pawsplus
Paddler
So, as I said elsethread, after getting my Greenland roll, and the offside roll, at the symposium, I then couldn't get it to save my LIFE at the lake a week later. So I arranged to attend the WW rolling class at a pool. It's complicated for me b/c the classes are at the university where I work, but I live 50 min. away. Since I can't leave my boat in the truck parked on the street for 9 hours, I would have to drive to work, drive home, pick up the boat, drive back to town, have the class, and drive BACK home. Almost 4 hours of driving! To avoid that, I asked if they could make one of their sea kayaks available to me. Several years ago they had some decent fiberglass ones, but either they don't have them anymore or they didn't want to risk it in the pool, b/c they brought me an insanely wide Necky something-or-other (poly). It was a tank. I didn't think anything could make my short, fat boat look sleek, but this one did. And I sloshed around in here even worse than I do in my Tsunami. I shortened the footpegs as much as I could, as I do in my boat for rolling, but even when I was starting the roll correctly, I kept falling out of the boat at a certain point.
The WW guy was really helpful. The last time I took one of these classes, I got a 20 year old kid. This time I got a grownup, and he looked at my GL roll (what there was of it, given the boat) and said that it's close enough to a sweep roll so that he thought he could help. He really did! But the boat was just not cooperating. Every time I went to drive with my water leg, which twists the torso and lengthens the top leg, that would let my left leg slip past the thigh brace and I fell right out of the boat. It would have been comical if it hadn't been so frustrating.
So he put me in a WW boat, in which I was nicely snugged in, and I got it with no trouble. That was confidence building. I'm now trying to get the guy who runs the rec center to agree to let me drop my boat off the AM of the class and store it there, so I don't have to spend an additional 2 hours on the road. Fingers crossed! I think this guy can help me.
It's frustrating that the roll comes and goes, but I know that this is very common. Dubside told me it even happened to HIM, and he's the Greenland God LOL.
The WW guy was really helpful. The last time I took one of these classes, I got a 20 year old kid. This time I got a grownup, and he looked at my GL roll (what there was of it, given the boat) and said that it's close enough to a sweep roll so that he thought he could help. He really did! But the boat was just not cooperating. Every time I went to drive with my water leg, which twists the torso and lengthens the top leg, that would let my left leg slip past the thigh brace and I fell right out of the boat. It would have been comical if it hadn't been so frustrating.
So he put me in a WW boat, in which I was nicely snugged in, and I got it with no trouble. That was confidence building. I'm now trying to get the guy who runs the rec center to agree to let me drop my boat off the AM of the class and store it there, so I don't have to spend an additional 2 hours on the road. Fingers crossed! I think this guy can help me.
It's frustrating that the roll comes and goes, but I know that this is very common. Dubside told me it even happened to HIM, and he's the Greenland God LOL.