Tuning up the Rolls

I snatched an hour last week to take the 'T' down to Sandringham Beach & try to tune up my rolls. I recordered the session on my camera, essentially to try to spot any technical problems, but the murky water & late arvo light knocked that idea on the head.
In my limited experience, the backwards finishing rolls seem to be all about how flexible you are, whereas the forward finishing rolls require rather a bit more finesse & intuition. They're awesome when you get 'em right, you rise up almost as though someone else is doing it for you, very cool.
I had a crack at the half-paddle rolls that Rob was doing so effortlessly HERE, and that's another one in the 'work-in-progress' basket.
Regardless, never having been one to be afraid of going through the 'a bit hopeless' phase when learning a new set of skills, here's the highlights & a few lowlights of the session set to the groovy tunes of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.
Now that's a mob to aspire to belong to, once I can get the hang of this Greenland rolling bizzo.

Greenland rolling competitive…? Nah….!

Disclaimer - Apologies in advance to the reverential readers in Greenland cyberspace, we're just having some fun here….
I guess the phone call must have gone something like this….


"G'day Rob, Chris here."
"Just noticed the video of you guys doing the rolling thingy"
"If Mark can do it that quick, I bet I can do it quicker…"


A little less Mozart & a little more Rage Against the Machine, the joyous, peaceful, calming rolling pastime, has given way to…... Greenland Wars.…..

Quoted 25 minutes for my first 'Haka Roll', Chris set about the task with Rob down at Watson's Bay yesterday, stopwatch set & running. Nailing it with 5 minutes to spare, after highlighting the achievement with a blatant reference to his watch, he then proceeded to rattle one off on his offside. Not content to stop there, out came the NRS Propulsion Gloves. He ticked off hand roll with the gloves, he then took a shot at the hand roll au naturale, and of course bloody well cracked one second go.
This sort of provocative one-upmanship has escalated the simmering rivalry, so I headed down to the local pool this morning & desperately tried to regain the yellow rolling jersey. Competitive? Me? Nah…..
A dodgy hand roll later & we're all square, although my effort was a little less smooth than the James version. However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, I was then up for Rob's 'round-the-world-kind-of-imagine-yourself-trying-to-shove-your-finger-up-your-clacker' forward finishing roll, then the forward finish, forward start, paddle over the keel line roll, then the crooked elbow rolly thingy. All highly technical, unbelievably difficult, athletic, Greenland rolls requiring supercharged talent that start with Q have several 'L's' in them and finish with a K. 
Just to put both of us in our places, Rob then fired a few tricky rolls across the bow, which you can see interspersed with Chris & my novice attempts in the video above.
Interestingly, none of the three of us can manage a balanced brace, which is widely espoused as the starting point for anyone to learn these rolls. I think our top-heavy physiques probably make this something of challenge no matter how good we are, so there you go, square pegs in round holes.
This rolling caper is a lot of fun, bring on summer, some warmer water & a chance to really get good at it.
The little skinny elephant in the room is the boat we're using. They're designed for rolling, and certainly make a massive difference. The big fat elephant in the room of course is Rob standing by providing expert instruction, this stuff would be very hard to get your head around without it…..

EK Demo Day in Queensland - October 21

The annual National Sea Kayak Symposium is now less than 3 weeks away, and once again we'll be bringing a trailer load of demo boats, paddles & kit north for the event, of which we are Major Sponsor for the third year running. We'll also be holding our traditional Demo day on the Friday preceding the symposium, along with Craig McSween from Adventure Outlet. As well as demo boats to paddle we'll be available for individual on-water tips & instruction throughout the day. 
For those who were there last year, the venue is the same, the beach on the creek at Murlong Cr, Tallebudgera, next to the boat ramp (map below).

This will be the first opportunity for Queenslanders to test paddle the new Valley Etain 17-5 and 17-7, as well as the Rockpool Taran and the fastest selling play boat in the market, the North Shore Atlantic RM. We'll also have a demo on hand of the Mitchell Blades Bombora LV, fast acquiring a cult following among the smaller engined paddler brigade.
Please drop us a line between now & the event if you plan on coming along.

