If there’s one kayak technique we’d
all like to improve, it’s our roll.
So
combine Justine Curgenven’s skills as a film maker, with the Greenland teaching
skills of Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson, and you have a DVD which is going to
sell very well.
Real rolls you can use
in real situations is the idea behind this DVD – so does it deliver?
Priced £19.99 and $29.99 the DVD is available from Cackle TV.
Priced £19.99 and $29.99 the DVD is available from Cackle TV.
Cheri and Turner are renowned
Greenland paddlers. I’ve watched them
work at a symposium on the Isle of Skye and recorded Podcasts with each where they explain their approach to rolling.
This DVD is like having advanced, personal
rolling tuition from Cheri and Turner.
It accurately captures the way they teach rolling, so it’s clear they
are much more than presenters and have been involved throughout the shoot,
scripting and edit.
Whatever kayak you own, whatever
paddle you use, the teaching method used by Cheri and Turner is
Greenlandic. Most pupils start in a
tuliq with (eventually) a Greenland stick in their hands, so that’s what we see
in the DVD. Now, this might be an issue
for some people, so I’ll come back to it later.
When I was struggling to learn to roll
I went on a weekend course at Glenmore Lodge (that didn’t work for me) and
watched C2C rolling DVDs (they didn’t work either). If you’ve been down that route, then you’ll
find this Greenlandic approach quite different.
Turner and Cheri emphasise what
matters most is what your body is doing, not what you’re wearing or the type of
paddle you have in your hand. Get the
roll Greenland style, and the technique will transfer, they say.
Of course, it’s impossible to learn a
skill from just watching a DVD.
So a
good kayak coaching DVD has to give you the right amount of information, in the right format and sequence, for you to
remember enough of what you've seen when you get on the water.
When you
need to progress, or review the material because something isn’t working as it should, come back and watch the DVD
again.
The producers should anticipate what you’ll
need before you know you need it.
Sensibly, this production (aimed at beginners to more advanced rollers) doesn’t
divert into the more esoteric of the 35 rolls in the Greenland competition,
although Cheri hints we might see those in a “second DVD”.
Instead, it concentrates on three rolls; the
Standard Greenland Roll, Reverse Sweep, and Storm Roll. (As an aside - a lot of people who’re
interested in the more advanced rolls would benefit from watching this DVD
because, if they can improve their body motion, then they'll find the esoteric
rolls easier).
Each roll is broken down into a series
of learning points that ought to be mastered before progressing.
Turner and Cheri show each in action, talk us
through the learning process step by step, then introduce students so we can
see non-experts getting to grips with the process.
After that, there’s a ‘Troubleshooting’
section where common (and less common) mistakes are identified and remedies
suggested.
It’s all filmed from every
conceivable angle; shore, on the water, under the water and even in a back
garden where Cheri uses a skin-less kayak so you can see how her legs are
working underneath the deck.
Freeze frames with graphics emphasise key points, and there are subtitles in French, Spanish and Italian. So you could learn a language too.
The underwater pictures really stand
out. Justine shot some of these using
scuba gear and she told me it was tricky, “not being used to it and
with a strong-ish current that kept dragging me along the bottom away from
where I wanted to stand ... kicking up dirt etc.”
At other times the air tanks were abandoned for a simpler
system.
“The underwater shots of Turner
in the brown tuliq with the brown boat were done with a mask and a tow belt
filled with rocks in a clear, cold lake on Vancouver island. I'd take a deep
breath, sink, point the camera and T would perform.”
But please - don’t try to watch the whole
thing in one sitting.
There’s just too much information and your head will
explode.
It is probably best watched in
pairs, so you can study a section together then immediately practice what
you’ve seen. As well as keeping you
safe, your partner will be better placed to identify what any mistakes you’re
making, so you can return to the DVD to study the Troubleshooting
sections. I suspect each copy of this
DVD will be watched many, many times.
The strength of this Greenland
teaching technique presents a slight difficulty for the DVD viewer who only
uses a Euro-blade.
They’re required to
do some mental gymnastics; they must watch people in tuliqs with Greenland
sticks, then ‘translate’ the teaching they’ve seen to something that will work
with the equipment they use.
Because in a DVD which runs for more
than 2hours 30 minutes, barely 13 minutes are devoted to teaching with
Euro-blades, and most of that is just voice-over not actual to-camera
teaching.
Some viewers won’t like this,
because they don’t have a Greenland stick and can’t immediately put into
practice exactly what they’ve seen on screen.
Yet that misses the point of this Greenlandic approach which is more
about your body and less about what’s in your hands.
For those who have a good basic roll
but want to be able to roll in trickier sea conditions, the Storm Roll and
Reverse Sweep sections make excellent viewing.
“We are marketing the DVD as
showing people rolls that they can use in real situations to prevent a swim”,
says Justine.
So just be clear - This is not just the roll - This Is The Roll as
taught by two world renowned Greenland paddlers, Cheri and Turner. It clearly says on the cover “Greenland
Rolling”, and that is exactly what you get in spades. It will surely sell well.