Chillsville
Published May 8, 2011 | 
Got no deeds to do / No promises to keep.
I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you / All is groovy.
- Simon & Garfunkel
There are 2 main ways to approach kayak rolling, the high power, hip flick way, or the relaxed, chilled out way. I prefer to chill out. Both ways work, but the chilled out way works even when you’re just zapped. When it comes to learning to roll, we almost always tend to go for the power. It’s partially animal nature, and partly an expression of the anxiety lingering around because of the fear that you might blow it. Learning to chill out is practically its own step in your rolling progression; “Ok, you’re coming up now. Next we’ll move on to the “chill stage”… Continue reading
Recoveries
Published August 20, 2010 | 
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people
Power to the people, right on
– lennon
We’re almost done with the Low Impact Rolling Series. I hope you’ve gained something from it. Remember, it’s not important that you do everything the way I do it. In time everyone finds their own way. But my hope is that through this series you may have found a tip or technique that has helped either firm up your roll or to make it easier and more efficient. I also hope that you’ll take what you’ve pulled from this and share it freely.
Today we move on to “recoveries”. I’m using the word recovery for this post because a roll is a combination of techniques, many of which we’ve covered previously. The recovery is just that last bit, where we get the boat back under our bums. I’m going to break this down as it relates to two sorts of rolls.. A standard “C2C, Sweep” roll recovery and a layback recovery. My goal is to show you where the two rolling styles converge and where they become distinct and how I deal with both. The layback roll is unquestionably the lowest impact roll from start to finish, so let’s start there. Continue reading
Bad Example
Published August 19, 2010 | 
Notice how by lifting my head, my body curves and begins to push the kayak back down! This is why you can’t lift your head!
Let’s work one that roll a bit more, shall we? Today you get to be the coach. I’ve talked about a bunch of skills to this point. But I want to also show you what happens, “when good skills go bad.” I’ve provided a video where I make enough mistakes to make my own teeth hurt. I’ve captioned the worst offenses. As you can see, the motions are still smooth, the scull still quiet and the roll still successful. This is where I coined the term “Sloppy Competence” which is my response to “The 4 Stages of Competence” that we as coaches always hear about. It’s the point beyond “Unconscious Competence” where we practically do everything wrong and still succeed in the end. :) But why? Continue reading
The Heavenly Arch
Published August 17, 2010 | 
I can hear chants and incantations and some guy is mentioning me in his prayers.
Well, I don’t know what it is but there’s definitely something going on upstairs – Nick Cave (Dig, Lazarus, Dig)
We’re back to “low impact rolling” again. Today I want to spend time on about 1/10 of a second worth of your roll, the bit where you bring your body to the surface of the water from the upside down or inverted position. How you approach this short moment in your kayak roll can make all the difference when it comes to ease and efficiency. This is not the only way to do things, but learning it will make whatever roll you do more successful. Really. I promise! So let’s get to it. Continue reading
Square Thoughts About The Balance Brace
Published August 13, 2010 | 
Lay down, Sally, and rest you in my arms.
Don’t you think you want someone to talk to?
Lay down, Sally, no need to leave so soon.
I’ve been trying all night long just to talk to you. – clapton
In Greenland rolling an essential technique, and the foundation of a variety of rolls is called the balance brace. This little maneuver is basically the act of floating your upper body on the surface of the water, while remaining in your kayak and WITHOUT falling over. Sounds simple enough eh?
The real challenge of the balance brace is that with your upper body in the water, the kayak wants to follow you in (or roll over on top of you). So to counter this, we have to position our bodies in a particular way to “balance” the boat against the weight of our torso to remain on the surface. Yeah, it’s tricky. While we’re going to talk about the balance brace for at least a couple posts in this series.. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to be successful at it, to have an effortless roll. Continue reading
Mary’s New Found Roll
Published August 13, 2010 | 
Come here mama….and dig this crazy scene
He’s not too fancy….but his line is pretty clean
He ain’t no drag.
Papa’s got a brand new bag
– james brown
So I know lots of folks who’ve been following along with the “Low Impact Roll” series are not rollers, or at least are not confident rollers.. yet. Since it’s Friday I want to take a break and share with you a bit of encouragement by way of example. Normally in the “biz” we’re in the habit of showing you experts and athletes who’ve got rolling down to an art form. While that can be encouraging it can also be a bit intimidating as well. So here’s a “real people” example of where we’re going.
Learn To Roll, Stupid!
Published August 11, 2010 | 
Actually, that should be “Learn to roll stupid” because today I’ve got some exercises that will certainly make you look stupid if no one knows why you’re dong them. Seriously though, if you’ve been following along so far with my series on low impact rolls these exercises are more important than they look. Just find your inner child and play along. Continue reading
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