On the second day of my Kayak Academy 115 course, and my third day ever in a Kayak, George Gronseth introduced the class to rolling. It started with hip snap lessons on pads on the ground. A super uncomfortable training aid but one that felt natural and easy for me. Eventually we move to the water and gradually transitioned to George supporting us and providing help, to getting a chance to go it alone. I failed often at first, but mostly it was because part of my technique was flawed. But what was super reliable was my hip snap. Before the end of the day I was rolling on my own. To be fair, only on my “strong” side and with a success rate of maybe 1 in 3. But I was super confident and I continued to practice when there was a free moment during class.
The fourth and fifth day of this week long class was an overnight camping trip to Cypress Island. This was great fun, but I didn’t get a chance to roll during the trip over and I wanted to try again before the end of our class. I snuck in one my chance on the way home, with a loaded kayak this time, before hauling out in Anacortes. One success and one failure. I felt great and was certain that rolling was destined to be a constant companion of my kayaking routine.
After the excitement and intense learning at the Kayakl Academy Class there was quite a drought where I didn’t have the ability to kayak at all. I was doing a mad search for my own kayak and a way to haul it, but that took some time. So from 15 August to 15 November 2023 all my rolling confidence, and what little knowledge I had, faded.
But when I took delivery of my Norse Embla Carbon, after some joyfull winter day paddles, rolling was back on my mind. And apparently my mind was blank. Every attempt I tried was worse than failure as they in no way resembled a roll of any sort. I tried to remember all the pointers that George Gronseth had passed along, but nothing. The truth was that…
One of the odd feature of my unusual personality is that not only I’m I not deterred by failure, I seem to be inspired by it. I tell folks that it’s because failure and I are such good friends and we spend lots of time together. So even though my confidence and roll were gone, my determination was intact.
When I was hunting out local sources to continue my kayak education I ran across BodyBoatBlade. They have a ton a classes that interest me but they also teach a Rolling and Bracing Class. Since the kayaking “season” was quickly ending, I signed up for their last rolling class of the year.
The class was held at the Bowman Bay Boat ramp in Deception Pass State Park so this was to be the first time I’ve taken my kayak back off Lopez Island since I purchased it. I arrived early for my class not really knowing what to expect. What I found was an empty, blustery morning at Deception Pass. Eventually Alex LaLonde arrived and I learned the only other student for this morning’s class had canceled. So my class turned into a one on one coaching session. We started out with some land based drills and tips that were reminiscent of those that George Gronseth taught us at my Kayak Academy. Then it was time to hit the water.
We launched from the boat ramp at Bowman Bay and did a short paddle to the spit that connects Reservation Head to Fidalgo Island. After portaging across the spit to Lottie Bay, rolling lessons began in earnest. In a similar fashion to the methods I’d been taught before, Alex worked from totally assisting my rolling attempts to less and less assistance. And although the progress all felt good, and I felt like I was getting a feeling and understanding of the process. When push came to shove, I was unable to roll under my own power. I was, of course, frustrated and disappointed. But after a couple hours of attempts I was also pretty worn out. So we took a break of sorts, and took a short paddle out into Northwest Pass channel to play in the stormy seas of Deception Pass with stunning views of the bridge. This was my first trip to Decption Pass but I’m hopeful to get there again soon.
With the class timing winding down, we reversed our course and headed back to the boat ramp. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Alex and this course even though I might not have achieved the results that I’d hoped. I think we are fortunate to have Alex and the Body Boat Blade team as a resource in our neighborhood and will definitely keep them in mind for future training.
Just before I signed up for the BodyBoatBlade Rolling Class, I happen onto Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson set of rolling DVDs, “This is the Roll” and “This is the Roll 2”. I confess that at first, I purchased them to give them something back for all the free online content I’d found online. But dang, these are some fabulous videos. I purposely only watched them casually before my class with Alex since I didn’t want too much of a cluttered mind. But now I’m going to work my way through their DVD and practice their exercises. So yeah, failure hasn’t yet deterred. Me.
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