More rolling: OC-1 to C-1

[MarcB]

I found when learning to roll my slasher (no, I don't hate it, and it was cheap) this winter in the pool that it didn't work well at all if I was out 90 degrees, found the roll went a lot better if I did the whole thing laying pretty close to the front deck. Thinking about getting out 90 degrees from the boat put me in slow motion and wasn't working at all. Another funny thing was if I left my head in the water late, I just went back down. I had to get my head out of the water low on the deck pretty much as soon as the boat came up. So now I try to do it all REAL FAST, laying on the front deck and getting my head up early. I really try not to reach out to the side at all with my body (just the paddle), just lean forward, stamp hard on my right knee, pull up hard on my left knee, (rolling up on the left), keep my chest on the deck and get my head up fast. It works and there's very little strain on any joint in my arms anywhere and no parts of my arms or hands hit the deck.
I used to roll a 70's Hahn and it was way different, head out late, laying way out to the side, moving slow. IT's the boat's stability. If it's inherently unstable, I think you gotta stick right on the deck, do it real fast, and get your head out quick.
I also actually used to roll a 70's model 16 foot berrigan solo from the center cockpit (made a big sprayskirt for it). That's got to be like rolling an open boat. Basically would lay way out to the side, push down and hip flip and the boat would go up (and I do mean up) on it's side and fall onto it's bottom hull like launching the Queen Mary. Then it was so stable you could drag your whole body up over the edge and out of the water.
I think you gotta curl up a little, go fast, and forget about where the boat is. Marc