The plan was to get on the lake this weekend, even if only for a short time. Sunday evening the weather was perfect so I hit Lake Independence for a 6 mile circumnavigation of the lake, and a half hour or so of rolling. Last year the Nordkapp gave me some troubles with the lay back rolls, so I was a bit surprised when I was able to hit both on side, and off side angel rolls with out any problems. The forward sweep is working real well on the on side ... off side, well, not so well. I seem to get a little disoriented on the off side forward sweep. I had never tried the crook of the elbow roll until last week while I was out with Dave checking out his Feathercraft mods. It seemed like a natural progression to the sweep roll, it seemed to work, not sure if I'm doing it right, but .. what the heck. I did work on the narsaq roll for a while again last night ... close, but not yet.
5 comments:
Ya know - I always forget about that crook of the elbow roll when I'm on the water - gotta work on that one some more. Last time I tried it I snapped mt paddle in two. Maybe that's why I forget about it - I blocked it out.
Now I think about it ... the crook of the elbow roll could be tough on paddles. I've been pretty hard on my current paddle, and its held up really well, so much so I never even worry I might break it. I've broken a few paddles.
If your breaking paddles doing a crook of elbow roll, think about the side scull.
You could be either:
1) not using your legs enough, but instead bracing on the paddle and possible lifting your head.
2) Not rotating your body enough. Try to have both shoulders flat on the water near the end of the roll.
3) Not arching the back enough. Make sure that your shoulders are back just like the side scull.
4) Pulling down on the paddle. The paddle should be close to flat on the water while sweeping.
My elbow crook roll isn't so great, so I'm criticing myself as well:-)
If you are trying the forward sweep by falling backwards, I get the confusion. At someone's suggestion, I tried it falling forward and was much better orientated and able to complete the roll. If you do go back, be sure not to let the paddle cross to the wrong side of the boat (thank you, Alex).
I'm ok falling backwards on my on side, but I've yet to get it going off side. I agree ... confusion sets in quickly! Alex, and Ron S also showed me going over forward first helps to keep my self oriented while learning the roll, starting in a "chest skulling" positoin.
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