THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE ESKIMO ROLL By Craig Rivertt

THE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE ESKIMO ROLL By Craig Rivertt

Personally this is the Eskimo roll that I teach people, I find it the easiest for people to grasp. However, I do not use this technique. I find to too slow to set up, but it is a basic move for learning any kayaking move. When learning to Eskimo roll it is by far the easiest to learn in a creek kayak like the Fluid Solo or any other boat with a round hull and a low centre of gravity.

The key to the Eskimo roll is getting your centre of gravity above the boat with the least resistance.

All this roll involves is 3 basic moves, the setup, the reach and the pull.

1. The Setup.
For a right hander, this would involve putting your right fist where your left knee is and your left fist just behind your seat inline with seam of your kayak. This causes your paddle to sit horizontal close to the surface of the water. This position protects your face from rocks that could be under the water and helps get you orientated and ready.

1. The reach.
This move gets the paddle in position to grab the water forcing the kayak to roll over. Again for a right hander, this involves moving your right hand out making the paddle sit perpendicular to the kayak. The trick here is to keep the paddle as close to the surface is possible.




2. The Pull.
This is the part that will make or break the Eskimo roll. When your paddle is perpendicular to the kayak you must pull your right hand across your body, moving the right fist over your head to the right hip. The two most important things to remember when doing this is to make sure that your head is the LAST thing to come out of the water and that you pushes their left knee away from them.
The head coming out the water last forces the centre of gravity to slide across the boat lifting it to the surface.
> This is very tempting for a beginner to do because of your need to take a breath, you must fight this instinct. At the same time as you pull, flick your knee away from you; this makes the hull lift up allowing the kayak to flip. If you do not keep your head in the water or snap the hips (kick the knee down), it is close to impossible to roll.



Look how the boat has lifted up because of the kick down of the leg. Also note how the head is still in the water.


The centre of gravity is pulled over the kayak.

Tips. When teaching someone how to Eskimo roll I always find it easier to teach them in a pool and often get them to wear goggles. This makes it much easier for the kayaker to keep orientation.

Recap.

1. The setup
   Get paddle parallel to kayak to get orientation.
2. The reach.
   Get paddle perpendicular to the kayak on the surface.
3. The pull.
   Keep head in water until the end
   Kick set up side leg, DOWN.
   Head is the last thing to surface.
   Smile

Always remember that every one misses rolls sometime so don’t panic and always stay calm. More times than most you have time to set up and roll again. The most important thing to remember when kayaking in general is to Stay Calm at all times.

Good lines
Craig Rivett
lifebywater@gmail.com

PUNCHING THE BIG ONE by Craig Rivertt

PUNCHING THE BIG ONE by Craig Rivertt

Firstly there is not a definitive technique to doing this. It really depends on the hole, your kayak and you as a paddler. To be honest there is also some luck involved in many cases.

There are a number of ways I have found to punching a hole, the three I will speak about are the:

1. 'coward role'
2. 'balls to the wall'
3. 'plug'

For all the punching moves you have to look for a weak spot in the hole. Generally the weakest points in a hole are where a diagonal is hitting the hole or where there is a green window.

A window

The window doesn't have to extend the whole way up the hole. It just has to make the foam pile smaller.

A diagonal

The diagonal hits the hole with a lot of speed. If you ride the back of the diagonal you can use this fast flowing water to pull your through the foam.

The coward role is actually a very brave move to use because you tend not to have any control and really rely heavily on luck. This involves getting enough speed before the hole and rolling over just before the hole. The aim here is to catch an undercurrent with your body to pull you through the hole. When on the other side all one has to do is Eskimo role up.

The one problem with this move is that 1stly you have zero control about where you hit the hole and when you roll over your body acts as a break slowing you down making you a very likely candidate for a beating.

The 'balls to the wall' involves trying to get over the hole by lifting ones bow and dropping ones stern. You have to aim for a diagonal or better yet a window to make this one work. When doing this move you have to hit the hole as fast as possible. When you hit the hole, throw your weight forward while putting your paddle on the far side of the foam pile to grab the exiting water. This should pull you over the hole.

One of the scariest feelings on the river is when you get the 'balls to the wall' move wrong because you stop on the hole and slowly you start sliding backwards towards the meat. All you can do at that point is HOLD ON.

The plug is probable the move I use the most when trying to get through a huge hole.
This is attempting to drive your bow down with lots of speed to catch the under current and pull you through. Paddle as fast as possible and as you get within a meter of the hole take a hard stroke and throw your weight forward. You want to use a diagonal here to get some speed in the water.

Get speed

Tuck, and hold on!!!

Using the diagonal

Get your Line

Place the stroke and GET SPEED

Tuck!

Punching big holes is fun but remember that there is always chance you are going to get stopped and beaten. When you practice this technique use a hole with nothing dangerous behind it so if you swim you should be ok.

Good lines
Craig Rivett
lifebywater@gmail.com