C-Forum

In flat water and easier moving water I hit my first roll 99% of the time. I can also backdeck roll reasonably well for faster rolls when falling to my off side.

When I try to roll in super boily stuff and holes I find that it takes a ton of effort to get my body in a decent position. I also find that it is really hard to keep my paddle near the surface.

What are some exercises or tricks to get that bomber roll in hard rolling situations?

Dave

There are a couple pool exercises which have been helpful to me.

1) Practice slow rolling. Let yourself hang out upside down for a while. Move your torso around in all sorts of random directions. (For example, I like to lean all the way back and touch stern airbag with back of my helmet). Then get back into your setup position and roll up.

2) Practice sweeping out with your paddle a few times before rolling up. So get in your setup position, sweep out 90 degrees, then get back into your setup position, then sweep out again, then roll up. This helps me to get a feel for keeping the paddle at the surface, facing the river bottom, and getting a real good torso extension.

Thank you for the reply!

I will try these out next time I am in the pool or lake.

Dave

They say practice makes perfect, but really it is perfect practice that makes perfect - practice a *lot* but make sure you really are getting in the right position. Have someone watch you, or better yet video you. Then roll a *lot* in flat water, then roll a lot in current (in a safe spot, pealing out of an eddy, flip both ways, etc), then in friendly hole. You can get away with bad form in good conditions, less so in bad conditions.

Then once you've got it, don't forget to keep the saw sharp. Thus says the rusty paddler who after getting two "fair to middling" practice rolls swam when he dropped into a bad line... A roll that selfsame, as a less-rusty paddler would have nailed...

I asked a similar question here a while back, and what I took out of it is that you not only need to learn how to roll, but really, you also need to develop the wherewithall to actually do a bit of upside-down paddling!

And of course for that you need to be comfortable hangin' in there and holdin' your breath for a while! Often just having a few seconds of patience may put you in a better spot to roll, other times you may need to take some action to change where your boat is.

My example was being flipped in a hole or eddy when the side you roll on is jammed up against the rock, i.e., you've got nowhere to put your paddle to start the roll. People advised things like I could push off the rock with my paddle first, or use my paddle to turn my boat around, paddling an end of my flipped boat into passing current to spin me around.

Any of these things requires more presence of mind, time and confidence than I tend to have when I'm upside-down underwater, but maybe it will work for you! The baby step is just to hang in there a little longer and see what patience and calmness may bring, and then maybe one time you'll find yourself trying to get something done with some upside-down strokes. So, when at the pool maybe a little flayling around to paddle upside-down would help, flip over and use some strokes to spin your boat around before you go to do your roll?

Pat.

Play play play!

Then play some more.