got one for my buddy…
they come in prs. of course. I’m going to put her to the test.I’ll take pictures.He he…she’ll be the Guinea pig.then i’ll try.
Great tool, but use CAUTION
In many years of rolling, including competition Greenland rolling, I have only hurt my shoulder twice, and the first was when I was learning to hand-roll with a ping-pong paddle. When you are working on a hand roll (with or without an aid such as a ping-pong paddle, norsaq (throwing stick),etc), the danger is that you have such freedom of movement that if you use poor form, you can easily get your shoulder into a dangerous position, or even cause a dislocation.
In my case I tried to “help” a marginal roll by extending my sweeping arm too far behind my torso, to where my arm was fully extended behind me (classic dislocation position). Combined with too much force and speed, this can cause a severe injury. In my case it felt like an extreme impingement – as if someone had stabbed me in the shoulder. It resolved itself OK, but be careful. Practice the roll motion slowly and deliberately and keep your arm movements linked to your chest (paddler’s box).
To elaborate, if you want to extend your arm(s) behind you, you must also rotate your torso. I was following advice in Hutchinson’s book that recommends for one hand-rolling technique that you must keep your back flat on the aft deck and sweep your arms. While I understand what Derek was getting at (keeping your torso aft), I consider this very dangerous advice as it guarantees that you are moving your arms independently of your torso.
Greg Stamer
handrolls etc.
thats exactly why i like the avataq. the handles are positioned so its easy to keep them in th box. it moves nicely in the water too…smooth body motions and general “gettinhg used to being in the water” is what i need. after a little worm up with the Avataq i roll much better with any paddle.
what about swimming gloves? same problem perhaps?
oh yea the avataq looks really nice inflated. its my amulet from now on. the killerwhale7dolphin looks tempts me to paint some eyes and a mouth on it.
swim fins
I learned to hand roll using a borrowed pair of the hand fins that swimmers use for laps.
They fit over your hands and give you sufficient lift without you having to grasp something or hyper-extend your shoulder which, as Greg pointed out, is a possibility with a ping pong paddle.
A narsaq is great, too.
seal/dolphin…
I assume that you know why the avataq looks like a dolphin… A real one is an entire (small) seal skin that is inflated. Brooks copied a seal-skin version from Greenland and theirs is very authentic, down to the “neoprene flippers” that stick out. I agree that an avataq is a great tool for practicing/teaching rolls and I have two myself. The buoyancy is so great that it is more difficult (but not impossible) to push it underwater to hyper-extend a shoulder, as compared to a ping-pong paddle, swim gloves, etc.
Another good rolling tool for hand rolls is to stick your hand deep into a paddle float (same warnings for shoulder-caution still apply).
Greg Stamer
avataq etc handrolls
thanks. any film or book plans, greg? sure would been great…i love books, and have “eastern arctic …”
om my bedside…ive used the paddle float trying to learn the body mecanics of a backdeck rodeo roll.
yep
ditto on the webbed swim gloves. You can work on it with your fingers spread, and then when that’s easy, work on it with your fingers together, and ultimately lose the glove. (I’m still working on that last step)
Keep the fingers spread…
…even after you ditch the webby gloves. A “claw hand” has more purchase than one cupped with fingers together. This is presuming a palm down white man hand roll. To be Greenlandically correct the layback version is done palm up, and forward finishing palm down.
hand roll aids
A partially inflated Greenland paddle float bag used in place of a norsaq gives some additional buoyancy and helps the process.
where do you get the greenland …
paddle floats? i have never seen them!