Get her sideways, not forward
It works much, much better for me to get down to the SIDE, not forward. Going forward practically guarantees a diving paddle. The Kayak Roll video also mentions this.
Got to work those abs
She has got to have the feeling that she is doing a really hard sit up (ti the left knee for most to get above the water,. The wrists must clear the water by a few inches. Focus on the abs, keep the hands loose.
IN the process of learning my offside roll, I got a really clear vision of the difference between my left and right abdominal muscles. I could barely do a ste up on my right at first and the roll is still not 100%/
That’s how I got a really solid roll
I started with a shaky pawlata roll and only when I started the slashing technique did my roll become solid on a river. The problem with a climbing angle is that it will give you momentarily strong support before diving down into the water. A closed angle (although a bit counterintuitive) gives more consistent support throughout the roll. The Kayak Roll video gives a good demonstration on the differences between a climbing angle and a neutral/diving angle.
the hard part for people to
understand, as it was for me, is actually how far they have to reach to get their torso rotated to the surface. And if that person is overweight and not particularly flexible this situation is hard to overcome. This is not fullproof and I know there are lots of other ways of doing this, but this is the way that has worked for me when teaching people to roll with euro paddles.
I have worked with some mixed success with students by doing this:
- breaking the roll down into three parts is very helpful because this way you have a way to figure out which part the student is having problems with. Demonstrate the following to the student.
a)Setup: contorting the torso and head as close to the deck as possible. Paddle resting as close to the surface of the water as the paddler can get with knuckles rolled forward so the indexing on the blade is correct for a euro paddle. Head tucked in low by what will be the outboard hand in the sweep.
b) Capsize and Sweep: the paddler capsizes and then sweeps the paddle and their torso at the surface of the water to about 90 degrees or perpendicular to the kayak. (this is the hard part for a lot of folks in poor fitness and flexibility, but with practice can be done by just about anybody).
c) hipsnap and brace: the paddler hipsnaps the kayak and then braces or pulls down with the paddle tucking the head in to outboard shoulder for a clear head dink.
- teach the student to do hip snaps on the side of the pool or the bow of your kayak. observe if the student is using their arms for power instead of the rotation of the hips. make sure they keep their head at the surface of the water until the kayak is up again.
- Next teach high brace, which is essentially an above water roll. Work with them in the water holding their paddle when they fail. Show them good in the box positioning and to roll their head from the high side to the low side or the water as they hip snap. Sculling is also a good way to teach this.
- If the student is able to high brace back up from an almost capsized position then progress them towards capsizing and then trying to roll back up. And then when they are having problems with a particular step you can dial it in by which part of the three steps are missing.
Hope it helps. I know it seems kind of backwards to show them how to roll and then you make them high brace but it has worked for me. Because most times when folks are asking to learn to roll chances are they haven’t worked a whole lot on their high bracing.
Specifically for the flexibility issues, the high bracing or step 2 where you capsize and sweep, should help get them orientated with the feel of how much flexibility they will need. You can also just work with the student in the water having them capsize and watch to see if their paddle is anywhere near the surface. If it isn’t you have to grab the paddle and the paddler and sort of help them to the surface so they get an idea of how far away they were. I have seen a lot of folks struggle with this step. they are essentially sitting upright in the kayak sweeping towards the bottom from an inverted position because they don’t realize how far forward they have to tuck to get into the position.
sorry this is so long…
Sculling Brace to Rolling
I totally agree with evans, sing and DavidN. I think that sculling should be the next skill to learn after the basic forward strokes. Learning the sculling brace can make a big difference in the comfort level of a paddler. It really emphasizes the proper way to position and use one’s torso to the side of the kayak while doing a mild sculling action to maintain position with the face just out of the water. With the right kayak a balance brace from the sculling position requires almost no effort. While learning the sculling brace a kayaker will learn the skill and muscle motion for a high brace automatically. The sculling brace also provides great practice in the motions required for the second half of a roll – getting the torso out of the water with the correct torso/head position. In the event that a roll does get missed, a kayaker who knows the sculling brace should be able to recover with a sculling brace “roll”. Although a sculling brace is a bit easier with a greenland paddle it can also be done with a euro paddle.
As an example, I’m one of the lucky kayakers who has a wife who enjoys sea kayaking, but she doesn’t have a consistent roll yet. Last summer she spent quite a bit of time developing a sculling brace. Whenever there was a lull during a paddling trip she would go over the side of her kayak and practice her sculling brace, first getting comfortable with doing it on her right side. She still practices on getting more comfortable doing a sculling brace on her left side. At the end of the summer I asked her to do a high brace. She replied that she doesn’t know how to do a high brace. I told her that if she brings her torso down into the water like the beginning of a sculling brace and then brings her torso out of the water like the end of a sculling brace, that would be a high brace. And she neatly executed several high braces and exclaimed “Wow, I can do a high brace!” Although she is more interested in perfecting her left side sculling brace first, she is really looking forward to trying a few rolls in the pool this winter.
NelsonL