Rolling in the hole - Some Thoughts

Thoughts on rolling in the Hole by Chris Joosse

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Russian
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Resources:

The Bombproof Roll and Beyond, by Paul Dutky

Kayak: The Animated Manual of Intermediate and Advanced Whitewater Technique by William Nealy

Videos:

Retendo

Rolling in the hole is a valuable skill, because sooner or later we all end up there- and in order to get out (or stay in, whichever is your goal) being upright is pivotal in controlling it. In many ways, rolling in a hole is easier than rolling on flatwater or on eddylines- the water actually helps you accomplish what you set out to do- but with this 'free lift' comes a formidable challenge- the hole is also a chaotic place of confusion and the old formula of 'set up, sweep, hipsnap' doesn't work here unless you're fortunate enough to have set up on the correct side.

the hole is a place with a bunch of power- which means that you need to be much more defensive about the way you position yourself. Fortunately, this power can be used to make rolls happen very easily. The hard part is in adapting to your environment in order to exploit all of this power. The dangerous part is that if you do it wrong, you can hurt yourself.

Always ALWAYS keep your hands in front of your torso when you're in the hole. If your paddle needs to be over there, across your torso, rotate your torso, keep your elbows in low and tight, and keep your hands in front of you. This is true when you're upright and performing maneuvers, and it's even more true when you're rolling in the hole.

So you find yourself in the hole, getting shaded- what to do? In an ideal world, you'll be able to begin to get set up to roll up on your downstream side before you hit the water. This would allow you to simply brace up on the water going by you, super-easy.

...but maybe it's a bouncy hole, super-trashy, or fast, and you didn't have time to 'set it up'. what to do? there is a method that works very reliably- but it requires a 'kinda' understanding of the shape of the hole. so you're upside down, getting tossed about like the bit of flotsam that you are, you'll notice that you can tell when you hit the downflow- it's the 'hard' water. whenever you hit that, turn your torso in a way that you're 'looking' downstream- the direction it's flowing. I lead with my head in this respect- if water's pushing my head one way, I look in that direction and turn my torso that way- and this is step one.

soo- just to clarify, imagine you're upside down in the pile, and you bounce down into the big slab of greenwater at the bottom- which direction is it coming from, and what do we do with it? The reality is that we must roll in the direction of the flow, and depending upon where the water is coming from, you need to do different things:

Direction from which the water comes at you while upside-down:		What to do:
Your Left:		1) look to your right(downstream), rotating from your hips and keeping your elbows in tight. this will engage your left paddle blade in the downstream water. 2) As the left paddle blade finds purchase in the greenwater, use this purchase to snap your hips and right the boat.
Your Right:		1) look to your left, rotating from your hips and keeping your elbows in tight. this will engage your right (upstream) paddle blade in the downstream water. 2) As the right paddle blade finds purchase in the greenwater, use this purchase to snap your hips and right the boat.
Your Bow (steyr roll, from the back deck)		1) Look downstream (in other words, lie back on your back deck momentarily) but keep your elbows low and your hands in front of you. 2) Pick a side that you want to roll on- either way is good. Turn your torso in that direction. As you turn, engage the power-face on the paddle blade in your opposite hand- this will give you a little lift with which to get the other paddle blade out of the water. The 'loaded' blade will go off downstream some, but make sure not to let your elbow go too far downstream. 3) Once you've got one blade released, continue to sweep your actvie blade around from your bow towards your stern, and use this sweep moment to snap your hips and complete the roll.
Your Stern (front-leaning roll, from the front deck)		This is just like any other roll- pick a blade you want to work with, perform a sweep from bow-to-stern, and use your purchase on the green water to perform your hip snap. Keep in mind that you'll come up facing downstream, and that additional maneuvering might be required to keep yourself from burying your stern and ending up where you started.

Remember, you've got your hands in tight in front of you, and your elbows are low- by turning your torso to face downstream, what you've really accomplished is to disengage one of your paddle blades from the downflow- meaning that the other one (the one that'll be downstream when you come upright) is engaged in a column of water that will bring you back upright. If the boat is oriented in such a way that looking downstream involves lying on your back deck and looking 'up' away from your feet, all you have to do is pick a side... nothing else changes.

WARNING:

If, in the course of executing this maneuver, your elbow goes north, or if you don't keep your elbows bent and tight in front of you, or if you don't keep your hands down in front of your torso or face... what you face is the possibility of putting your shoulder under load in a circumstance where it's not all that mechanically strong.

Keep in mind that longer paddles are a liability in this maneuver- shorter sticks give you better control over the blades, are easier to set up, and give the water less leverage on your joints... and there are a lot of things we know about now that you can do to make the 'rodeo roll' safe... stuff that hadn't been explored so much.

Defensive thoughts to ponder:

1) keep your hands in front of you, no higher than face level.
2) keep your hands in close and tight- let your elbows serve as shock absorbers.
3) rotate your torso in order to keep it facing your hands. If you get shaded in the hole, this means that you'll want to look downstream (I know, you can't see underwater) and the hole will set you up for your roll.
4) use your torso, not your arms, to make the roll happen.

On a typical steyr roll, I tend to put my elbow across my chest low and tight, so that my hand crosses roughly in front of my face. I turn my head in the direction I plan on coming up on, and tuck my face down into my other shoulder, against the possibility of hitting rocks and such. As soon as possible (when my active blade is on the side of the boat that I plan on coming up on) I'll turn my entire torso to face that direction, and I'll do a 'sit up' while snapping my hips... so that I finish either centered or a bit forward, on a low high brace with elbows low and hands essentially in front of my shoulders. From there, I'll spot my next move with my head, wind my torso, place my paddle, etc.