Nadgee – A Stand Up Sea Kayak
Published August 9, 2010 | 
“I would be horrified if one of my boats cracked in a stand on test” – Lawrence Geoghegan. Nadgee Kayaks
Happy Monday. Let’s take a break from our rolling series today and have a look at Nadgee Kayaks Australia. Nadgee is owned by Lawrence Geoghegan. Lawrence has completed many trips and expedition’s in his day including; Antarctica in 2006 with Andrew McAuley and Stuart Trueman (Featured in Justine Curgenven’s “This is the Sea 3“), the Bass Strait crossing, Mattsuyker Island and more. Just the guy who should know what it takes to build a decent expedition kayak. Continue reading
Fun in the Bedroom
Published August 7, 2010 | 
Hallo. Vould you like to have a roll in ze hay?
It’s fun.
Roll, roll, roll in ze hay….
- young frankenstein
Yesterday said I had some fun exercises for you! (Well, I many not have used the word, “fun” wink, wink, ….) You do know of course that we roll every day, or every night at least. In bed. And I don’t mean a “roll in the hay” (Although I certainly am all for a good roll in the hay as well!). But what I’m talking about here is simply the act of rolling over. Lying on your stomach, then rolling over on your back, or conversely (Yes I do love that word!), lying on your back and rolling over on your stomach. Have you ever taken the time to figure out how you do it? Continue reading
Boat Fit
Published August 6, 2010 | 
This low down bitchin’ got my poor feet a itchin’,
You know you know the duece is still wild.
Baby, I can’t stay, you got to roll me
And call me the tumblin’ dice.
-stones
Before I go too deeply into boat fit here I want to be clear I’m mostly talking about sea kayaks and to some extent white water kayaks. Recreational boats that are shorter, wider and have a big opening on top simply will not provide the sort of fit we talk about when talking about rolling a kayak. This does not mean you can’t roll one, but it’s a challenge to say the least. Still, if you currently paddle one of these sorts of kayaks, you’re welcome to follow along as well. I’m sure we’ll cross a couple of useful points for you as well.
Symbiosis
How you fit into your kayak can be seen as an issue of control. Simply put, you need places where your body connects to the kayak in order to make it do what you want it to do. Of course that’s a little too authoritarian for my mind. Another more organic way to look at it is that on the water you become one with your kayak, it becomes your body, your skeletal structure and your skin. Your relationship to your craft is symbiotic. You don’t ride in a kayak, you become one with it. You are the heart and mind of the creature, where you connect is simply the nervous system reaching out to the skin sending and receiving messages. The more connections we have the more we are able to sense our environment and control our reaction to it. We are not paddlers but creatures of the sea.
What Low Impact Means
Published August 4, 2010 | 
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
Open your windows and I’ll walk through your doors.
Let me live in your country — let me sleep by your shores.
Tull
Low impact does not mean dainty, wimpy or weak. Low impact kayak rolling is not about modifying a powerful roll to make it easy on the old bones. If you think low impact means, low power you’re missing the point completely. What we’re really talking about is efficiency. Continue reading
Posted in Learn To Roll, Learning, Paddling | 
greenland paddling, Low Impact Rolling, rolling, Traditional PaddlingNo Sweep, No Plunk
Published August 3, 2010 | 
Today I want to offer up a few video clips to demonstrate mind over matter.. Or I should say, “body over paddle”. Let’s start with a couple vertical sculling rolls. These come from Greenland Style rolling and simply won’t allow you to push, pull or otherwise wank on your paddle blade. In the first clip I’m using a Greenland Paddle and it’s shot underwater. You can see that I do get a little purchase with the paddle, but the thing to watch here is the boat.
The Greenland Test
Published August 2, 2010 | 
You got me where you want me
I ain’t nothing but your fool
You treated me mean oh you treated me cruel
– Aretha Franklin
If your roll sucks I’ll know. It’s easy. Just put away that big blade and have a go with my Greenland paddle. Go ahead. C2C, Sweep, Modified Sweep.. whatever. Ok, I’ll even give you a warm up.. If you don’t roll after 2.. Um well… there it is then.
There’s a point where most every kayak roll becomes the same. It’s right at that moment when the paddler is who upside down, decides to roll up. At that moment the first thing you do, regardless of paddle, rolling style or technique, is roll the boat up. That seems obvious. Well, I’m not referring to the whole process of rolling the boat up, but only that millisecond right after the mind decides to engage the body in the process of rolling. At that moment, it’s all about the boat. It’s also the point where most of our energy is expended IF we’re doing it right. Continue reading
Posted in Learn To Roll, Learning, Paddling | greenland paddling, Low Impact Rolling, roll, rolling, Traditional Paddling
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