I took my first pool rolling class last night. It was a 2 hour class in a nearby pool run by EMS. Given that I was still very nervous about going over in a kayak, it was a good confidence building class. I plan on doing another installment in another week or two.
I’m curious to know what the differences are in technique and feel between rolling the white water boat the class is taught in (I was in a WaveSport Diesel 80) and my Dagger Alchemy 14L?
Opinions vary but…
If the WW boat is very tall around your torso, the Alchemy may be easier. The Diesel is a fine boat, but how high the boat comes around you can make a diff because you can lay back more easily. That is often the easiest way for someone to be introduced to a roll, though there are some still teaching the classic C-t-C. Both boats roll easily, so whatever one gives you more freedom of movement for your torso is likely to feel a little easier at first.
In any case, you certainly don’t have to worry about being able to translate a roll learned in a Diesel to the Alchemy. It’ll move over just fine.
very much the same
The Alchemy is an easy boat to roll - easier than a Diesel (though a Diesel is a easy boat to roll compared to many recent model ww boats).
I have Diesel and it takes a bit more umph to roll successfully than any of my sea kayaks - though less effort than my I3.
I’ve found most decent sea kayaks are easier to roll than most recent model ww boats.
my $0.02
I agree with the other posters. The only thing I’d add is that for me a sea or touring kayak rolls up more slowly and smoothly. Again, just speaking for myself, I hardly need a “hip snap” in a sea kayak.
I’d like to see someone demonstrate greenland rolls, the slow and gentle type, in a ww kayak (with GP obviously).
It can work
The old school WW boats are pretty round, and some of the newer designs where they aren’t so boxy work well too. The pancake boats like my little Inazone do tend to get to a certain point then go plop and up, but it’s plenty low for me to be leaning back while it dos that if I want.
We have a couple of folks locally who can roll just about anything any way. When someone has passed the initial learning and getting it stage, lots of what mattered early on matters a lot less.
It actually easier than you imagine
You are probably not exposed to GP fanatics like I am (I’m not one). I see people play with GPs in the newer flat WW boats a lot and do almost everything they do in their skin boats except the very demanding ones.
I was at a WW gathering last year and was using one of the Flat bottom boats. No doubt a lot more stubborn than my sea kayak but I was using that Kent Ford type of roll easily and I could scull up and do a bunch of others that I do with my GP fairly easily. Every now and then I would blow one because of over-confidence and the flatter boat.
for you, slushpaddler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKbofqRoE4&feature=plcp&context=C3944f0fUDOEgsToPDskIrRx1M3JC8-13FKpnL5CAe
Remix
I had a chance to play around in a Liquid Logic Remix, I think it was the 10 footer but can’t be sure. Anyway, I really liked it and found it rolled really well. I use a GP and found I could do most of the rolls I know in my Outer Island. The low back deck and profile really impressed me plus the skeg and storage hatch was pretty cool too.
I learned most of my Greenland rolls
In a whitewater kayak. It works well if it has a low rear deck. The main difference I’ve found between rolling a ww kayak and a sea kayak is that a sea kayak offers greater resistance, because of its length, when doing a sweeping roll and gives a better bite and lift from the paddle. WW kayaks will spin and make it a bit harder to roll up with a sweep roll.
Ditto on the low rear deck
I do probably half my roll practice in a Jackson Sidekick, which is not a playboat but has a fairly flat hull with boxy sides.
It is about as easy to roll as a sea kayak, in my experience, but it feels different. The roll has more defined points in the cycle. At an extreme (like with the Prijon Twister SOT I used to own), the boat feels like it suddenly flops. Which, of course, is exactly what happens.
Although I use a Euro paddle, I have rolled it with a GP, and I have seen others do so, too.
I agree with the spinning around part. Makes me think I’m a water beetle.
hatch and skeg =
– Last Updated: Jan-23-12 4:29 PM EST –
Remix XP, not to be confused with the non-crossover, standard whitewater Remix river runners.
Feedback is different
Different hulls have a different feel, but just get a solid pool roll in the little boat and it won’t be long before you can roll almost anything with very little change in technique (might haev to add a little brace in a really wide boat).
cool, thank you! I gotta bite the bullet
…and get one (GP).