Getting/Improving your Confidence Rolling in Whitewater. Whitewater Kayak Tutorial

Another way I find that works well for helping people to improve a roll they already have in the pool is to start teaching them a new roll they don't have (i.e. offside or back deck),. This normally leads to them ending up in all kinds of positions. It also means they get used to trying to roll with a little less energy/air, as may be the case when paddling a river.

Great video. I'd just like to point out that I spent years working on my roll, but wouldn't even attempt to try it in white water. Not everyone's confidence issues are technical... quite a lot of women in kayaking especially suffer from this - we can get into the wrong mindset so that when we capsize the fear takes over. What helped me was doing stretches of river that were a little challenging, over and over again. Getting familiar. I got really used to swimming. Then one day I got bored of swimming and thought, 'I could just roll' . The fear left me... I could now think underwater. Now I try to roll out of any situation. Even if I have to try 3/4 times because I'm stuck in a hole, or because I rolled into a feature or rock. The best thing to improve your confidence is knowing that not rolling/ swimming is NOT failing! You are learning all the time on white water. So get yourself out there and do more! :)

The thing I found that seemed to help when I taught my buddy was that I would randomly flip him with no warning whilst talking with him. That seemed to be the best way of breaking his idea that he needed to set up. Mind you I warned him before hand as to not be too mean. That and getting him to do 3 consecutive tries at the roll before I would rescue him to get him to realize just how long he could carp rolls before needing to get out.

Amen about the freestyle! I come across a lot of those people too!

Nice One Seth. ManyThanks

Wealth of knowledge, thanks

I really like these tips to improve the roll. I was doing that alteady but certainly will do a lot more "crazy" capsizes now. Thanks for your video!

This is 100% true and accurate. I can really see the experience of you man, so wise! I personally think that one the best way to learn a super-strong roll is practicing the hand-only roll. Without the paddle you can gain so much confidence and precision with your hip work that once you get back to the paddle you feel a lot safer. In my personal experience it was absolutely helpful being upside down in the wild water and knowing that in any moment I could leave the paddle and just roll, if I wasn't able to place it properly. Of course I wouldn't do that on purpose, a solid roll with the paddle is fast and you protect your body and your face... but mentally it's been a bless knowing how to hand roll! Anyone else with similar experience?

100%!!! Nailed it! For me adding stern squirts on eddylines has helped me to increase spacial body awareness and roll confidence!

Good stuff! Getting to a setup position under water is totally the thing to practice.

One of my instructors gave me another nice trick how to practice rolling: exhale before getting upside down. Usually when we get tipped over on the river we don't have a chance to get full lungs of air and this can be another stressful factor, but in fact, even with nearly empty lungs we have enough of oxygen in the bloodstream to attempt roll at least twice. So practicing in calm water but with empty lungs helps to get used to that state and can give more confidence during the real thing.

thanks for this content and encouragement. i came up in the fiberglass days in idaho paddling natural progression and dick held kayaks on some pretty big water. had a very solid roll (at least on my strong side) and used to teach kayaking for the outdoor program a bit at Idaho State Univ. But now, at 68 years old, missed a couple rolls this summer in only class III while playing in a set, and jumping over a foam pile covered boulder on a river near Santa Fe. anyway, got my pool roll back last year and it felt like the old days, so missing it on the river really pissing me off. going to do your drills in a nearby lake and get ready for next season. thanks again, cheers.

Seth I've gotta hand it to you, you're one of the best I see online with your instruction. I've seen many and I've been kayaking for 47 years. You make it very understandable. Which is the idea💡 turn on the light. Thanks

Thanks Seth. I've been in the spot your talking about so many times. When I set up above water I can roll my tail off. But being caught off guard is not the same at all. So this is a necessary video.

Great info👌

Id love to see a video on cartwheeling in holes or other hole surfing tricks

I %100 agree with you on the freestyle kayaking part. I was always of the mindset of I just wanna paddle hard stuff and I don’t need to playboat. However, this summer I finally learned how to surf pretty well and I got addicted to surfing when nothing else was running. And while I messed up many times, it was a great learning experience for my roll. I appreciate all the content! I just wish I had some play spots in Washington.

hey Seth I just wanted to say thank you for the awesome content. I was wondering if maybe you could do a video of different drills and even exercises to do to build muscle in the areas that lend themselves to paddling.

Liked the tips. In my experiences people "running" rivers without surfing or playing any of the features, havent learned the basics about ferrying or surfing. Most likely paddle forward with a high paddle cadence in rapids. Never realizing they are speeding up the risks and impacts. Teach them to hide behind every rock on the way down ;-)

I have actually had my paddle already set up before I went over on a river once, but only because I had just put a stroke on the left, saw that I was capsizing, realised that I couldnt save it, so set up. It made an extremly quick roll. However, that was once out of 2 years of kayaking, so its rare.