How Long Does It Take to Learn the Eskimo Roll?
From first attempt to a reliable combat roll: how long it takes, the steps involved, and what makes it click.
Updated
The Eskimo roll, now often just called the kayak roll, lets you flip a capsized kayak upright without getting out. It's the skill everyone wants and the one most people find hardest. How long it takes depends on what you mean by "learned".
The short answer
- First successful roll in calm water: usually within one to two sessions with an instructor. On our courses, many students land it on day two.
- Reliable calm-water roll: about four mornings. On our 7-day course, most students have one by the end of day four.
- Combat roll (rolling up in moving, foamy water after a surprise capsize): this comes later. We teach it on day six of the 7-day course.
Paddlers elsewhere report similar timings: two to three days with a coach for a first roll, and much longer when people try to teach themselves.
How the roll works
- Set up. Upside down, tuck forward and hold the paddle along the side of the boat.
- Sweep. Sweep the paddle blade out across the surface of the water.
- Hip flick. Use your hips and knees, not your arms, to bring the boat upright. This is the part that takes practice.
- Finish. Bring your head up last, keeping it low over the boat.
Most failed rolls come from lifting the head too early or pulling with the arms. An instructor standing beside you in the water spots this immediately, which is why learning with a coach is so much faster.
Why you don't need it on day one
Before anyone tries a roll, we teach the wet exit: capsizing and sliding out of the boat. With that skill and a life jacket, a failed roll just means a swim. That takes the pressure off and, oddly, makes the roll come faster.
Tips that help
- Practise the hip flick holding the side of a partner's boat or the bank before adding the paddle.
- Stay relaxed underwater. You have more time than it feels like.
- Learn in calm water first, then move into current. Rolling in moving water is a different skill.
- Take a break when you're tired. Rolls fall apart when your shoulders are worn out.
Where to learn it
The 4-day course gets you started on the roll. The 7-day course spends a whole morning on it and goes on to the combat roll.
Quick answers
How long does it take to learn an Eskimo roll?
With an instructor, most people land a first calm-water roll within one or two sessions and have a reliable one after about four. A combat roll in moving water takes longer.
What is the Eskimo roll called now?
It's increasingly called the kayak roll. The technique is the same.