(This week’s blog is written by Steve King, Tsunami Ranger lieutenant)
As all sea kayakers know, a good roll and/or self rescue technique is core skill #1 for safe and fun adventure kayaking.
Last weekend I had the good fortune to be taught the versatile and body friendly Greenland style roll by a wonderful and well known instructor, and Greenland style gold medal winner for rolling, Helen Wilson. We started out with yoga stretching exercises, a good beginning to any day on the Ocean in Kayaks.
Helen spent the most of the day in a 50-degree outdoor pool teaching rolling-challenged people, like me, children and experienced rollers like Captain of the Tsunami Rangers, Jim Kakuk, who worked on hand rolls (not the sushi) and many others.
I will not wander into the debates on what rolling methods works best, but I will say that in the Greenland-style roll, as in most athletic pursuits, it is all about the core body strength and flexibility. Helen helped all the rollers from expert to novice.
As you can see from the pictures there were all sorts of boats, gear and people. The primary message from Helen was, “This roll can be done with any sort of boat, with or without paddles.” Last week Eric wrote about the beautiful Greenland style paddles, so I will not focus on those except to say I want one!
For me it was an excellent way to move forward on getting a roll down. I can self rescue in my X-15 Tsunami boat but know my surfing and rock garden antics will improve when I have a good roll in my quiver of skills. Watching 10-year-old Anders Becklund roll and then watching his dad, Tsunami Ranger Scott pop up on his roll made me think there is a rolling gene!
Helen’s other important message was, “Practice, play and have fun with it.” There is no limit to what can be learned or improved upon with this fundamental ocean kayaking skill. I cannot recommend Helen Wilson strongly enough—she is really good, loves what she is doing and has a devil’s glint of glee in her eye when she sees her students getting their rolls down. To find out more about Helen Wilson, visit her website at www.greenlandorbust.org.
“Practice, play and have fun with it.” I couldnt agree more.
Being bendy definitely helps but none of my friends (myself included) are as flexible as Helen Wilson, yet we still manage to have fun with it.
PS. Nice hand roll Jim!
Thanks, Tess. I will demonstrate some at the R&R in April.
I’m a heck of a lot less bendy than I used to be and sure wish I could have attended that roll session with Helen, because I could have used it. My roll is more tentative now (partially because of my heart operations which messed up my ribs a bit), so I’ll have to try harder (but still play!).
Eric – Hopefully you can join us next time (plans are underway) 🙂
Ya, next summer in a warm pool and we will add a full extra day for the after party!
I’ve been on Facebook too much. Where’s the “like” button for this comment?
I can barely roll my Valley Aquanaut, let alone a Tsunami X-15! Am definitely going to have to convince Helen to give me some lessons. 🙂
Helen is convinced 🙂 Anytime.
Fat Paddler… that lesson will happen next month my friend!
It’ll be fun having both you and Helen here in Thunder bay at the same time.
Cheers… Joe O
Very much looking forward to it!!!!
I’ve heard from many reliable sources, including my fellow Tsunami Rangers, that Helen is a really good rolling teacher. She has a rolling video out too. Eirik the Red says “Check it out!”
Yes, Helen is a fantastic teacher! Traveling back from the USA to NZ meant I didn’t get in a boat for 2 months, which is exactly what Helen said not to do. She was right – I had forgotten how to roll! It took 3 or 4 failed rolls before my muscle memory kicked in again, and – voila! – I came back up! So it’s very important to practise LOTS once you get it.
Sasha, Good to hear your comments. Keep up the rolling.
I’ve not met Helen nor had the privelage of an in-person lesson, but her teaching style really works – 2 of my kayak friends who are new to the Greenland rolling scene received Helen’s video in the mail last week, which they’ve been watching ever since. We went for play paddle yesterday taking their brand new kayaks (Greenland and Nordkapp) and within 30 minutes, they were both butterfly rolling. It was pretty cool to watch and listen to them reciting Helen’s tips to each other while they practiced.
Steve – Thanks for posting this. I had tons of fun working with the group… and just as much fun hanging out. Looking forward to seeing all of you again sometime soon.
One of the things that touches me deeply, and that I think about often when I’m out on the water, is the debt of gratitude we owe our Inuit brother and sister paddlers. Their heritage forms the bedrock foundation of sea kayaking. Without it, sea kayaking would not exist, and river kayakers would be paddling canoes.
Here were a native people, living in one of the harshest, most environmentally strenuous places on earth, not exactly flush with natural resources (the odd log washes up – some wood is aquired by trade) and yet they somehow made these absolutely astounding, sleek, aesthetically gorgeous, seaworthy boats.
What’s more, they regularly took them out on deadly cold water, often in very gnarley conditions, to hunt alert, intelligent animals that had no interest whatsoever in being harpooned. No wet exits for these pros – they were sealed into their boats. And if they happened to capsize? They appear to have a contingency roll for every possible situation. Harpoon line got you tangled up? No problem: “The Tangled Up in Harpoon Line Roll” – I paraphrase, but you get my drift. As I understand it, for competition, the rolls are graded in terms of difficulty (1-10?); my C to C or Screw would probably be in the 1-2 range if I could do it flawlessly, which I cannot. Oh yeah, booga-booga, I got me a bombproof roll. Whooooeeeeee! I’m the Kingfish! As my daughters used to say: NOT!
The kayaking heritage that the Inuit bequeath to the world gives a lot of meaning to my paddling. I can’t do their moves, or pronounce the beautiful names of their techniques, but I can sure appreciate the richness and complexity of their gift, and aspire to learn as much of it as I can. When John Heath made his rounds back in the day, and spoke in the Chesapeake Bay area, every single paddler who heard what he had to say was simply awestruck. I know I was. Amid all the horror stories of decimated native cultures, here was a little, but powerful ray of warm sunlight & it was our incredible, unbelievably good fortune that it was still alive.
Make no mistake about it: Helen is a keeper of the flame. In my book, that’s no small thing; it’s huge. Her knowledge, dedication, commitment, respect for the heritage, teaching ability, and modesty about her skill – all have my highest respect. Of all the developments, gear enhancements, boat designs etc etc etc that we’ve witnessed over the past three decades, nothing moves me as much emotionally as what she and others like her are doing to pass this magnificent “gift of knowledge” on to others.