ROCKtheBOAT by alex matthews
Rolling...evil excercise or reliable rescue? M
any sea kayakers will still knowledge- ably expound on how the notion of
Learn to roll dependably and it will imme- diately replace all other self-rescues as your primary choice for righting your capsized kayak.
rolling a fully loaded sea kayak is just plain
silly.These self-proclaimed experts will even say that learning to roll is dangerous to your health screaming, “It takes only twelve pounds of pressure to dislocate a shoul- der!” Yeah, and it only takes about three pounds of hot air to push many sea kayakers over. The origins of the you can’t roll a
sea kayak attitude grew from the very pos- itive and inclusive approach taken to mar- keting the sport in North America. Kayak touring has been promoted as an activity that anyone can
do.And that’s
true.Almost everyone loves to get out on the water and skills like the roll should never be a prereq-
uisite.The sport should never become elitist in the way that it has in some places, nor however, should the skill set available to paddlers be misrepresented in an attempt to foster growth of the industry. In the U.K. for instance, the sport of sea
kayaking is promoted quite differently. It is a far more exclusive affair governed by the British Canoe Union (BCU). Ostensibly set up as a club, aspiring paddlers work their way through a rigorous testing system and are judged by accredited coaches in order to improve their skill rating. To its credit, paddlers do typically have a very good skill set under this system but it also discourages many potential paddlers. In America, promoters of sea kayaking
say it is available to all: the old, the young, the wounded and infirm. As long as you
8 FALL2002
have the cash for a Kevlar sea kayak they will encourage you to paddle it. Of course you’ll also need a veritable mountain of res- cue
accessories.And no, you don’t have to learn any pesky skills or even get wet. Rolling? That’s much too difficult. Damn near impossible really. It’s not necessary and besides you’ll get cold and wet… Brrrr. But here, buy this fleece and dry top just in case. And instead of learning to roll, buy a paddle float, it will look really technical on the deck of your new boat!
I
say learn to roll dependably and it will immediately replace all other self-rescues as your primary choice for righting your capsized kayak. A dependable roll is the ulti- mate self-rescue technique, period. End of story. Surely, you are thinking to yourself, this guy can’t be suggesting that rolling is a sub- stitute for the much loved and cherished paddle float rescue, not to mention the myriad of other solo rescue proce- dures filling the how-to books over- flowing your kayak hatches? Yup, that’s exactly what I’m proposing; rolling is the first and best option. This does not mean that I do not carry a paddle float as a back-
up.And what is this obsession with the pad- dle float anyway? Beginners insist that they need one with their rental boat and they tell me it is unsafe and dangerous to be without one. But when asked, their blank looks reveal a beautifully humbling moment of realization,“Umm,no.How do I use it?” Sorry to keep kicking a sacred cow, but rolling means staying in the boat, reducing
Rolling means staying in the boat, reducing immersion time to seconds instead of minutes. It also reduces what gets immersed by about fifty percent.
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