When I am completing my roll (c to c) I find that the paddle is diving quite deep and finishing near or behind my hips..making it somewhat difficult to go for a high brace if I don't come up all the way. What am I doing wrong?

Hey mate.

sounds like you just need to work on your hip snap. if your blade is finishing deep then you are using it to much. how long you been paddling for if C 2 C works for you great. for me they always take to long to set up thats why i use a screw roll. where abouts are you from? there is a group of us heading up to the white water stadium this weekend for a paddle we are all instructor qualed so if you can make it you can get free tips.

I am a grade 3 paddler as well and i find the c to c very awkward i would try a differant roll technique eg. back deck or a sweep roll

Sweet as bro

see if you can get to Penrith this weekend. there will be boys there doing chiko rollsB)

it could also be that your not stretching out enough, you need that paddle blade as close as you can get it to the surface of the water when you start.. so make sure your stretching your side and arm out far enough and that the angle of the blade is flat to the water. Get a pair of goggles to see what your doing wrong under the water.. that's helped my buddy.

Most likely you are doing one or a combination of 2 things: Using too much arms (not enough hip flick) or you're lifting your head.

Both give a similar effect. If you try and muscle the roll with your blade, your head will naturally come up a bit, because you're pushing with your arms too hard. Or if you're bringing your head up a bit, this hinders your roll and ability to hip flick, so naturally you'll need to push more with your arms to complete the roll.

Goto the side of the pool and grab onto it with both hands, roll over and practice your hip flick. Start off doing it slowly, if you're finding it slightly hard to come up, or finding you have to push with your arms at all, then you're lifting your head too much. Practice doing this with your head down and make sure to use as little arm as possible. Once you feel you are doing the technique right, try doing a couple nice and snappy/fast. Get in the habit of doing good technique nice and fast. This teaches you a good strong hip flick.

Then grab your paddle and try the same thing with the C to C. Remember to keep your head down and do a nice snappy hip-flick.

If your paddle is getting too far behind you, I suspect you are moving your arms more than your torso when performing the sweep. The sweepin of the paddle should be a result of torso rotation, not an independent movement of the arms. When you come up the paddle should be low, in front of your chest and in direct allignment with your shoulders. Look at EJ's rolling video for examples.

Good luck, Miguel

i used to find that but all it was is that my hip flicks wasn't strong enough all u need to do is practise your hip flick and use the blade of the paddle like a float if it helps another reason i had troble was that my paddle wasn't always above the water it was quite low in the water not giving you half as much power and makeing the padlle end up a lot deeper in the water or the paddle might not be completly flat so make sure all these things are ok and if your still having trouble then its probly just u need to practise your hip-flick a bit more.

also make sure you flick first and as soon as you start to flick use the paddle