Paula Johnson wrote:

I am a new paddler, and really want to learn to roll. I'm mostly comfortable
with submersion when wearing nose clips - but how to you get comfortable
with a nose full of water? I hate getting water up my nose, and I think this
fear is holding me back from being comfortable upside down under my boat,
which is where I want to learn to spend time calmly. What helps one get over
this fear?

Let's not treat this as a psychological or moral failing, OK? You want
to learn to roll, fine, get the nose clips and go to it. If I'm
practicing rolls, or just hanging out under water, I always wear mine.
Not having had a childhood that included swimming lessons, I get water
up my nose and in my sinuses too, as you do.

Lots of people use nose clips. Watch the videos of the rodeo boaters.
They almost all wear them. I often do, too, when surfing in white water.
But never when running a rapid or surfing in the ocean, because I think
that wearing them then shows a bad attitude and fear of flipping.
Besides, I can't breathe.

But here's the neat part. When I flip and do a combat roll, I just do
it, and I rarely get any water in my nose at all.

Good luck!

--
Steve Cramer
Athens, GA