Well, I've finally managed one - a roll, the beginner's Holy Grail. I'm pretty chuffed, but to be brutally honest I'm also even more frustrated and perplexed than before, cos once I'd done one I couldn't do it again! I guess its all about forgetting how and why the roll happens and just setting up and going through the process without analysing too much - thinking back, that's probably how I did my successful one anyway. When it happened it actually felt dead easy, and was so little to do with brute force (... probably where I've been going wrong before ...) that I actually got a huge surprise when I popped up the right way. So big thanks to two fellas at the Barrage for spending 20 minutes of their own paddling time with me, going through a few Eskimo/T-rescues, and putting me right with 'sculling for support'. The blade work and body positioning must've been just the right combination to get the thing to click for me. Perhaps every beginner learns a different way, and perhaps everyone needs a different catalyst to get the ideas and body positioning and blade to work together in the right way. But if it works, it works - YEEEEHAAAA.

(Is this the end of my swims then? Somehow, I think not ................... )

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