you don’t need to roll, but. . .

Posted by derrick on March 27, 2008

There’s a fleck on the speck on the tail on the frog
on the bump on the branch on the log
in the hole in the bottom of the sea

Debating about whether a sea kayaker needs to know how to roll or not strikes me as a sort of tea party argument.  So grab a chair!  Should I pour out?

I’m always amazed when people who should know better come down flatly on one side or the other of this argument.  The case for rolling or not rolling is really one that depends on each individual paddler.  I do have to say though, I never quite understand the argument NOT to learn something. . . but again, that’s a personal thing.

The first thing to do of course is look at why rolling is such a big deal in sea kayaking in the first place. The root of our sport really came from the Inuit.  The Inuit had some experience with sea kayaking and they had good reasons to roll. Survival. The water is FREAKING COLD!  Swimming in the north Atlantic is just not an option.  Rolling is better than death.  In addition you can imagine some practicality in rolling during a hunt.  If you get pulled over by a seal (assuming you blow your brace), putting survival aside for a moment, swimming would mean losing your dinner.  By rolling up, you continue with the work of capturing your prey.  Sea kayakers learned that rolling was essential to safety and that’s pretty much been the story since the activity began.

These days paddlers still face a variety of places where rolling is better than swimming (coming out of your boat).  Dealing with surf, bad weather, rough seas, nasty currents, cold water, etc., are all situations where rolling up is just safer. In some conditions being out of your boat is just not safe. A roll gives you the ability to stay in the kayak even when the seas are doing their best to take you out.  The thing is, lots of paddlers will never face these situations. You can easily argue that a paddler who stays in "safe" conditions will never need a roll.  Valid point.  However, if you watch the news this time of year, you’ll see lots of situations where a good roll may have kept the paddler out of the news and out of the hospital.  If you checked out this post yesterday, you get the feeling this guy may wish he could have rolled (among other things).

On the other hand there are hundreds of paddlers who will rarely if ever face the conditions that “force” a roll.  They will only paddle in warm, calm water.  They will only go out on nice weather days. They will stay close enough to shore to swim in. They will learn a paddle float rescue & other basic rescue techniques.  They will only paddle in small lakes and ponds. They will not paddle in fast currents or rapids. They will paddle wide stable kayaks without spray skirts.  Rolling for these guys is not really important.  If you’re thinking I placed some limitations (between the lines) on non-rolling paddlers. . . . no comment. . .

Now some will tell you that a good paddler never needs to roll.  A paddler with solid bracing skills, as the story goes, should really never roll.  I’m not sure this is a fair idea to give a new paddler.  Thing is, that argument does not really tell the whole story.  The good brace they are talking about may often be a "half-roll".  They just are not going all the way around. Good bracing skills often means going right over and laying in the water, then “rolling” back up.  All the skills are the same, you just don’t go all the way around.  Most experienced paddlers who tell you that if you have a good brace you don’t need to roll, in fact do know how to roll.  Something to keep in mind.

So really, the answer to the great rolling debate is, “It depends”.  Here are some thoughts on that; A roll for a sea kayaker is always beneficial.  Rolling can be fun just for it’s own sake. Kayakers with a great roll turn thousands of potential disasters into non-events. A great roller can play where others may fear to tread. Sometimes the line between a roll and a brace are pretty blurry. Great braces often come from learning to roll.  On the other hand not knowing how to roll should not keep you out of the water either.  You just want to be sure you can self-rescue in the conditions you are paddling in.  Just keep in mind that conditions can change.  Quickly.