A Successful Rolling Clinic at Plas Y Brenin

 

As a new designer here at Palm and relatively new to kayaking, and after getting pretty fed up of getting wet and cold from swimming far too much, Paul (our marketing manager) thought it would be a good idea to send me off to Plas Y Brenin for a 2 days rolling clinic

I arrived at Plas y Brenin on Friday 7^th December in the evening. I was welcomed by the friendly reception staff and shown to my room with a welcoming, cosy, bed after a long drive up from Bristol. In the morning I met my follow students, John, Andrew, Rodger, Branwen, and our coach Chris, and off we went to the pool all keen to get on and start rolling. First Chris showed us how to rescue each other which proved very necessary!

 

We started by doing some hip flicks off the edge of the pool and some of the guys jumped straight into attempting their rolls having been able to roll successfully in the past.

After doing my hip flicks effectively off the edge of the pool, Chris came over with my paddle. I was pretty nervous at first so the plan was I would go over and Chris would guide my paddle once then on the second time I would do my hip flick and come back up. To my amazement this worked! So after a few more of these I then started using a paddle float and doing it on my own.

To begin with it wasn’t going too well but Brenwan was very patient and become a pro at rescuing me! Then I started to get the hang of it, which was a massive relief.

Next we all went off for some well deserved soup at the bar. Taking advantage of the lovely setting I went off for a wander around the lake and to call my Dad to tell him the exciting news!

After dinner the session continued to go well with people doing successful rolls with and without the paddle floats. After a while Chris suggested we should have a break from rolling and have some fun with Andrew’s sea kayak. So we all had a go at doing some self-rescues. Some proved more successful than others, which was amusing and a welcome break from rolling.

 That evening we all went off to watch some videos Chris had taken of us during the day. This proved very useful as we could all pick out the areas where we needed to makes adjustments to our technique.

The next morning we were all feeling a bit achy and tired therefore as a result the morning wasn’t so successful… Until Chris came in with tea and biscuits, which put a smiles on everyone’s face! After the little break things started going much more smoothly and I managed to do many successful rolls without the aid of the paddle float. So off we went to lunch again with a big smile on my face!

The afternoon went just as well and I came away very happy with my progress and confident I can continue to improved with the technique we were taught. I think the others would also agree they came away happy all having being able to do successful rolls.We all dried off and had a de-brief with Chris. We said our goodbyes and all set off on our long drives home.

 

Overall it was a fantastic weekend at Plas y Brenin, I was very impressed with the facilities and coaching. Everyone was looked after very well and I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to master the art of rolling!

So a big thanks to all the staff and Chris our coach! And I hope all my fellow course students continue to improve their roll and I hope to see you out on the water!

Click on the link below to check out the video!

Alison

Rolling at PYB