Rolling in the gnarly stuff

[FullGnarlzOC]

larry, that carnage video was swweeeet.

[FullGnarlzOC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Dkl1E8zz0

hilarious.

[jatakasawa]

I agree with Eddy McGnarlz here on learning the underwater draw to pull your body/push your boat into roll position. This is what I've been missing in my roll scenarios.

I recently tried rolling with my drysuit and the suit acts as an inhibitor. It is so full of air, that makes me more buoyant, preventing me from going under the boat for my onside setup without assistance from my paddle. I can roll my boat dry no problem. But on my second roll, with the boat full of water and the suit trapping air, I'm stuck on my off-side. I can look at the bottom of the river, or I can pull myself around with my paddle. I choose the latter.

Check out what Doug Ammons (yaker) says about rolling. He says that no matter how good his roll is, it is never good enough. You're talking about a guy who rolls up in class V+ with broken ribs.

As far as I'm concerned my roll is untested and therefore, unreliable. It sucks. But the good news is that I have a fierce determination to perfect it. And when I do, I'm going to learn to master the back deck roll, the offside roll and the jellyroll.

But seriously...it's never good enough. I will master the roll, or I will not go on to do more challenging runs. There is no other option for me than to get obsessive about my roll because one of the things I truly love about this thing here is the pure challenge of it.

[Larry Horne]

Right on.

...and then there's those of us (me) who have had and lost our best rolling form, and need to get it back. My roll was great when the wavesport x was my daily driver And has gone downhill with the better boats.
I haven't lost it to the point of swimming (knock on wood) but sometimes it's downright laughable.
I'll get mine back by playboating ..

[Eli]

Wow!...This thread got interesting!

Another comment on the offside roll: keep your shaft hand loose, because you will want to allow your hands to slide together as you sit up.

However, again, I don't like to use this in everyday paddling. The pull from the hydraulic beating me down on my offside is what makes this roll work. If you force the roll with the paddle instead of using your hipsnap, you are setting yourself up for shoulder pain (this is true with the onside roll as well).

Joe Langman (Aftershock designer) used to demonstrate the offside roll in flatwater, but I am usually only successful with the rivers assistance.

When you do return to your center you need to throw your body forward into a different position so you don't just fall back down on your offside again.

One last tip for the day...if you crouch down in the river at the putin, you can burp the air out of your drysuit neck and it will be easier to swing under the boat to roll onside.

Have fun practicing...

[cadster]

Matt shows an off-side followed by an on-side roll here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adHrpKny ... _NG9m1oRWE

[keez]

Matt did a nice job on showing the off-side roll in the video, but being old and inflexible, I'll stick with tucking to the boat when flipping off-side, then slide to the low-brace roll.

[FullGnarlzOC]

Very nice offside roll there... Maybe contact him and ask him to perform an OC1 offside roll - Make sure he has health insurance first tho...that way if he dislocates his shoulder trying too hard, he'll be covered

The major difference between OC1 and C1 is the C1/k1 boats just 'flip' from being upside down to upright. There is no 'roll' involved...It should seriously be called a 'combat' flip.

OC1...there is a noticeable 'roll', the boat doesn't just flip up. It's the 'roll' that will cause you to put more pressure on your shoulder.

Tell you what... You guys that are comtemplating whether or not an 'offside' roll is worth using/trying to get... why don't you just go out and lean to the offside a little to where you are about to flip... and throw an offside low brace and see how that feels. But again, make sure you have health insurance.

Eli speaks of a current assisted off-side roll.... and only in holes at that. The green water pulls you up, all you have to do is hold and lock the offside high brace while you are in the water. You will feel pressure on your shoulder similar to an onside high brace, while side-surfing in a monster hole.

[FullGnarlzOC]

I spent a few days trying the 'offside' roll in an OC1... It's just no good, and not needed. Like i said before, if you were ever in a scenerio to where it was too shallow to get under the boat to the other side... just switch hands on ur paddle, and roll up opposite handed. You have a much better chance of executing that(without practice) than you would with an offside roll(with practice)... and you wouldn't risk your shoulder.

If you don't have a bombproof roll, i wouldnt even contemplate working on any anything else but that...As it will safe lives, legs, embarrassment. Plus add confidence that you have never had the opportunity of having yet in your boating career.

If someone bet you...lets say $20, and 100 people were watching...and the bet to nail a roll in 15ft of sketchy runout before a 25ft drop... Would you take that bet? If you wouldnt hesitate to take it... you're roll is most likely bombproof.

Anyone that is looking to BP a roll... just remember - if you dont flip, or flip just once... you aren't practicing enough. Need to be flipping 3+ times a run, unexpectedly. Do this for a few weekends, along with some flatwater work...and you will have your bombproof roll.

---- If you haven't figured this out yet from my post... a completely dependable roll is the key. With this weapon...you will have the ability to accelerate ur learning curve tremendously.

[ian123]

The fact that some (definitely not I) can hand roll an open boat proves that there need not be any force on your shoulder at all. They re just skills and are interesting to talk about imo.

[ian123]

It would be hard to argue that an onside roll isn't the way to go...

[OC1er]

Offside low brace? How's that work? it ain't a low brace unless you're bracing on the back face of the blade, right?

[Bob P]

Offside low brace? How's that work? it ain't a low brace unless you're bracing on the back face of the blade, right?

Exacticklely.

Sit upright and hold the paddle horizontally, with the power face down, on your onside.

Now bend your whole upper body and the paddle toward your offside so that the backside of the blade is doing the brace.

If you do it with enough "vigor", your body motion will have a reactive effect on the boat, rotating the offside edge up. Then, when the paddle hits the water, the brace will prevent you from getting your face wet.
Sometimes.

[FullGnarlzOC]

How does the offside low brace work? terribly. righting pry is the move if you can make it instictual...good luck with that one too.

I just threw out the idea of trying to 'offside low brace' so those that are not familar with how hard 'offside' rolling is, can get a better appreciatation for why its just no good, and not a good idea.

If you want to practice what Eli is talking about(a hole assisted offside roll)...All you have to do is get urself in a sticky hole, surfing with ur offside downstream... and let it window shade u. Then instead of freaking out, reach down, grab the green water with the paddle, once you feel sufficient resistance, then hipsnap the boat up.

It might take some practice, as it's the opposite side hipsnap. This "Hole assisted offside roll" is something that can definitely come in handy, as if u were in a hole on ur offside and u get flipped... it would be the only thing saving u from a swim

[FullGnarlzOC]

And as for the hand roll... those that can do it, can only do so with momentum.

Show me someone that can hand roll an OC1 after they let it hang upside down for a couple seconds.