Whidbey Sea Kayaker

After I had solid Greenland Standard Roll, I started to practice Reverse Sweep Roll which is a forward roll. I borrowed a DVD, This is the Roll (1), from our paddling club and watched it more than 30 times. Again, there are too many things to remember. Fortunately, I figured out Chest Sculling very soon, so it gave me a good foundation.  The DVD was really helpful especially the troubleshooting part. The hardest roll among the three tolls is the Storm Roll. I had failed again and again. At a point, I was hesitated to capsized because I knew I would fail and sink. It was very frustrating and the idea to quit came to my mind. After all, I had two rolls and that's good enough to bail myself out when needed. Soon after that, I had progressed and gotten better little by little. Finally, I learned Storm Roll from the right side. It took me another three months to be familiar with both sides. Since I had failed so many times, so I had to use Standard Roll or Forward Sweep Roll a ...

After my club members helped me to get my first standard Greenland roll, I practiced again and again, tried to build up muscle memory. However, at the next pool session, I had only a few success rolls, failed most of the time. At a point, I thought to quit. How could  I lost it? Again, my buddies cheered me up, encouraged me to refine my gesture. There are so many tiny bits need to be connected in a smooth sequence. The only way I could do was to practice many many times so some of the move I just did without thinking. At the third pool session, my success rate had more than 80%. I have regained my confidence.

It is not that easy as people said. I was 55 at that time. Did not have good flexibility. I took a class from a famous kayak school. The lady gave me a walk around of their facility and answered my  questions, "90% of our students have a roll in that class". I thought I could do it and I did have ONE roll. Well, I had no idea how I made it. Everything happened so fast. Two years later, I took another rolling class by a world famous kayaker. Well, he is very good for sure but other students all had a solid basic roll and they practiced advanced roll over there. I failed again. Fortunately, my paddling club friends encouraged me to try again and helped me in the pool session. After three sessions, I finally learned how to do standard roll. I am grateful that I met some friendly members who have very good skills and passion. A lot of videos from paddling club and Youtube gave me a better idea to fine tune my skills. I like to thank those fellow kayakers who have...