How to Roll a Kayak

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support on the flip side the sweet roll can be slightly more difficult to learn because two steps from the c2c roll are combined into a single motion which opens up a bit more room for error whichever style you learn it's worth knowing that neither is necessarily an accurate representation of the ruling technique that you'll end up using as you become a more proficient paddler in fact I refer to both the c2c in sweep rolls as learning rolls ultimately with experience you'll develop an instinctual roll an instinctual roll takes advantage of the fact as long as I get my head and body out to the surface I my paddle in a position to catch enough water I can roll from virtually any position this is why when you watch a really good paddler roll it seems as though they're not even setting up that's because they don't need to go through the full set up that we're about to look at their trick is to move their body and paddle directly to a position it gives them the leverage they need to roll the kayak upright with their hips of course this comes with time and lots of practice with all that said we're going to break down the c2c and sweet rolls into three distinct epps and look at the differences between the two rules during that time the three steps are the setup the catch and the recovery the c2c and sweep roles both start from the same set of position in real scenarios you need to move to this setup position while you're upside down but for the sake of practice we're going to assume the setup position before flipping the setup position involves having your paddle alongside your kayak with the front blade flat to the water surface power face up now tuck your head and body forward and turn your upper body towards your paddle this is your set up position the side that you set up on is determined by your control hand which is the hand that stays fixed to the paddle you want to set up so that your control hand is upfront which means that if you're right-handed you'll set up on the left side of your kayak once you're upside down you'll accentuate the setup position the goal is to get your head and body as close to the surface and as far out to the side as possible your forearms should also press against the side of your kayak and your hands should be holding your paddle in the air the idea is that the further edge to the side you can get your body the more you'll be able to hip snap your kayak upright if you stay tucked forward under your kayak you won't be able to hip snap the boat nearly as effectively this is definitely the most awkward part of the rule the catch refers to the part of the rule where you grab water with your paddle blade for support so that you can hip snap your kayak upright this is also where the c2c and sweep rolls start to work differently the catch phase for the c2c role involves swinging the front paddle blade out to 90 degrees from your kayak with your control hand arm keeping the blade as close to the surface as possible the other forearm acts as a pivot against the side of your kayak and keeps the other blade over the bottom of your upside-down boat swinging your blade out to 90 degrees is another test of your flexibility and in order to do it and keep your shoulders safe you need to apply the second Golden Rule which means maintaining a power position this simply means that when you swing your control arm out to 90 degrees your upper body needs to rotate to keep your hands in front of you one of the best ways to ensure you're doing this is by watching your active blade through the water turn your head to follow your blade will naturally rotate your upper body as well their paddle blade out at 90 degrees and on top of or as close as possible to the surface of the water you'll simply pull downwards on your paddle and catch the water when you feel the catch it's time to hip snap your kayak upright the catch phase for the sweep role is very similar the difference is that you'll start applying downward pressure as you sweep your blade out to 90 degrees let's take a closer look at what's happening during the catch phase of the sweep role the set up for the sweep role is of course the same but things change as you start swinging your paddle out to 90 degrees since you want support from your paddle as you do this you're going to swing your paddle blade out in a wider arc than you did for the c2c role this means that your forearm won't stay against your kayak as a pivot instead that arm should be kept bent close to your body and relatively passive while your control hand sweeps the wide arc out to the side of your kayak keeping your paddle near the surface is your biggest challenge and the only way to do this is by having a climbing angle on it if you remember from the sculling section a climbing angle means the leading edge of your blade is higher which allows the paddle to climb to the surface you won't need that much climbing angle on your paddle because you're not going to be putting that much downward pressure on it as with the c2c rule while swinging your blade out to 90 degrees you need to maintain your power position at all times in fact your arm should stay in a relatively fixed position while your torso rotation derives the sweeping motion of your paddle once again watching your active blade is one of the best ways to ensure that you're doing this another idea that's important to understand is that your paddle will offer very little support when it's at the bow of your kayak but you'll get a growing amount of support as it sweeps its way out to 90 degrees which is its point of maximum leverage since your hip snap relies on the support it should make sense that your hip snap will get more aggressive as your paddle sweeps further out to the side of kaya the recovery refers to how your body ends up in its final position on top of your kayak if you set up well use the solid hips now and maintain your power position throughout then the recovery will be relatively straightforward there's some debate about the recovery path your body should take after the catch and the hip snap most people like to swing their body backward a little bit to lower their center of gravity when they come up although there are some who prefer to come up on the front of their kayak there's no right or wrong here just use whichever is the most reliable for you one of the most common problems during the recovery phase is an early lifting of the head as you already know from the hip snap and bracing segments this causes you to pull up on your top knee and yank your kayak back upside down your head should be the last part of your body to return to its position over the kayak one of the best ways to ensure your head stays down is to watch your active blade throughout the whole roll not only does this help keep your head down during the recovery phase but as we already looked at it helps promote torso rotation during the catch phase of the roll as well if all goes well during the recovery stage of your role you should finish over top of your kayak with a slight backward lean your head and torso turn to face your active blade on a final note another good habit to get into is to finish your roll with your wrist cocked back slightly that way when you bring your body forward again you can scull and brace your way there with practice you can actually use this file sculling motion to finish a weak or incomplete roll let's take a last quick look at each of the rolls from start to finish we'll assume that you're setting up on the left side of your kayak benefit of the c2c role is that it breaks down the catch phase into two easily defined steps number one swing your paddle out to 90 degrees number two pull down on the water the set up position starts with your paddle alongside your kayak with a front blade power face up head and body tucked forward and turned towards your paddle after flipping upside down you'll push your paddle to the sky and lean out from under your kayak to get your head and body as close to the surface as possible it should feel like if you didn't have a good grip on the thigh hooks with your legs that you'd be pulling yourself right out of the kayak your left forearm will stay pressed against the side of your kayak and act as a pivot while your right arm swings its blade out to 90 degrees from the kayak keeping it as close to the surface as possible your upper body rotates while you do so you'll then pull down on your paddle and immediately begin your hip snap which involves pulling up with your right knee to roll the kayak upright you'll continue to watch your right blade and keep your head down until your hip Snap is brought the lower edge of your cockpit combing into your lower side at that point you know that your hip snap can't do any more for you and so you'll swing your body slightly backward and on top of your kayak watching your right blade the whole time so that your head stays low the benefits of the sweep role or that you get longer-lasting but not more support from your pop this means that you have more time to hip snap your kayak upright starting from the same set up position you'll flip upside down you'll again push your paddle to the sky and lean out from under your kayak to get your head and body as close to the surface as possible keeping your left elbow bent and fairly close to your body you'll sweep your paddle out and across the surface of the water and as wide an arc as is comfortable watching the right blade and rotating your upper body throughout with your wrist slightly forward as you do this your right paddle blade will have a slight climbing angle on it as you gain support from your paddle start a powerful hip snap by pulling up with your right knee to roll the kayak up right when the lower cockpit rim hits you in the lower side you know that you've hip snap your kayak as much as you can and you'll swing your body slightly backward and over top your kayak keeping your eyes on the right blade the whole time so that your head doesn't lift

Channel: PaddleTV

Views: 854,345

Rating: 4.8327394 out of 5

Keywords: rolling a kayak, kayak roll, how to roll a kayak, sea kayaking, kayaking, paddling, whitewater kayaking, whitewater paddling, paddling technique, eskimo roll

Id: v-riOC8poAs

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2013