I was at a pool session last night, and decided to play with a “broken paddle” roll. So I grab half of a two piece euro and scull down to the surface to get used to the dynamics. Yeah, I can do it. I just have to scull with faster, shorter strokes. Then I notice a little “discomfort” in my inboard hand. Mind you this took all of about a half a second. I realized something was cutting into the tip of my middle finger, and I had two choices: stop sculling and wet exit or eat the pain and scull up. So being the manly man that I am, I bite the bullet and right myself. I guess being a manly man does not require brains, because now I’m limping over the keyboard with a half-moon hole in my middle finger. While sculling, I grated it over the hole for the ferrule detent on the female half of the paddle. So, lesson learned:
If and when you want to practice a broken paddle roll, be sure to use the male half of the paddle. Oh, and when you’re upside down because you just lost your primary paddle in a big wave/wind incident, be sure to grab the same half of your on-deck spare…one more thing to think through while you’re getting trashed. This just motivates me that much more to carve a storm paddle.
Jim
Another point
Go over ALL gear for sharp or raw edges, things to snag, etc. Most issues can be easily fixed or eliminated.
This way, maybe you don’t have to blow a roll because you get confused trying to sex your paddle halves!
(Maybe a good idea to get in the habit of not grabbing the end - but a bit farther up the shaft too? Perhaps a bit less sculling and more snapping for “emergency” type rolls? Just random thoughts)
Women are from Venus . . .
In general I set the male-ended paddle as my “go to” split but that because it’s slightly longer and has a stronger connection end. There’s no reason why the female-ended paddled wouldn’t also work. just marginally less well. Assuming you have already de-burred the hole that bit you, wouldn’t following the paddle rotation with the inbound wrist have eliminated the tendency to cut into your hand?
I still believe a short GP or single bladed Aleut paddle is a better choice than a split for emergency rolling (of course a hat over the hand will produce similar results. That is why we wear hats while paddling isn’t it??)
Hat roll?
The only hat roll I have is on a windy day walking down the beach.
I think I would have done better, but I still had a death grip on the paddle. Even once trained on it, I think I’d still much prefer a no nonsense solution, eg: storm.
What hat?
What hat should I try? I kind of mastered the m & f split the last couple of pool sessions (without injury). Should I try a bill cap or a tilly type tonight? Maybe a hard hat? I’m running out of rolls to try, but still haven’t mastered the elusive hand roll. Tonight I’m going to try a bang stick noise maker roll!
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10993644/Bang_Stick_Noise_Maker.html
~wetzool
Busted
My first choice with a real broken paddle would be to hold the shaft at the base of the blade in one hand, and do what is essentially a throwing stick roll.
With a real busted paddle, there’d be sharp edges, and I’d want to minimize my chance of injury.
Wayne
Jed, have you ever snagged…
the ferule button on deck bungies on your “go to” split? I have, so the chick split has been my “go to” for a while now. I set them up the same way on deck each time.
Dogmaticus