THE roll - why only one?

[woro90]

Background story (do not read if there is any chance of taking this seriously):
A friend of mine (female, hence the interest) used to race both slalom and wildwater kayaks. She quit this humiliating double-bladed thing early on the high school. And as we study at the same university, I tried to get her to C1. I tried to remind her about all the beautiful one-stroke moves and glide between strokes compared to double-bladed paddle steamers gone wild. She said that maybe C1s are graceful when upright but a canoe roll is ugly beyond understanding. I know (and told her) that she would make the roll look good if she got into C1, but maybe she has a point. And there are more interesting things for me. Why do all canoeists roll always the same way?

Really, what's behind the fact that the K's use about ten distinctly different rolling techniques while C's only roll one way? In decked boats our hips are closer to cockpit rim or above it, we have straps and bulkheads and footbraces and lots of foam to be one with the boat, our paddling posture is much more relaxed from the hip up, our paddles have only the one necessary blade - we could theoretically be capable of all the rolls used by the dark sitting side. Unfortunately I don't have access to water now so I can't try it. Am I completely wrong? Is the standard canoe roll somewhat superior to, say, a screw roll? Or does the T-grip make a difference?

[PatrickOC1]

I use strictly a low brace roll in my oc1 but in my c-1 ive worked my way up to three rolls, low brace, k1 style sweep roll (thats what someone else called it) and the back deck roll. the sweep roll is the fastest for me but sometimes puts me over the other side. I only use that and the backdeck when doing the old park and play where its safe to be inverted.

My oc1 roll is alot slower but i find it alot safer (if i miss my roll im not under my boat face to the river bed....)

oh and the backdeck roll was learned because someone back deck rolling a spanishfly inspired me but thats still in the flat water "oh I can do that" phase...

[Shep]

I'm more consistent with a back-deck OC roll than a traditional roll. I am working to make BOTH better, though.

Shep

[Craig Smerda]

there's like 749 ways to roll a C1... but only one works right for you.

find a copy of Kent Ford's C1 Challenge... if she can master the dry hair roll... marry her!

[OC One Blade]

What is generally considered to be the fastest roll? The front deck roll seems best/most natural for me, but I've only experimented a little with the back deck roll. I probably need to work on developing a solid back deck roll so as to be able to compare the two. When I come out of my setup everything seems closer and faster in the front than the back, but maybe that's just me. Hey, that's just how I roll.

I'm not even sure my roll would be considered a traditional roll. It feels like I'm doing everything close to the front and probably commiting several no-no's such as not extending my body out 90 degrees to the boat. I need to get some video of my roll, so I can at least see what it looks like.

I can see the back deck roll being stronger and, therefore, maybe more consistent. Thoughts?

And to get to the topic of this thread, I'll echo what Craig said. I think most of us probably have our own variations of a roll, rather than falling neatly into a strict methodology.