The Global Paddling Community

so a few month back a friend asked me if I could hand roll. I have not been paddling for about 9 years and then got back in the boat about 6 months before we were out, so I had to think about it for a second. I said hold my paddle and went for it, a couple times, no problem :)
so i felt pretty good :)
then a few days ago I am at surge narrow waiting for the wave to form and it's warm and sunny, so I think let's get some hand rolling footage.

you can see how it went in the video, it's interesting to me how rolling comes and go. I have "lost" my normal roll before and also I eventually comes back up, it seems a lot harder than it should. Then I get it back and it's golden... I guess keeping up with rolling takes time, and in winter the cold really doesn't help with relaxing.

In this video after the first failed try, i set up to roll pushing up the paddle (I am usually really good at this, and as you train rolling up using your friend's bow, you can progress to using your paddle and get less support and better technique... or not). then i set up with the paddle and do the classic worst roll ever, head comes up first, back in. then I go "come on", set up and finally come up :)
the good news is that putting yourself in situation where it doesn't work the first time is really good for giving you a chance to roll when you need it for real. and that's really the goal right??