Jurfie, part of my "image" for getting back in is using a paddle float. With the paddle float out 90° from the kayak - especially if you have both chambers inflated - provides some stability IF you keep your weight leaning to that side as you rotate your torso. There used to be lore about which way to turn - towards or away from the float. In practice, theory aside, it seems an individual matter, just as long as the body weight is canted towards the float.
If your weight shifts to the wrong side, you "flag". You go over, rotating the kayak to its side, with the non-float end in the bungee/rigging behind the cockpit and the float up in the air.
That said, Paddle float reentry works so well in a warm swimming pool. As do kayak rolls, and re-entry and rolls. Out in real water, YMMV
I see kayakers, mostly instructors, do this "cowboy" reentry. Either they start from the stearn, straddle the boat, work their way to the cockpit, and drop their butt in. Or they put a hand on each side of the cockpit, and through some magic, push and lift, and are transported into the seat. Neither works for me. My Mariner, especially empty, has a lot of freeboard. Instructors used me for comic relief as the rest of the class, with their much lower rear decks, would work their way forward. I couldn't imagine them holding that balance with rear-quartering seas when they hit Spieden Channel at the wrong time.
Have you had the fun experience where you've hit the roll so well, and with "enthusiasm", that you completely toss yourself over the other side? Remember, afterward, the first thing out of your mouth, when you come up is, "I meant to do that."
