By special request... here's a link to the old forum of some rolling videos...

[www.americanwhitewater.org]

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Here is some excellent advice from Eric "EJ" Jackson on rolling(swiped without permission)...

by EJ
Here is how to take your roll from where it is to, 100% effective.


Everyone learns to roll, then goes through some kind of regression,
forgets their roll, then gets it pretty good again giving them 90%
confidence in it, then oops, what happened.

At this point, where you are, you will either rise up, or go down
forever. There is no medium ground here. You know you have the
skills to roll, it is a head game, here is what you do. (I have
taught thousands of people to roll, and they never swim!)


1. You must be confident and proficient in your basic technique.
So start at the beginning. Go to the side of the pool, practice
the hip snap. You must pay attention when doing it(no going
through the motions). Keep your head in the water until the
cockpit hits you in the side(you have done a complete hip snap)
then bring your head out. Remember, you body is weightless in
the water, 1" out of the water and you weigh 150 pounds (or what
ever you weigh) So upright the boat while weightless, then bring
your body out.

2. Do the same exercise, but with your paddle on the side of the
pool, drop in the water, hip snap up. Open your eyes and look at
the bottom of the pool, don't take your eyes off the bottom
until your boat is upright.

3. Do the entire roll a couple of times having someone watch for
proper technique.

If you can roll again, with 75% proper technique or better, you are
ready for the next step, becoming a roller for life.

ROLLING VS. SWIMMING IS A NO COMPROMISE MENTAL DECISION!

When you are underwater, your ability to make quality decisions is
limited. In fact, I wouldn't want to rely on any decisions I make
underwater. So it is criticle to make all important decisions in
advance of getting in your kayak.

#1 Decision- When I flip over, I roll up. This is an easy one. If
you are walking across the street and you fall down, you just stand
up and walk to the other side. You don't lay there and wait for
someone to help you. Why? Because you know how to stand up. If you
try to get up and fall again, what do you do? You stand up and walk
across the street before you get run over by a truck. If you tip
over, you roll up, if you miss a roll, you set up and do it right
the next time.

Rolling is easy- you know how to do it on both sides. The only time
you don't roll is when you aren't focused on the task at hand- SET
UP, COCK UP, HIP SNAP, HEAD DOWN.
That is all you can do when underwater.

IMPORTANT FACTS-


1. All you can do underwater is roll up.
2. If you think about anything but rolling up, you will have
more trouble rolling.

Scenarios-


You tip over and your paddle hits a rock underwater---


Set up and roll

You are set up but your head bounces on a rock---


roll up

You feel a huge boil and swirly water and you are having trouble
setting up--


Set up and roll (it may take another 5 seconds)

You are up against rocks on one side---


Set up and roll on other side.

Get the point- Everytime you are upside down, you focus on the roll
and roll up.

The option- Swim (It takes at least 5 more seconds to get air then
rolling, you bang your legs, waste 5 minutes, get cold, endanger
yourself and everyone with you) So swimming is not an option.

HOW DO I PRACTICE MY ROLL TO HAVE TOTAL CONFIDENCE IT WILL ALWAYS WORK?


1. Once you are confident in a pool that you will get back up if
you tip over (you can roll) you can begin your real roll practice.

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER TIP OVER WITH YOUR PADDLE SET UP IN ROLL
POSITION!!!!
This will never happen in a river, so practicing this way means
every time you tip in a river it will feel different to you then in
practice.

Your goal is to get comfortable with every conceivable position to
start your roll from underwater.

Examples: Tip with your paddle behind your back, over your head,
holding with one hand, backwards, bad grip, etc. Tip with your
paddle off to the side of the boat, look for it and swim to it, grab
it set up and roll.

Time your self underwater- practice extending your time underwater
with a reasonable comfort level. (The average person is comfortable
for 10-15 seconds on the first try and 15-30 seconds on the second
try. This means it is possible for you to double the time you have
to be comfortable underwater with a little practice (underwater is
no big deal unless you feel panic, extending the time you have
before panic is easy and critical)

Learn an "intuitive roll"- You can now roll any old which way but
loose. You no longer roll set up. You can pass your paddle over the
boat while underwater, etc. Awesome. One more step...


Getting past the "learned, mechanical roll". You do a sweep roll, or
a C to C roll. Fine. Rolling though is simply getting a bite on the
water and hip snapping up. (you should take your roll past the
beginner phase and learn to roll in all kinds of positions of paddle
and body)

Here is how you do it-


1. Flop in the water with your paddle in the high brace position
and roll back up (deep high brace)
2. Same thing but let the paddle go underwater to a 30 degree
angle then roll up.
3. Do it again letting the paddle go deep to 60 degrees, then
roll up.
4. go to 90 degrees then roll up.

(miss a roll?, no problem, set up and roll normally)

What you are trying to achieve in the above exercise is to learn
what you can get away with and still roll up. It is not necessary to
"set up do a CtoC roll" everytime. In fact, most of the time you
should be able to turn a flip into a quick hipsnap back up. Why?
Because you generally tip over with the paddle in a position that is
similar to one that your are practicing above (60 degrees into the
water for example)

You can always set up and do the "proper roll technique" if you miss
a quick roll up. However, if you don't learn that you can roll from
any position, you won't ever have an intuitive roll.

Summary:


1. Decide that you NEVER swim. (The only time swimming is safer
than staying in the boat is when the boat is pinned solid to
something)

2. Practice "combat rolls" only- that is the only kind you will
ever have to do.

3. Extend the amount of time you are comfortable underwater (a
bath tub is good for this too)

4. Learn an "Intuitive roll"- rolling any which way, (it is all
about getting a bite on the water with your paddle and doing a
good hip snap, keeping the head down.)

5. Imagine every possible situation that could possibly occur in
the river and try to simulate it in the pool (use the sides, use
other kayakers, use a broken paddle, etc)

6. Learn a hand roll after the intuitive roll.

With all of this said remember....

You will see me, and all of the best boaters breaking all of the
rules mentioned about (except the swimming part) because our rolls
are so intuitive that we just "roll up" with no regard to technique
or a consistent approach. (I rarely ever set up and roll, I often
lean forward so I am in position to take my next stroke, I will lean
back if it is important that I stay up) etc. You too can get there,
but a breaking out of the "mechanical roll" mold is the first step.

I hope this was a worthwhile rolling article for everyone.

See you on the water,

EJ