7 Spine Roll

The Spine Roll is an odd roll. Take care of your shoulders and warm up before trying the roll. I find that the setup is ok and the capsize but when I recover there is some overstretching and it can be slightly painful. 

My biggest struggle has been getting the end of the paddle caught on the gunwale as I recover. I want to push my head back into the water as my upper body gets on to the back deck and that is when the end of the paddle gets caught. Now stretch before you do this but I push my lower hand up my spine, right up between my shoulder blades. I try to set up that way because then I can get the tip of the paddle all the way down to the qajaq as i capsize which is an advantage. 

It is ok to hold the paddle up close to your ear at setup and the paddle can come out to almost 90 degrees at finish. You do need to return to the setup position to get full points. 

I would say that if your are not training for competition, consider to skip this one if you're older than 20. 

Judges note:
You cannot hold the paddle around the end.