Just some random footage of an impromptu rolling session taken when my friend Jenny came down to pick up her new boat.
I’m not usually successful at teaching the reverse sweep roll unless I’m standing next to someone in the water but we gave it a few tries anyways. Jenny’s failed attempt here is still a success though because it highlights the hidden value of Greenland rolling practice.
Notice that when the reverse sweep doesn’t work she reorients and comes up with a standard roll which actually gets saved by a tiny scull at the end. While standard rolling is primarily considered an emergency skill so practice is usually limited and there’s always the nagging doubt of whether or not you’ll hit your roll, in Greenland rolling the standard roll slowly morphs into an afterthought that you just naturally return to whenever you miss a new roll. The time that it takes to re-orient from a missed new roll back to a standard roll mimics the disorientation of a real life capsize situation where are you are generally out of breath. This trains your brain not to panic and translates into a much more reliable real life combat roll.
I originally got interested in the gentle sport of Greenland rolling because I had to take a three-year break from the surf and whitewater to heal a damaged shoulder but when I got back to the bouncy stuff, the difference was unbelievable. All that time spent upside down playing around with different rolls translated into the ability to stay focused and oriented in situations where I used to be panicking getting thrashed upside down out of breath. I literally got to the point where an accidental capsize didn’t trigger any adrenaline at all. This in turn translated into less fear which made me paddle a lot looser and more confidently meaning I was less likely to get thrashed in the first place. I was never successful in getting any of my whitewater or surf buddies to get interested in the “boring” sport of Greenland rolling, but for me at least it was a game changer.
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