On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 16:19:49 +0000, Peter Clinch
wrote:

Peter wrote:

It is interesting that you teach pawlata first.... I don't anymore for the
reason that people seem to rely on the leverage, and that turns into brute
force with the screw roll.

Makes sense, as that's what I did... Some people have learned starting
with a float assisted hand roll, which really helps tune the hip flick
first thing. OTOH it can be a bit dispiriting at first as it's harder,
and in my case the last time I tried I put my back out and needed two
visits to the osteopath so I'm not personally that keen on practising that!

OTOH I'm not really clued enough to teach anything else, and will
usually only try to teach when I'm all that's available there and then.
Will try an emphasize a good pawlata with prominent hip flick before
moving onto screws in future though!

Reverse Screw: the thing I did wrong for ages is I was pulling the blade
down in the water, rather than sweeping it out.

Having set up and flipped the boat I just couldn't decide what I was
meant to be doing *at all*. It wasn't doing the wrong thing, just going
"errrrrrrrrr?", resetting for a P and coming up that way instead! Down
rather than Out seems to be a common problem for a lot of people doing
any sweeping roll though, AFAICT from our pool sessions.

roll. I still don't like back deck types of rolls, but they definitely have
their uses.

I was just curious really. Main project now is getting screws on my
"bad side" just as good as the other and at a point where "default roll"
is the best side in any given situation, rather than current right
shoulder forwards side. Also working so that any degree of feather or
different control hands aren't a problem (often paddle unfeathered on
the sea if there's no headwind, if there is I sometimes swap control
side thanks to a variable joint shaft and blades that plug into either
end). Slowly getting there...

Not quite age related but on the subject of teaching rolls...

There we were, four adult Coaches teaching " Star/ 3 Star to roll. By
chance we had an extra non-paddler in the pool. First time in a kayak.
My son, not then a coach and still only 17 taught this lad to roll in
five minutes. He couldn't paddle in a straight line, but boy could he
roll....

Ewan Scott
http://www.claytonwestscouts.org.uk