My enthusiasms boundless!
I’m sittin’ cockpit fit to go!
OK, maybe, without the skills,
but there’s gadgets to help, you know!
Class III to V sans class head’n out.
No noodlin’, noodle nor roll!
So, whaddaya think? Shaft floats from the drink?
Shut your mouth! (But take a poll.)
I tell ya this thing is the bomb!
No bombproof roll? It’ll explode!
As you undertake out under your wake,
(an undertaker’s mother lode.)
So c’mon folks! Get into the game!
(Yes, there’s gamer at every game.)
So get yours quick! Hi-N-Dry is sick!
(No guarantee it can heal its lame.)
“The best thing since my net bag of coconuts!”
Sharky Waters and the Papillon Crisis-less.
A cursory examination of the marketing material reveals that there is considerable disagreement in the manufacturer’s pitch as to whether this product is intended to learn rolling, or to replace the ability to roll without one.
I’ll agree hesitantly with the former case, but too much of the marketing material focuses on the latter - showing people using the product in conditions only experienced and skilled paddlers should be in. Getting to that point means you more than likely (or should have) mastered rolling long ago.
And the more I think about it, the more detached my agreement gets using it as a learning tool. I never owned one and I did fine with what I had on hand. Namely a paddle float, an assistant, another boat… even if it was $5 I wouldn’t have bought it.
Somewhat related, I wonder how much it gets in the way using the paddle as an outrigger during a paddle float reentry…and how do you stow your paddle under the deck rigging??
Their own marketing material proves their ignorance. This video is described as being a near flawless sweep roll. Watch it in slow motion and you can pick out multiple flaws.
Beginning the setup, the guy isn’t tucked forward or out to the side near enough
I see no discernible “hip flick” or “knee drive” action to right the boat at any time
Watching at 0.25 speed between 0:40 and 0:43, just following the camera coming out of the water, you see the head and torso do not move relative to the boat. Instead the person remains in an upright seated position the whole time. This reinforces my interpretation of no “hip flick” going on there.
I interpret this as a “muscled up” roll, relying primarily (or solely) on the flotation of the aid.
Now, as a male of the species I’ll give a few bonus marks to any observant soul who spotted the bikini clad young lady in the background, but overall I give it failing marks.
I watched that slow mo vid…He is using the blade not the float…looks like the float is just along for the ride {BTW, a huge hip drive is not really necessary in a kayak like that.}{there are log rollers and plank rollers…a log roller doesn’t require any real hip snap, just a nudge} I can roll that same way, sitting straight up {if I wish} this guy already knows how to roll.
@Sparky961 said:
Their own marketing material proves their ignorance. This video is described as being a near flawless sweep roll. Watch it in slow motion and you can pick out multiple flaws.
Beginning the setup, the guy isn’t tucked forward or out to the side near enough
I see no discernible “hip flick” or “knee drive” action to right the boat at any time
Watching at 0.25 speed between 0:40 and 0:43, just following the camera coming out of the water, you see the head and torso do not move relative to the boat. Instead the person remains in an upright seated position the whole time. This reinforces my interpretation of no “hip flick” going on there.
I interpret this as a “muscled up” roll, relying primarily (or solely) on the flotation of the aid.
Now, as a male of the species I’ll give a few bonus marks to any observant soul who spotted the bikini clad young lady in the background, but overall I give it failing marks.
Yes, I agree. And this speaks to the point I was trying to make earlier in the thread.
Note that at the start of his roll, the paddler does not get his head or upper body up toward the water’s surface hardly at all. And as he comes up, he is sitting very nearly bolt upright and does not drop his head at all.
This is a roll that would have absolutely no hope of working without the flotation device and as soon as he got rid of it, he would be back to square one, or more likely back past square one, because he would have learned none of the key trunkal and neck movements and would have been relying solely on the flotation device. This is why I see something like this potentially making the process of learning a roll much longer than it needs to be.
I wondered if there was somebody standing at the bow in that “flawless roll” video actually assisting in rolling the boat – looked suspiciously smooth for such poor body position by the paddler. Also noticed in some of the “examples” of the float use that the foam bit did not even seem to be resting on the water and it was the paddle blades themselves that were providing the lift (as would happen sans the foamie bit.)
There are several rolls that don’t require anything more that is done in this video. And don’t need a float
I assume that everyone commenting only does a few prescribed types of rolls…sorry to disagree…He doesn’t need the float at all. in fact, at the end of the roll the float isn’t even in the water or doing anything other being a soft place to pound his head against.
Maybe I’m watching a different video than everyone else. In the one I’m watching it looks like most of the rolls don’t even use the float and the places they actually use it …it appears like they have to think about how to get it into the water.
$139.50 for a piece of flotation, and a strap.
$9.49 to ship the piece of flotation, and a strap.
Total: $149.99
That’s not bad for a piece of flotation , and a strap; because you surely get a brand new, carbon fiber kayak paddle for use with the floataion, and strap. It’s a package deal.
Right ???
Buying the “package deal” makes you a winner, winner; so you get a free chicken dinner.
Right ???
That’s such a killer deal; I’m thinking about buying 3, and I don’t even have a kayak!
While I haven’t learned to roll, I’ll do without that blob which weighs a pound (or more). Not something I want attached to my 23-ounce carbon paddle while doing a five hour tour, especially if I need to brace quickly. Or see where I’m going. Or be able to lift my boat afterwards. Nope, nada, never.
I finally looked at this via the link provided. Only one of the three videos popped up automatically on my computer so that’s the one I looked at, and I switched it off halfway through, it was so ridiculous. A person might do almost as well to get a PFD that makes the Michelin man look skinny and let that help their roll, as cumbersome as that giant float would be. And yes, in that particular video, they DID demonstrate lots of reliance on the float, more so than the blade, making me agree with those who think its use would hinder the learning of proper form.
Thinking about it, the guy in the video above would have as much or possibly more flotation if he was wearing a PFD as he has with the float. He’s probably not wearing one because between the PFD and the float, his ability to paddle would be somewhat limited.