Lifting up the head too early, my anxiety related most common sin, gets in the way of the kayak coming up. Because it drops weight downward in the lower body.
The paddler is strictly speaking still controlling the kayak. Unfortunately the message is for the boat to go back down.
Your statement maybe needs to be modified to say to control the boat throughout to maintain an upward rotation.
Helping it to capsize again is an undesirable exercise of authority.
For practice…I don’t advocate just maintaining an upward rotation. I advocate total control even the speed going downward. Rolling isn’t just about rolling up. It is about kayak control. {see Sing’s film clip with Bruce Lee}
Kayak Control in all facets that the kayak is capable of. A roll is just a consequence of mastering control. {the paddler controls the kayak, not the other way around}
Once you get enough practice I think you’ll find that you have two types of rolls; one roll requires hip/thigh snap/lift and your other roll is all paddle. Just take that ‘outboard’ hand and push the GP down and forward into the water. The purchase it gives you… it’s like leaning on a handrail.
Rex, I have rolled with a GP and am good on at least the basic and the butterfly with very little work to get them back. I don’t paddle with a GP regularly though so do not have the full bank of instinctive skills with it for textured water. Since I paddle mostly solo these days, it makes it a poor choice for regular paddling. My better paddle for most of what I need to do out there is Euro.
I have knocked off a hand roll in a sea kayak a few times as well as the one where you just hold a short piece of wood (forget the name). But as noted by others, reality is I want to have my paddle in hand.
As of the time before my husband got ill I had solid, whitewater ready rolls on both sides. Surf too if I had ever figured out how to comer up on the correct side - kept getting knocked down again. I did demos for out local club at an annual event because it was nice to show people that no one had to be a robust young guy in their 20’s to do the more interesting stuff in a kayak.
But when my husband got sick I just stopped doing it as much. Less time paddling, and when we did it would not have been fun to do something which his medical issues made no longer possible. I made some pool sessions and got at least the right side put back each year but it is not what I had. Laziness on my part too, admittedly.
I seem to be unable to communicate clearly with anyone on this including RoyM, but I am quite certain that with the right time spent I can re-establish at least my right side in a way that is more blended in approaches than what I had before. For the paddling I do these days, the left is fine if it is actually a multistroke scull.
is there such a thing as ‘muscle memory’ ?
Ever since my back went out on me (2009), I do morning ‘stretching’ exercises.
Incorporated in these are ‘simulated’ rolls (several each side).
So, I do several ‘rolls’ every day.
Don’t know if this works or not, but I regularly go from October to May without rolling (even though I live in (northern) FL, I’m a wimp when it comes to cold water).
On the ‘first’ roll of the season (or after I haven’t in a long time) I don’t even pause to wonder whether or not the roll will be successful - it just is.
I have it and it kept me going for quite a while. But it is a good bit more faded than what yours probably is, and could use a tweak anyway.
There is. After surfing my Delphin exclusively for a period of last fall and this winter, I went back to the waveski and blew my first roll. The Dephin is easy to do a layback and apply upward pressure with thigh/knee. Not so with the waveski. I need and should have focused on pulling up my instep against the footstrap. Different muscle memory.
sing
I apologize Celia, it is me that isn’t communicating. I was listening…but offering you a different way to look at rolling. You said that you stay out of the boats way and let it roll because it works for you. I was saying , that in order to not lose your roll. Every facet of any roll has to be controlled by the roller. This is not how many teach rolling. Usually momentum is sought and used to enable a roll. This is fine when in the real world , when possible. And momentum does enhance a roll when it is able to be used…BUT…when learning or perfecting any particular roll it is good to NOT count on momentum. In fact , it is better to hold back and negate any momentum. In most rolling classes , the focus is to just roll…I am suggesting to not roll…but instead control the kayak completely and the roll will be there.
I hope some of this makes sense.
Rolling… Greenland style is not just the venue of the Greenland Paddle , it is also possible with a Euro.
I have a very old grainy video of this not clear at all so I don’t like to post it with all the clips done these days…but to show my point, here it is. I made this with the first generation digital camera I got.
We agree more than I think is coming thru. No problem.
The lifting the head too early is common. But is the answer to learning lay-back rolls and forward finish rolls. But there are rolls where the head never dips . So the head placement is generally a thing to get started with rolling. As you progress, this head thing only matters for certain roll. This is one of the reasons I have not addressed that as a problem. It is only a problem that depends on if you only want to work on one style roll. Since you usually use a Euro blade , you might try Pawlata style where you extend the euro paddle and hold the end of the non working blade. WW paddlers don’t like to see this done, but for learning purposes…it will give a Euro open water paddler a lot more fudge factor and another thing in your quiver. {it does , however , add more paddle dependence but in the real world…up is up}
A key to rolling …any kind of rolling is BODY ,BOAT, BLADE…if you get 2 out of the three correct, you will roll. If you get all three , the roll will be sublime and effortless.
I applaud your efforts Celia, The fact that you rolled is no small feat since you have the fear factor. The fear of entrapment, or of claustrophobic is many times close to impossible to fight since the ensuing panic and frenzy to fight or flight blanks out reason and causes almost a black-out of reality and anything around except exit. It usually takes a lot of work to contain and it seems like a lifelong struggle…it however is able to be contained … with time and diligence and working slow with someone YOU trust.