What’s the importance of rolling a kayak in modern times? Well, if you like kayaking and you like getting out in the water or play in the surf, at some point you may capsize and unless you can right yourself back up, you will end up having to do a wet exit. This means that you will have to pull your legs out of the boat and completely get in the water. The problem with this is, number one, now you are out of the boat, unable to go anywhere unless you decide to leave the boat behind.
Number two, if the water is cold you can be in trouble very quick. Even in the summer, paddling in a beautiful place like the great lakes area, being in the water for a prolonged amount of time could quickly send you into a hypothermia.
Also, if by any chance you get caught even in the slightest surf you will be in the middle of a hot mess of the boat going one way, the paddle the other way while you try to keep the water off the boat for you to get in again in a perfect balancing act.
I am still working on the basic roll. Here and there I can pull the roll out but I still feel that is not ingrained in my muscle memory, where I could rely on it; particularly under stress or in the case of an unexpected capsize.
North Living 