Rolling: persistence and failure

22 July, 2019, 4 min, 713 words

Since my last post about rolling, I've gone out a few more times to keep working on my roll. It's been a heck of a journey, with a four-week span in which a single roll during a practice session was a big accomplishment. By now, though, I think I at least have a decent roll down. In practice sessions, when I'm expecting to capsize. So there's still plenty of work to be done.

A hand-drawn calendar shows days I attempted to roll, with red numbers stating the number of failed rolls, and green the number of successful ones. May 16: 10 red/5 green, May 19: 8/5, May 21: 10/3, May 22: 2/7, May 29: 10/0, May 30: 10/0. June 1: 7/1, June 3: 2+1/1+1, June 5: 7/1, June 10: 8/0 (1st second-roll attempt), June 11: 7/0, June 24: 6/1, June 25: 5/10 (Alex is the best!), June 26: 0/10, June 27: 3/7 (first off-side roll), June 28: 0/2, June 29: 0+1/7+2. July 1: 0/2, July 8: 14/2, July 9: 1/9, July 20: 0/8 (first awkward-paddle roll)

Summary calendar of my rolling practice sessions.
Red numbers show failed rolls/swims, and green ones show successful attempts.

Milestones

First roll: May 16, on my first roll session with Ted and James.
First feeling of exasperation underwater: May 30. A major win for underwater composure and comfort.
First second attempt at a roll: June 10. In other words, a roll attempt failed, and I reset and tried again. In fairness, the second attempt also failed, but the underwater composure sure felt good!
First 100% success rate during practice session: June 26.
First full roll: June 26. In other words, capsize on the left, roll up on the right.
First off-side roll: June 27. I normally roll on the right side, but I'm working on that off-side!
First successful second attempt: June 29. I tried to roll on my off side, failed (brought my head up first instead of last, classic rookie mistake), reset on my strong side, and nailed my second attempt. Twice.
First successful roll session after hiatus: July 20. After a break of nearly two weeks, my roll didn't abandon me!

At this point, I count that I've tried to roll nearly two hundred times, with an overall success rate of less than 50%. Hopefully my roll sticks with me for long enough that I can start to increase my success stats. And of course, there's lots more to do!

Upcoming goals

There's loads more to do and learn on this rolling thing, and that's not even counting all the other technical kayaking skills I want to practice! A small sample of upcoming goals:

Ensure my c-to-c roll ends on the front deck.
Start working on another style of roll, probably a sweep c-to-c.
Really nail my off-side roll. It just doesn't feel natural yet, and I need it to be muscle memory. Ideally, I'll also get good at second attempts on my off side. Looking at the statistics, it's really no surprise it feels unnatural: I've attempted an off-side roll around ten times, compared with hundreds on my strong side. There's only one cure for that: practice!
Work on paddle setup underwater. It turns out that in the wild, you don't always capsize in the perfect rolling position, so wrestling your paddle into position is critical. I've started practicing this, but there's plenty more to do. One aspect of this I'm dreading/looking forward to nervously: capsizing with only one hand on the paddle.
And of course, actually roll when I capsize without expecting it. This is the reason it all needs to be muscle memory – ideally if I capsize "for real," my instincts will kick in and I'll be back above the water before I even really think about it.