C-Forum

Just curious how many people roll with their eyes open vs closed.
paul

I never open my eyes underwater in any situation - I think it stems from some childhood fear of chlorine in pool water burning my eyes. Even though a river is chlorine free, everything's just too blurry to be of any help anyhow. I did wear a diving mask some when learning how to roll in a pool, and that was very helpful.

I always roll with em closed. Learned that way and now it is all just muscle memory.
I have, however, opened my eyes while being recirculated in a hole to try to figure out which way was up. That works ok, as long as you aren't too deep.

I wear contact lenses so opening my eyes underwater will certainly leave me pretty well screwed after I roll.

And Todd, here is something to add to your childhood fears. Think of all the organisms floating around in the chlorine-free river water that can swim around your eyeballs.

Open like the top of the boat

Open. It helps with orientation and also allows you to see if there's something to grab and help roll after a missed attempt. I've been shoved up against rock walls and grabbed them to roll up a couple times where trying a paddle roll would not have been possible. I'm not above rolling off a buddies bow/stern either if they're within reach.

Closed I'm afraid.

I too wear contacts when paddling. Better to be able to see when upright without fogged gasses than to try to see underwater.

+1 on contact lenses. I've had situations where I've lost one but not the other, and boy does THAT spice things up a bit!

Open, I swim with eyes open underwater too (and avoid swimming indoors like the plague, lakes are just so much nicer)...

It can be mighty useful when you're getting a trashing and need to know when you're clear of the white bit, or when you're approaching an underwater obstacle (if fear gives men wings, shallow water looming gives us a snappy roll).

Open, like to see daylight. Doesn't have an effect on my roll though. I think rolling with your eyes closed is better for your concentration.

The real question is how many people use nose plugs? I don't cause I haven't found the right match for my nose.

Open when needed, closed most of the times... .

Same goes for hole combat, if you're underwater for too long, it's interesting to see where the light and the air is located.

I generally roll with my eyes open, although I had to go to the river and go through the motions last night to see if this was still the case. I suspect that if I'm not relaxed enough to peek at where I am, I'm probably not relaxed enough to execute a roll.

I have lost exactly one contact in whitewater in ten years of boating. I have a stash of daily use lenses for the river, and they do a really nice job of staying put. Weldwood in the red can helps when they start to dry out a bit.

I learned to paddle in muddy rivers like the Credit, so opening your eyes was pointless.
I go by feel and muscle memory mostly, but have opened my eyes like jakke to assist in orientation.

Good question. Last winter in the pool it was one thing I focused on and found it to make a big difference. Opening my eyes and counting tiles on the bottom of the pool. I notice the difference in the river and lakes now and feel more relaxed and comfortable. It takes less time to set up, or do an underwater scull if I need to flatten the boat out to see where things are at instead of just feeling first. A lot of our water up here is pretty clear so can be pretty neat to see the bottom. Also a lot of paddling is in 2 feet of water so I want to see what is coming

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.