 The
hip flick and associated follow through are so vitally important
to good rolling that they must be taught and mastered thoroughly
at an early stage. Superficial ability is not enough as the stress
of concentrating on body position or paddle movement later in the
learning process may cause the pupil to forget to carry out the
hip flick actions. As a result, he lifts his head out of the water
first, loses power and the roll fails.
The angle of tip and the speed of movement can be progressively
increased until the boat is being tilted as far in each direction
as the movement of the waist joint allows. This is a good practice
for the "C to C" roll in which the shoulders and upper
body remain square to kayak.
Rotation of the upper body can be added to the exercise in
preparation for the fully-articulated screw roll. The paddle
is held out in front of the paddler, and as the left knee and hip
are raised, the torso is rotated to the left, and the right arm
extended across the centerline to a position outside the left
knee. At the same time the body curves forward at the
waist and spine. As the kayak is rocked in the
opposite direction the body unwinds, passes through the upright
forward facing position, then winds up in the opposite direction,
finishing with the left arm extended over the right side of the
kayak, and the body bent over to the left. This exercise
begins to give the paddler a sense of the timing and sequence of
movements in the screw roll.
 In
the next exercise, the purpose is for the paddler to find the best
recovery position. For a right-handed paddler, the recovery will
normally be on the right side of the kayak. The aim is to immerse
as much of the torso as possible in the water while moving it the
shortest distance from the centerline. The angle of roll of the
kayak is controlled with the knees and thighs to maximize the
righting buoyancy force. To reach this position, begin by
lowering the right arm deep in the water. Bend forward at the
waist and rotate to the right. The left side of the face
should brush over the spraydeck and finish on against the side of
the kayak adjacent to the right knee. At the same time the
right hand reaches deep into the water pulling the shoulder and
upper body under the surface. The hand may help with support by
sculling. Most paddlers will find that, with a little
experimentation, they can get their face in the water. Those who
are more advanced and flexible will be able to progress to whole
head and second arm immersion. Ultimately, this exercise can
be developed into a complete hand roll.
In this next exercise the body lies face-down in a
horizontal position with the hands holding palm-down on to the
side of the pool, the bow of the instructor's boat, or any other
reasonably firm support at water level. To reach this position a
right-handed paddler must first rotate at the waist fully to the
right, then hold the support and capsize to the right. It is
important for the learner to realize that the face and body must
be in the water for the exercise to be effective; again the range
of movement should be built up until the paddler is stretching the
waist in each direction as far as possible, pulling the kayak over
with the left knee, then rolling it by pulling the right knee
through under the kayak. Initially this should be repeated several
times with the body lying passively at the surface - no attempt
should be made to bring the body out of the water until the hip
flick can be performed almost without thinking.
There is a tendency for the bow of the kayak to
drift out from the side of the pool forcing a rear deck recovery.
It is important that the paddler keeps the bow close to the
side of the pool so that a recovery with the face close to the
knee can be practiced. Pushing out with the rear hand and pulling
in with the front hand will help with this. Once the hip
flick can be done consistently with both hands providing support,
it should be practiced again using only the control hand, since
only one hand provides support during the paddle rolls.
The Body Follow Through -
 The
next stage in developing the complete action is to add to the hip
flick (just described) the recovery from the water: as the boat
passes through the on-edge position the spine starts to bend
forwards from the base; this keeps the head and shoulders in the
water, generating buoyancy, until as late as possible in the
recovery; the shoulders and face leave the water last, with the
face close to the middle of the thigh. This exercise, too,
should be repeated a number of times. The diagram shows a recovery
in the "C to C" position. Ideally, the paddler's
face should be closer to the side of the kayak as it comes out of
the water. In order for this to happen, the paddler needs to be
bent forward at the waist in a more face-down position than shown
here.
 If
the pupil has difficulty in achieving this flexibility of the
spine, then alternative methods of lifting the body from the water
can be tried. Many kayak rollers finish by lying along the back
deck with no rotation at the waist; this causes less strain to the
beginner, but is less effective for two reasons. Firstly, the
body clears the water and the torso buoyancy force is lost much
earlier in the movement; secondly, the laid back position is a
very poor one for resuming paddling on rough water since the
paddler is disorientated, looking up at the sky, and is in a weak
position to brace with the paddle. If the roll fails when he is in
this position then his face is very exposed to rocks and other
obstacles. From this position, he has to pull himself
upright with the stomach muscles, expending valuable time and
energy, before he can do anything else.
If this is the only method learned for kayak
rolling, then in some boats with high rear decks the body is
prevented from leaning very far back, and so finishing the roll is
difficult. When paddlers have learned to roll in a pool, they
often find that wearing a buoyancy aid in the laid back position
pushes the center of gravity significantly further out from from
the boat and this effect often contributes to difficulties in
converting a pool roll into a river roll. One possible way around
this for the stiff-waisted paddler is to lean forward. Particularly
in large-cockpit boats the face lies close to the front of the
spray cover, and the center of gravity can be brought very close
to the axis of rotation. If the boat has a small cockpit,
then the head ends up on the raised part of the foredeck and again
the center of gravity is forced further out. The forward position
is better than the laid back position because the paddler's face
is much better protected and he can sit up into a strong paddling
position quickly after rolling.
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