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Lumpy Paddles – Rolling Stick – Norsaq

This afternoon I received a gift from Bill Bremer, the proprietor of Lumpy Paddles. I have offered to help train a new client of his, so he generously sent me this beautiful norsaq as a gift. It feels wonderful in my hands. Made of western red cedar, and finished with...

Roll of the day – Throwing stick roll, forward to forward

Building upon my latest obsession with norsaq rolls, I have updated the forward starting and finishing norsaq roll. Originally called the Norsamik Masikkut. This roll is a great one to really train yourself to have a good forward finishing technique. There is...

Paddling.Net promotes my rolling video

I was very pleased to learn that Paddling.net had posted my Standard Greenland Roll Tutorial Video on their Kayak and Canoe News & Features:

Girls Greenland (Rolling) Master Class

This weekend the girls continued to gain interest and enthusiasm for their kayaks.I started them off by having them learn how to do a cowboy re-entry. I find this a useful technique when in calm water, doing rolling practice and needing to recover from the occasional...

Can you ever have too much Norsaq?

When I bought my Tahe Greenland the dealer sold me a set of Betsie Bay paddles that included a norsaq. After I learned to do a few norsaq rolls I bought a lovely laminated one from Joe O that was sized exactly to Helen Wilson's instructions so I knew it would be good!...

Cleaning out the kayak shed

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Qajaq Rolls is dedicated to passing on the traditional art of Greenland kayaking. Greenland kayak rolling can be a relaxing, yoga-like exercise. Rolling is also a tremendously valuable self-rescue technique, and should be the go-to recovery for any serious kayaker. Greenland kayak rolls are steeped in the history of the Inuit people, whose very survival depended upon their ability to roll up and recover while hunting. But Greenland kayaking encompasses much more than just rolling, qajaq building, paddle carving, throwing the harpoon and rope gymnastics are just some of the many skills that make up this ancient subsistence culture. If you are interested in learning more about all aspects of Greenland kayaking consider supporting Qajaq USA and Qaannat Katuffiat:

Qajaq USA is a nonprofit membership organization that is officially recognized by Qaannat Kattuffiat (The Greenland Kayaking Association). Qajaq USA is committed to supporting Qaannat Kattuffiat and their efforts to preserve, study and promote the traditions and techniques of Greenland kayaking while seeking to further the appreciation and development of Greenland-style kayaking in the United States.
Please consider joining Qajaq USA and supporting the organizations efforts.

If you are looking to prepare yourself your equipment and then learn your first roll please follow this link to a series of articles put together to help people get started: Getting your first roll. Nothing beats in person training, especially one-on-one training. If you are looking for mentoring check out the Qajaq USA Events where you can become immersed in the culture of traditional paddling.

Free Guidebook and DVD

Rolling with Sticks® started as a project to document the progress I was making as I learned the different Greenland style kayak rolls. This work evolved into the water proof guidebook and DVD. The project has paid for the costs of production so I decided to make them freely available for download in English, español – Spanish and 中文 – Chinese. Please download and share them with your paddling friends, and help to promote the art of Greenland rolling.