will probably be hard pressed to find someone to give up the 2 hours of play they get to work with you on rolling, but who knows, you might.

[sat4]

As I wont be back for a few weeks the best advice I can give you is KYFHD ,Keep your freaking head down.
If you've rolled it once and can't do it again then thats probably the prob. Either that or your rushing because your not comfortable being in the most un-natural position in the world...upside down, underwater,in a kayak.
I had the same disfunction and still have a habit of picking my head up sometimes. Something about that habit of wanting to breath that complicates things Find a pool,pond or the deep spot at the ledge (before the water gets there) put you noseplugs in and hang out upside down.Open your eyes,look around, relax.
Rember to watch your power blade ALL the way through the roll,if your looking at it then your head has no choice but to come up last.
Once you get 1 roll that you know you can ALLWAYS do, learn another,and another,and another... Just because you probably wont ever use them is no reason to ignore them.
I learned the brace roll about 5 months ago in pool sessions, I now know 7 ( 14 if you count the same ones, just offside) with a paddle and A few more with hand paddles,and a fairly good doubble pump hand roll in 1 boat(still working on the others)
Not only are they fun to learn its a great way to build confidence,and show off a bit at the lake. Pepole get interested when they see someone pull of a paddle behind the head roll. And you'll know that if you get stuck in a less than perfect rolling situation your just a hip flick away from the surface no matter where your paddle is.

[randominsects]

Where are you coming from and what time do you plan to be there?

[mathewsjimm]

Thanks for all the help. Turns out I won't be able to make it over today afterall. Work calls!

Jim

[okieboater]

Having spent decades helping people learn to roll a kayak, I can offer you the two things I most often observe when a person's roll fails.

Number one is the head comes up first. If the head is the last thing out of the water, the roll attempt almost always works. Disclaimer: I have seen this rule broken. But only if the boater has a dynamite hip snap - rolling knee.

Number two is the sweep blade goes directly down to the bottom not out to the side. This is often the result of the head coming up first. The cure for most folks is to push the front blade out to the side (NOT DOWN) and to then watch the front blade sweep out and then towards the stern.

Wrap Up:
If the boater sweeps the forward arm out to the side (not down) and watches the front blade till the head ends up looking down the paddle shaft as the person's head comes out of the water - the roll most often works - best in a sweep roll but works as well in the classic C to C roll. If a person sets up body over the side (not the front of the cockpit) it is easier for the sweep to go out to the side. A further tip is to do a powerful snap pull of the paddle out of the water directly up out and across the body with the setup back hand leading the move. What this will do is further engage the rolling knee to rotate the boat even more. I have seen this move save a lot of marginal rolls.

One thing I used to do with kids of all ages learning to roll a kayak, is to first have them "hang out" upside down in a kayak, pound the side of their kayak to make a drum sound and cheer them on big time when they finally did a wet exit. The purpose of this drill is to show them they can get comfortable upside down and not automatically panic and go for the pull cord of the spray skirt.