Skills: The Offside Extended Paddle Roll

August-September 2000

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Adam Bolonsky

Fig.1: Set-up position. Right hand back, left hand forward. Slight twist to torso.

Fig.2: Detail of set-up postion.

Fig.3: Powerface horizontal. Sweep back-long, extended and smooth.

Fig.4: Lean back and continue sweeping to complete the roll.

Basically a hyper-leveraged version of the by now familiar screw roll, the offside extended paddle roll is a terrific roll to learn should your otherwise ordinarily reliable screw roll have a tendency to fail in conditions tough enough to pin your boat down-higher winds or breaking swell, for example. A simple, straightforward move, the offside extended paddle roll can be learned in less than an hour or so by any paddler with average skills.

Set-Up

Assuming right hand forward is your set-up for your "good"-side roll, set up offside instead by grasping the end of the blade of your paddle with your right hand, comfortably and loosely. Use a grip somewhat similar to a hitchhiker's pose-that is, palm up, thumb out-and, with your left, grasp the shaft of your paddle with a standard grip about a quarter of the way down (figure 1).

Complete the set-up by winding up clockwise at the torso. Then, leaning slightly forward, lay the paddle along the starboard side of your boat and lower your chin toward your shoulder (figure 2).

Lefties set up ditto except substitute port for starboard, left for right, etc., throughout.

Capsize starboard or port.

Execution

Once you're underwater, reach up, break the surface of the water with the paddle, and stabilize the paddle so it hovers above the water close to horizontal. Roll your left wrist slightly over so the powerface of the blade lies horizontal to the water also (figure 3).

The Sweep Motion

Sweep counterclockwise away from the bow of the boat. With an emphasis on long, extended, and smooth, notice how much added leverage the extended paddle lends to your sweep motion. Your kayak will begin to roll (figure 4).

Untwist at the torso.

Most importantly, though, push the back of your right leg down against the bottom of the boat.

Completion & Recovery

To complete the roll, lean back as far as you can, and allow your torso to droop so your head emerges from the water after pretty much everything else. Don't be surprised should you roll up so forcefully you end up flipping all the way over again like a spinning brisket on a spit at a pig-roast!

Tips and Pointers

If the roll eludes, keep in mind that failure is mostly a matter of the roll's, and your offside's, newness. Simply allow for a few initial feelings of disorientation similar to the ones you felt the first few times you screw-rolled. The motions you need to follow are already familiar to you from your screw roll. Try to let them guide you.

If that doesn't help, or if you become confused upside-down about the correct direction for the sweep motion (not uncommon), concentrate solely on pressing the back of your right leg down. Doing so will force the boat to roll in the direction it's supposed to go, and will give you also a strong kinesthetic clue about the correct direction for the sweep motion. Finally, if all else fails, have a companion stand in the water and rock your boat slightly in the direction it needs to go. Notice how pushing your right leg down assists while pushing up-and using the wrong leg won't.

Wrap-Up

Many paddlers like to use the extended paddle-roll as a way to strengthen a perfectly serviceable though perhaps not always reliable, onside screw-roll. For one thing, the extension of the paddle greatly reduces the need to precisely time that all-important sequence of sweep, hip-snap, ROLL.

Second, the extended paddle tends to add just enough extra leverage to right a capsized boat in higher winds or breaking swell. The extension provides a back-up tool if conditions become hairball. In the final analysis, consider that rolling "well" really has very little to do with flash, snazz, or show-offy skill, even if the extended paddle roll can tend to dazzle people a bit down in the local practice pool. Like all rolls, what really matters is whether you can use it to stitch together a self-rescue.