Great start on the self rescue! This is something that you will want to practice on a regular basis. You want it to become part of muscle memory. The wet exit is easy by comparison. You just need to become comfortable with being upside down and staying calm.
Don’t become overconfident after pool practice. A self or assisted rescue is a lot more difficult and tiring in the conditions that are likely to end up with you out of your boat.
I often do that here. Of course the water temp is 80-85.
Cold water just makes one roll faster. No lingering underwater counting the fish.
Georgian Bay had been bathtub warm in some places, but I was in Lake Ontario today and it was downright frigid! 14°C [~57°F]! How is that even possible given the heat this summer?
Ha! Brain freeze for sure.
Water temp changes possible because of upwelling. Lake Michigan (southern area) went from 70s to 40s and low 50s last week.
Good reason to have a well-practiced re-entry.
Normal water temperature of the ocean water in Maine is at best lower 60’s by later July/August. The Gulf of Maine has been warming but it is still chilly compared to many inland bodies and further south.
So dropping for a scull or a roll to cool off for much of the season means water in the 50’s. Brain freeze temps more in the lower half of the 40;s. A roll takes very little time - several seconds if you dawdle - so cooler temperatures can be tolerated much better than for someone who has to rely on other self rescues.
Correct, I do. Otherwise my statement wouldn’t make logical sense, would it?
or do a 1/2 roll (balance brace) instead of full roll.
On my long paddle days in the summer down here (FL,southern GA) I have to get wet several times during the paddle.
I used to roll for this. However, it takes time (put away things on deck to below, remove glasses or be ready to clean them off, make sure hat is secure, etc).
A ‘1/2 roll’ is quick (or as long as you want to ‘rest’ on your side), no ‘set up’ required, the deck remains dry, glasses don’t get wet (the hat still does), you’re back on your way immediately. Note: one side will remain somewhat dry, so to get the upper body fully wet, you’ll have to do it on both sides.
Even though the ‘balance brace’ is easier than a roll, I think (though not sure) you should learn a roll first (you know, in case your 1/2 roll turns into something more that 1/2).
At various above…
Should be able to find and pull the skirt loop with one hand. The other is likely to be busy hanging onto a paddle. IMO any skirt that you cannot pull off with one hand even with tired due to tightness should not be worn.
I choose skirts that are leakier than some like. But they will come off if I am not at the top of my game, which is when shit often happens.
On air and water temps and rolling etc
Paddling in Maine, a normal situation all summer is hot summer temps with water in the 50’s to low 60’s. So for those of us who are not locals, who generally do better at acclimating to the chilly water, we are paddling in dry suits or neoprene for the water that are downright hot for the air on a sunny day. To avoid overheating it is necessary to do rolls, sculls, balance braces in fairly chilly water.
As above there are ways to get down in the water short of a roll. But as raisins said, most are best executed if a roll is in the tank in case something slips. Especially if paddling solo. The best way to cool off in warm weather is to get your body in the water, but that involves a skirt.
This is why rolling should come as early as possible, at the same time as learning stuff like paddle float reentries. Especially if solo paddler. Balance braces are a lovely way to cool off, and as above do not require securing stuff like a roll. Have to admit that it does come easier for smaller people and females than for many men. The combination of the flexibility required and where the weight is.
Waiting to start a roll becomes a self-inflicted problem. If it is learned or approached as other than a natural continuum to sculling/braces other deeper water skills, it becomes a “thing” that is bigger than it actually is.
Greenland training gets this right, most other approaches to sea kayaking have a disconnect there. A roll is just sculling up in a single stroke. With a properly fitting boat the complicating factors are what humans add like bringing the head up to early (my bete noir) or not using the lower body well. But that is still all it is. Even when it was taking me nearly two years to get it, because of some issues with claustrophobia once I had to stay in the boat upside down, I knew that was all it is. The roll was not the problem, my anxiety was.
Disclaimer here, have to admit that with the various disruptions of this season my roll even on my right is vague at best. For the first time in well over a decade. So when I paddle in Maine I am relying a lot of being very conservative about conditions and being in the Romany, which is a very kind boat to various alternate forms of self-rescue.
But I know that it is in there with some serious time on sculling, as well as the left with more time, and that will be remedied before I try paddling either a more challenging boat or in more challenging conditions.
“I’m tired. This is hard work.”
Rolling is much less tiring than re-entering.
Absolutely. But baby steps. I’m just on step 2.
Wet exit
Wet entry
Remove skirt on land
Remove skirt upside down and exit
Wet entry and re-attach skirt
Roll
Sculling stroke
No high and low braces?
As to the roll, no one in my region is teaching it because of Covid-19.
Also think you should master sculling before the roll.
Oh yes, the brace! When I was practicing my wet entry I always started with a failed brace.
But why practice sculling before rolling? What happens if you fail to scull? You don’t have a roll to get out? Oh! If you fail to scull then you wet exit, right? That makes sense.
Sculling is a good thing to master.
A sculling draw is quite handy when you need (or want) to move sideways. Plus it’s fun to do. I’ve read a sculling brace can save a failed brace and can also save a failed roll.
I was playing around with it today, trying to see how far I could get my Prana over before it flipped. Messed it up because I was in a low brace position instead of high brace position so muscle memory took over and I popped back up.
Will try to get it right tomorrow by starting in a high brace position. It’s something that was never covered in any classes I’ve taken, so working from videos:
It was never covered because the High Brace or deep high Brace has been shunned for many years now…because of the difficulty retaining the paddlers box during the teaching.
So most have deleted the failed brace training from a high brace position in their teachings and concentrate on failed low brace training.
What about the sculling brace? Is that out the window as well?
A high brace when performed correctly is a very useful way to control your kayak in conditions. However, a high brace with bad technique has the danger of shoulder injury/dislocated shoulder.
That is a rescue you do not want to be a part of when the only way back to safety is to proceed with the injured paddler in tow going through a surf line. It takes a team to do so safely.
Sculling (in low brace position) is actually the very first thing I teach in a beginner’s class.
My main purpose is to remove some of their capsize anxiety by letting them feel how much support they have available. But it also gives a good introduction to blade awareness and edging.
As is a low brace.
Nice video above, the NRS/Ken Whiting one. I was thinking of more like this though.
It just looks fun!