boat you’ve rolled. I have an Emotion Kayaks Comet and it’s my first hard shell boat. I’ve been paddling inflatables up until now and man, you can’t roll those things for anything! I’ve seen a video of a guy rolling a 10’ Advanced Elements inflatable (mine is the 13’ Expedition), however he was moving forwards at the time. I bet you couldn’t roll an inflatable at a dead stop. Anyway, I’ve been told that it’s extremely difficult to nigh impossible to roll one of these Comets. I think that probably has more to do with the cockpit opening being so large even with the spray skirt it’s difficult to stay firmly braced inside, hence you’d probably come out if you went ass over teakettle. I’m planning to add in some foam to help make the seat a little tighter. My legs are long enough that I can brace my knees inside the forward edges of the cockpit. Also, the spray skirt I have on order I believe has an implosion bar which as I understand it helps somewhat with keeping the skirt from ripping off when you go over. I’ve played around with wet exits and self rescue techniques with my inflatable and now I’m adapting those methods to the quirks of my new boat. Here is a youtube video showing the Comet in action so you can get a better idea of its handling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgPYVZR19B0
So, can it be done?
How wide would you say this is?
Dubside says don’t blame your boat. Of course that’s easy for him to say. He can roll anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Y19bQojjI
Snatch the pebble from my hand …
Got nine minutes and twenty-one seconds to spare?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mTCtdWLXvY&feature=fvsr
Just try it
Why do you care if someone says it can’t be done? You have the boat already; just try it yourself.
Widest boat I rolled was a Prijon Twister SOT (26" beam). My success rate was drastically reduced compared with my SINK of the time, and the rolls were NOT graceful.
Freakin’ awesome!
Man, does he make it look easy! However, my kayak has to be just about as wide. Might have a bit more draft than the kayak he was in, but I’ll try it and keep working at it.
Not gonna let anyone deter me
I’ll try it and keep at. Maybe I’ll be able to learn to do a roll with it, maybe not. I’m thinking I’ll be able to do it eventually. It may not look pretty but I’d rather have an ugly roll and know that I can do it rather than always have to default to a wet exit and reentry.
rec boats
Rec boats are really not intended to be rolled, the odds of keeping a skirt in place on a cockpit that long arn’t great and if the skirt implodes you’re not gonna roll it.
Bill H.
Scupper Pro and RTM Disco SOTs…
both have 26" beams. I can roll both consistently on both sides. I find my waveskis are harder to roll than the SOTs.
sing
PS. Okay, waveskis not harder. Just different and usually I am rolling the waveskis in surfzone conditions where missing the roll means more maytagging in cold water. More pressure to succeed.
Roll a Tarpon!
I want to see someone roll a Tarpon 160!
Suggest you lose the high seat back
I just looked at the You Tube video - while your size and that of the boat seem to be decently suited for rolling (it looks like it is relatively low volume on you) you’d make your life much easier by losing that high seat back. As to the implosion bar… not sure that’ll have so much effect on the skirt staying on. But is will be much more convenient than a lap full of wet water in the rain, so it’s good regardless.
open boats
Whitesell Piranha OC-1, 34" wide (pretty easy open boat to roll, actually).
Also Dagger Caper and Blue Hole Sunburst II, both around 32" wide.
No He Can’t -
Anyone has a limit somewhere, including Dubside as documented here -
He was even laughed at -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5787RZW0zS0
Blackwater
This guy rolls a dagger blackwater without a skirt twice. Although you probably wouldn’t want to paddle very far after that second roll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6XpNz7QpBs
Bring your thigh straps…
and a beer to bet me! 
WS Tarpon
I rolled a friends WS sit on top a few months back. The hard part was getting it to go over. After that it was suprisingly easy 
Gary
Why not?
I’ve rolled a bunch of kayaks with large cockpits and even without the skirt on. Heck, you can roll em completely flooded. They’re not very stable full of water but you will come up, no problem.
Gary
That’s great
(although I don’t think he was laughed at)
Just "group fun"
Definitely not laughed at -
31" Wide Torrent
I can roll a Torrent with about an 80% success rate on the first attempt. Takes a decent hip snap and a sculling brace, but I can get it upright.
jim
That’s not me in the video
That’s just a video someone posted showing the Comets in action. However, I think that paddler was about 6’ and 190lbs or something which is pretty much my build. I just posted the video so people could see what the boat looks like in the water. The seat back can be removed and I suppose a back band could be put in. I know some rolls require you to lean far back towards the stern in which case the high seat back could be a problem, but why would it be a problem with a standard roll where you’re laying forwards across the front of the cockpit?