Mary Malmros wrote:

reasons that are unclear to me, sea kayakers seem to regard the roll as
an incredibly advanced technique that you have to build up to for years
and years.

They do? Not true of the ones I know, and I'm in an active and
reasonably large SK club.

In whitewater boating, working on a roll starts right away

As it does for sea kayaking, IME.

just get worse. And you _do_ want a reliable roll before you venture
into the surf, because it is not a good place to swim.

I actually got my "roll in anger" greatly improved in /moderate/
surf. For a relative beginner it's more a case of when, rather
than if, you go over, and so you get quite a bit of practise of
doing it for real. Moderate surf on a sandy beach away from nasty
rips is, IMHO, quite a good place to get better at unplanned "real"
rolls, and you get some fun riding the waves into the bargain.

For the sort of surf you'd be going through because you've no
realistic choice, the above "not good" is completely right though.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/