Hand roll

[smolakian]

I'm super PUMPED!!

Got my hand roll down with the tiny hand paddles yesterday...Can do it with only 1 on my left hand. I'm really damn close to getting it down bare-handed.

Can't wait to get after it this spring!

[moose pit]

Right on, the elusive hand roll is on my to learn list this season as well.

[slide_for_life]

Nice work, you never know when you will need to dust of the old hand roll in a combat situation. For those interested, Steve Fisher has a good article on hand paddling in the latest Kayak Session (#29, Clarks Fork Yellowstone cover story).

[Tye 1on]

Congrats! Back in the day i could hand roll my squirt boat, but that was kinda like carving a turn with xScreams...

[crackboy]

yea, as soon as pool sessions start, i am going to work on my hand and back deck rolls

[RootSkier]

[donutlynx]

Awesome!

My hands have saved me a swim or two. I've always felt that rolling w/ hand paddles is way easier than w/ a regular paddle. Just hands, however, takes a little more work...

[smolakian]

yea, as soon as pool sessions start, i am going to work on my hand and back deck rolls

I went out to the pool and the lake a couple of times last summer with the express intention of learning to backdeck roll. I never got it. Maybe the hand roll will help...

[crackboy]

yea, i tried it a couple times last time we had the session and all i managed to do was smack myself inthe head with my boat a couple of times.

i think it would be the most useful since a lot of the times i flip is tryng to brace off the back side of my boat, so it would be quicker to back deck than flip set up roll

[slide_for_life]

If you have an acceptably deep play hole at your disposal go learn your back deck rolls there. I say that because it is a lot easier (and more fun) to get your backdeck roll in the hole because you have the pile helping you out. I've always thought that flatwater backdecks feel really forced and tweaky because there really is no need or benefit to coming up on your backdeck in flatwater. In the hole you tend to end up on your backdeck when you flip so it is a more natural way to start and end your roll, plus it is faster than the traditional setup which might allow you to roll up still in the feature

Like the man (EJ) says, the best roll is the one that gets you up on the first try. I wouldn't worry too much about perfecting exotic rolls on flatwater. It's preferable and more enjoyable to develop your various roll techniques in controlled situations where they are useful (i.e. playboating).

[hialtitude]

I was helping a friend learn to kayak last season and he had a terrible roll but great hand roll. Every time he would flip he would toss his paddle and hand roll, then get beat down because he had no paddle. Funny shit.

I have never had to use my hand roll in a combat situation, it has mostly been used as a "party trick" and I hope it stays that way.

[XXX-er]

the ultimate party trick is to go over with and while still pass a lit leafy substance of your choice from hand to hand and rollup with it still lit

only boat I could ever hand roll was the XXX

[Steven S. Dallas]

I was helping a friend learn to kayak last season and he had a terrible roll but great hand roll. Every time he would flip he would toss his paddle and hand roll, then get beat down because he had no paddle.

That was me when I was about 12. Unsmart. It was mostly because I spent so much time on dorking around on flatwater and trying to come up with party tricks- paddle passes, chucking the paddle way the fuck up in the air, hand rolling, and then catching it (or getting nailed in the head by it)- that I was just more comfortable with the hand roll and would drop the paddle when I panicked.

Back deck roll is good to have in the quiver, especially if you paddle shallower shots where getting forward may result in taking one off the helmet, but agreed, not much fun to practice (at least, not without nose clips).

[Dobish]

it has been a while since i have done one... hell its been a while since i have been in my boat.... i need to get back in the water.... i taught myself to roll, and it wasn't pretty...