Quote Originally Posted by lph View Post
Re rolling, just had to report:

I've managed a fairly consistent roll - indoors in a heated pool, in a junior kayak, wearing a swimsuit, diving mask and nose clip... - but outdoors I've concentrated on getting good at a wet exit self-rescue, since I paddle a lot alone. Felt I had a pretty good handle on it, until the other day when a friend and were going to practice. Took my dh's kayak thinking I should practice with that one too since it has a very small cockpit, freaked out a little at the thought of a wet exit, failed at an assisted roll (where you grab the other persons kayak to flip up again), did a wet exit and came up with my head completely stuffed with water and uncontrollably gasping for breath... dammit At the same time my friend who had just bought her first kayak almost completed a roll But then she's an old river kayaker.

Not sure what went wrong. I can't always practice with a mask and nose clip, because I'm not gonna be paddling with them on. And why on earth do I have this urge to inhale under water!

Argh. Back to practicing a whole lot more.
Maybe try the roll in a pool without the mask and nose clip first?

What was funny was that I was the only paddler to attempt it! There were three experienced people on our trip (two were the leaders) and 5 novices. I was the only one who would even consider it (presumably because of the water temp, but really, I think a lot of people just have open water issues). I've never been in a kayak in a pool before, but I prefer open water to pools anyway, so I figured it was worth a shot. My problem was that I just couldn't transpose what I was being told above the water into what was happening below the water and I just couldn't get it to work. I didn't have any panic feelings when I was under and while I did get water up my nose and in my sinuses, that's nothing new to me so it wasn't a big deal. It was just too confusing upside down!

I attempted it three times. One time one of the leaders helped me with a rescue, the second time, I *almost* managed to self-rescue but failed. My H decided he would help me rescue and I managed to dump him. Ooops! He doesn't handle cold water well and was quite a bit pissed at me.

Oh well - next time! In fact, I'd be interested in trying it in a local lake as the salt water was getting to me after awhile.