C-Forum

I would appreciate any feedback/tips regarding this video of my roll:

http://vimeo.com/7815619

what's the Problem, looks fine to me.

the only thing different from that roll and my roll, is that when I roll, I don't come up.

looks great!

Not enough scratches on the bottom of the boat.....!?!?!?!?!?!

That roll looked great! Really sure & powerful, lots of finish. No problems there.

Now try some different positions when the set-up isn't as staged, including flipping to your offside and getting under the boat to set-up & roll. For many people that's the kicker on the river - they have a good pool roll, but can't keep their head to roll right under the boat and get oriented for it.

Looks good!

Pat.

Great roll!

good comments from yarnelboat too.

You did lean pretty good against the bow (kiss the bag!), which is hard to get for a lot of beginners.

2 little points that I (usually) do differently:

- I do keep the blade at the surface with a slight angle, "feeling" the water with it instead of having it way up and out of the water like you did before to push. It helps me preparing for the push move; you sense where the surface is and your gut muscle feels what's coming.

- I keep the paddle in the water all the way till the end, with my shaft handle having to switch position getting over the gunnel and further. I find it very handy to be able to make last second adjustments to the push to compensate for what's happening on the river. In other words you end up in a high (twisted) brace at the end, which help stability in moving water.

Keep it up!

good video
you make it look easy!

Not sure about the high paddle blade out of the water just before the roll up.

great roll. My friends would give you a hard time and call it a brace but I call it a roll. Brace, roll, whatever, it's better than a swim

ok, some comments of someone who cannot roll decently yet, but I took some instruction and concluded I'm limited by the consequences of a car accident a couple years ago, should get rid of that one first.

- you're upper body seems to be over 90* in the setup phase. Pull up your knees before starting your roll. This will bring your upper body in a better and stronger position to roll.
- your shaft should be on the same axis as your spine, and stay that way until you're done.
- You seem to get a lot of rolling momentum out of your upper body sweep (just as I do). Try to focus on your knees and you won't need your sweep. Have some friends make the boat roll, and you keep your upper body relaxed. That's the move you want to approach! Once you know the feeling, you know it's right!
- you do keep your head very nice down. Try to move it a little further to the offside gunnel though. I suppose you'll have troubles when rolling this way on the river.

Some nice training hint: buy/make yourself a big foam plate, such a plate where you can rest your upper body upon. Ellbows wide, back face of your hand against your forehead (palms touching the foam plate). Rest your upper body on the plate, and do the knee motion. Once you get a grip of that, try getting into your boat, without pushing down on your arms that are still resting on the foam plate. Really don't push.
As I mentioned before, have someone roll the boat for you, so you get to know the feeling of a good roll.

It's a lot of details, and the problem is you don't have so much time to think it over and try it. Have fun trying. I'm hoping to get in the pool pretty soon to pick up my roll again.

try it from your offside now...

Drecker has got a point, I refuse to state my position but some people say it ain't a roll if it ain't 360