Tandem Kayak – rolling

Ok boys and girls. I am happy to say I finally got my hands on a (used) Eskimo Topo Duo.

I would love to hear about your experiences in rolling in a tandem kayak, and general advice in paddling tandems.

I’m headed to the pool tonight.

lucky you!
Topo Duos are ridiculously hard to get your hands on and probably the only true tandem whitewater kayak left these days. Rolling works fine for tandems. There are a variety of ways including have a lead roller with the second person starting the roll once they feel the boat move, or there are ways to synchronize rolls underwater as well. If you’re a strong enough roller, the second person can just hang out while you roll up the kayak yourself!

no problems - just roll it
I can re-enter and roll a WS Northstar with the other person re-entering and then tucking forward.



If you use a sweep style roll you might have to slow it down just a bit.



If you C-to-C, well… all you can do is hip snap a bit more I guess.

Triton roll
The husband and I rolled a NDK Triton with very little trouble – and our strong “sides” are different.



A few weeks ago he and a close friend rolled a large, cumbersome plastic Necky double with no difficulty.



It’s actually quite easy to do and a lot of fun to boot.

A little training and timing work…
… and you’ll have it. I’ve rolled my 22.5’, 105 lb. VCP Aleut Sea II with somebody up front helping and with no one up front. Not a big deal. Just keep good pressure on that knee longer, keep the head down, maybe a bit of sculling when first trying it and be patient.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROqBGO4EgBw

topo
excellent boat. we had one for years. blew Cindy’s contact out of her eye once on a surf wave!



rollin’s ez as pie.



steve

Very fun!
The Duo is piece of cake to roll in the pool and very fun.

I look forward to tons of adventure, on many different rivers.

So… I want to give it a name. My friend suggested the idea. It is purple and was made in Germany.

Any suggestions?

topo tubby?
purple river eater?



steve

I have this vision of her rolling one
way and him the other.

2 tripple headers
We started out with some bracing on both sides, and then rolled easily ~25 times on both sides.

Good idea to plan ahead on which side we were setting up on.



We are going to the kayak park this weekend. Get this beauty in some current.



Keep the names coming.

I’ve never named a kayak before.



Enjoy a couple of triple headers.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG1CvGptJ0o&NR=1



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoLCBsJC7vw&NR=1








How do you say Barney in German