My first hand roll

Kayaking was tonight. I hand rolled somewhere around 5 or 6 times. The first one was on my own. I had my lifejacket on for a little extra floatation and it was ugly, but it worked and at least someone – not sure who – saw it. Later, I tried another in front of Todd – which failed, but got his attention and thus a plethura of good coaching came my way. He gave me some very good advice, and is also very good at picking out what a student, in this case me, is doing wrong. After his lesson I tried and succeded in another hand roll sans lifejacket. I then pulled off a one more as a show for Kathleen and a few more to practice. As of yet, I cannot hand roll on my off side. Had I gotten my first hand roll, and an off side hand roll on the same night I would have been expecting someone to buy me dinner afterward just because of my sheer awesomeness.

There is a trip to the Lower Yough this weekend. I don’t really have the thermal gear required for a trip this time of year, and even if I could borrow it, might well get my ass handed to me if I tried that river. The problem is that my rolling skill has outpaced my edging and bracing skills. I’m considering anyway… we’ll see.

For anyone who doesn’t know, a hand roll is the righting of a kayak without the use of a paddle or other aide. In my mind, it’s pretty much the winged eagle at the top of the kayak skills totem pole. Maybe some of the wicked awesome stunts that Cam can do are better, but that’d be your opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b78_GBHakJU like this guy, only no helmet, no jacket, in a pool and without the narator.

Alright… home… to sleep and hopefully wake up at a reasonable time tomorrow.