How to Roll in a Kayak

Video Transcript

"Rolling is another skill you can use to have a self-rescue. There are 4 key elements to the roll. The setup, the sweep or the paddle movement, the hip snap, and the recovery. We'll go through each part, but remember there's many different types of rolls out there. You'll hear people talk about C to C, modified sweeps, sweep rolls. You need to find a roll that works for you, your boat, and it keeps your shoulders in a protective position. So the setup would be tucking forward kind of 45 degrees or over your knee, tucking way forward and curling up to the surface. Then you'd move your paddle across the surface of the water, hip snapping, which is pulling up on that knee. The recovery is basically the head comes out of the water last. I know it's uncomfortable to think about that since we breathe air, but you do want your head to come out of the water last. So I'm going to show you a few and then we'll talk about it again. We'll try another one. One more."