This weekend I had no goals for the pool session. I was suffering from a cold that had moved to my chest and was feeling under the weather. I decided to try some synchronized video work. I set up two cameras, one mounted of the stern of the Tahe, and the other mounted on a … Read more
To paraphrase Jane Austen “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a sea kayak must be in want of a reliable combat roll”. I know I want one. In controlled circumstances I can perform over 40 different rolls and maneuvers, what happens in an uncontrolled environment? Will I come … Read more
I am not alone in pursuing the elusive elbow roll. Here is a video of Lesley Mackay working on hers in the UK, and getting it! You can read Lesley’s blog here. And here is Mel Hanley working on hers in Australia. I was really interested to see how smooth Mel’s is. People have been … Read more
You have to love what Google is doing to search (or fear it), I was updating a bunch of rolling pages, and Google search showed me an image from my blog from a while back. This picture shows me just starting a continuous roll. I love the way the camera captures the motion of the … Read more
You may or may not know what caused the second edition of Rolling with Sticks to be developed. It was as a result of some really great feedback from Christopher Cunningham , the editor of Sea Kayaker Magazine, who proposed I redraw the kayak to look more like a Greenland boat, and add opacity to … Read more
I had a great pool session this morning. I spent the first thirty minutes filming some rolls using the new flat lens on the Go Pro. The lens certainly fixed the underwater blur. I captured these two pictures while practicing forward finishing rolls. After I had my fun I spent an hour helping Peter get … Read more
Inspired by Frode Wiggen’s picture in this month’s Sea Kayakers magazine, I produced this still from a video I shot using the GoPro at 120FPS.
Well if you hadn’t noticed I rebuilt the website on WordPress. This has given me the ability to put a better structure to the information, specifically the rolling tutorials, pictures and video. I hope you find it more usable. If you have any feedback please email me at christopher@qajaqrolls.com, the site is constantly a work … Read more
Rolling well will require you to get low on the front deck of your kayak. The ability to get low depends to a large extent upon how flexible your hamstrings are. I pay considerable attention to stretching my hamstrings each week. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Bill the owner of Lumpy … Read more
This past weekend I was able to attend a pool session specifically to work on my balance brace. Previously I have been able to hold the balance brace with a paddle or a norsaq but have struggled to hold it with just my hands. I had some success by cheating with a PFD. Prior to … Read more