Sea Kayak Rescues with Gordon Brown - the Trailer

Here's the trailer for the latest Gordon Brown DVD. The production values & sheer art in the trailer have certainly whet my appetite for the full movie, it looks fantastic. Stock is due around October 25.

NRS Gear for Spring

From time to time the good folks at NRS send us out a few samples to play around with, and this forms the basis of the products of theirs that we include in our online store. The weather is starting to warm up, we're noticing people making queries about the more immersion-centric elements of the sport (rolling, skills instruction that involve capsize & rescues etc), so we have been on the lookout for products to enliven the barmy water most of us are about to start paddling around in (sorry to the Sea Canoeists in Tassie, I know it probably feels warm to you in summer but….)
The latest range of testing gear included four products that we're rapt with, and they're now either in stock or about to be in stock for the coming warmer months.
The first one is the Endurance Paddling Jacket.

One of the big successes kit-wise on the North Reef Trip was a lightweight paddling jacket that Chris used instead of a heavier cag. When we'd stop on the water in the wind, or pull up in the late arvo he would throw it on over the top of his paddling gear & PFD and it provided a breathable shell against the wind & wet & kept him from cooling down. I didn't have this option in my gear & twice landed after a long day in the wet & windy environment a bit too cold for comfort. We have tested this Endurance jacket over the past month & found it to be exactly what we wanted in the range to provide an option like Chris had utilised to such effect on our expedition. It's light, wind & waterproof, breathable, visible & only $109. A great piece of kit as the warmer months approach.
The fun addition is the very cool Propulsion Gloves. You can't say we don't cater to niches, even if the niche is so small it might only be me! What the hell, if your best excuse for including products in your own store is that you just want one, I'm sure there is no commercial law against that!

These are webbed paddle gloves designed to help you make the transition to some of the trickier hand rolls in the Greenland repertoire. I have personally had a lot of fun using these gloves, pretty much cracking a 'cheating' hand roll the first time I had a go, after some good instruction of course (see below)!

They've got a flexible plastic shim between each finger for rigidity, but are still supple enough to allow me to miss a roll & reach for the stowed paddle & recover. They pack such a punch we're contemplating heading out in some gentle surf wearing only the gloves & seeing how long we last, but please don't try this at home. These will be available next week for $40.

In keeping with our premise that the hull is the single most important feature of any kayak design, we're now offering The Padz Deluxe Kayak Outfitting Pack, a  comprehensive outfitting foam pack for paddlers wanting to adapt idiosyncratic seat & comfort to their boat. 

This pack features a set of hip pads & shims, a seat pad, a sheet for ankle/heel paddling, two thigh pads & two thigh risers. It takes the headaches out of making that small adjustment to your boat. The full kit sells for $55.


Finally we've added a paddling glove in a more budget conscious price range, the NRS Guide Glove.

This is a nicely made half-finger design with a textured palm for grip & a very durable Terraprene backing. They're great value for money & have the typical NRS cool good looks.

The NEW Epic 18X, Now in Stock

The first of the brand new freshly designed Epic 18X's have touched down. We have stock on the shelf for $3990, ready to roll out. If you want to know what's new on this iconic sea kayak design my review of the updated 18X is HERE.

Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown - Rescues DVD

Simon Willis has just sent us through the pre-release info on his upcoming sequel to the hugely popular Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown DVD. The trailer alone (which is now online HERE) gives a hint to the spectacular production values that have gone into this epic 2 hour instructional DVD.

With the beautiful islands of St Kilda as the backdrop, Gordon Brown takes us through a series of rescue & emergency scenarios, from assisted rescues in rough water to contact tows to seal landings & even a brilliant sequence where he lands his Etain through breaking seas onto a rock platform by swimming it all in.

There is a lovely piece in the middle of the feature about Hamish Gow, who together with his wife Anne were the first to paddle the 40 miles out to the remote islands of St Kilda in 1965. There were no wing paddles, fast kayaks or hand-held GPS back then, and their tale is worth the price of the DVD alone. There is a some great historical footage of this pioneering trip as well as an interview with Hamish.

There are a series of reviews of the DVD which you can read below:

PaddlingInstructor.com

Canoe & Kayak Magazine

SeaKayakPhoto.com

KayakQuixotica

Our stock is on the way & will be available from our online store from October 25. You can pre-order your copy now for $39 including freight nationally.