About us

How We Roll is based in Falmouth, Cornwall. We love using Greenland paddles as versatile tools for paddling, rolling and rough water. The Cornish coast with its varying conditions from the sheltered waters in the South to the rougher waters along the wild North coast is the prefect place for Seakayaking. We teach Greenland rolling and Greenland paddles strokes at events like the Sea Kayaking Cornwall Symposium and run our own rolling clinics at various locations throughout the year.

Rolling is a key skill that empowers people to enjoy the full breadth of seakayaking by embracing more challenging conditions and paddling skills. It is an important safety net, even in larger group outings. Having a consistent roll will help to develop edging, turning and bracing. Further the ability to stay at the surface of the water by using the Greenland balance brace, sculling or forward finishing recovery techniques completely changes a kayaker’s mindset. It is great fun to be able to easily switch between being under water, on the surface and upright in the kayak.

Greenland rolling is based on intuitive basic principles using the whole body, a survival skill passed down from Greenland hunters. It uses the natural ability of the body to float on the water in combination with a strong knee and hip drive while using very little upper body strength. There are many different ways of righting the kayak and recovering classified into four main families.

Layback rolls such as the Standard Greenland roll and the butterfly roll are both favourites of many. These are relatively easy to learn and provide the basis for the progression to norsaq rolls, hand rolls to the very difficult straight jacket roll. Back-to-front and front-to front rolls allow the kayaker to recover on the front deck in a low brace position which can help in rough water situations. The Storm roll is one of our favourites – while a bit harder to learn – it is incredibly fast and efficient. Sculling rolls use a special movement of the paddle to perform the rolls while the body principles are taken from the other rolling families.