Do you roll with your eyes open or closed?

[Yukon]

for sure muscle memory is where it is at, it may have been the 10 000 rolls i did in the pool last winter more than opening my eyes. everything was frozen so pool sessions was all we had.

A lot of people blow their rolls lifting their head, if you eyes are open u can look at the bottom of the river- it will keep your head down.

Vision is one of our key senses so why not use it when u can and you can see a lot under water. Once u get to a certain level does not matter if your eyes are open or closed- u are just back up

I often do drills with students that I get them to close their eyes so they focus on feeling what the boat is doing.

I know for me my rolls are a bit smoother with my eyes open

[Wiggins]

Closed. I find they clear the water better when I roll up if they were closed while I was under.

Kyle

[TheKrikkitWars]

If your thinking about whats in the water, or seeing where body orientation is - ur already a step behind


muscle memory/instinctual is where its at imo.

I agree with that, but it's quite possible to roll with muscle memory and have your eyes open; 90% of the time all I can see from the setup position is my front deck anyway (and the other 10% Ican see my airag lacing instead).

[pmp]

interesting indeed. seems like a slight majority roll with eyes open. guess i'll have to give it a try, although i'm not sure watching the rocks whizz by my head is going to be an incentive to keep my head down.
i do open my eyes when i can't find the surface to start the roll.
paul

[Yukon]

I think i may have to correct myself after observing what i was doing with my eyes yesterday. Guess I did not have them open all the time in the river. probably a natural reaction to close em. It is interesting to force yourself to keep em open and I think it can make a difference especially people to people learning to roll to become more aware of what they are doing under water.

Interesting the other day I had a young student from Nunavut- probably never swam before- we were doing t-rescues- she was in the water floating with her eyes shut. I asked her to open her eyes and she said she couldn't. It took about 30 seconds of encouragement to get her to try to open her eyes. It was BIG success to get some of the kids floating comfortably in their pfds.

[MrTgrips]

My eyes are always open. It's just the way I leaned to swim. I think the main advantage for me is that I can prepare for a rock impact that I can see coming. The only time they're closed is when the water pressure is so great it feels like someone is power washing my eye balls, perhaps like when one gets trashed in a powerful hole. But I still peak.

DISCLAIMER: This may or may not apply to your situation, am am partially Amphibious!

Mick

[hazardharry]

closed for myself. i always wonder whats ticking my sinuses though? http://youtu.be/oZ0lqK9bXcg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PatrickOC1]

Then Harry shows up with a link to the wierd side of youtube.....