Team Rolling Team Rolling Team Rolling

Come team rolling day

You could clearly see which teams had practiced it and which had not. It doesn't matter really for our teams but to become Ms/Mr Qajaq of the year, you need to have good scores in all disciplines.

I can only speak for my own team, consisting besides me of David Täng and Jon David Jenssen. We were pretty disciplined and coordinated until the speed rolling and then when having only norsaqs or hands to paddle with, it all kind of exploded. Still great fun. We all failed rolls from our usual routine, I more than the others.

The rules are simple

Every member of the team has to succeed each side of each roll for it to count. Team scores count the same as individual scores. If I remember correctly, our team score was 255. My individual score was 277 and the both champs had over a hundred points more than me individually. Also unfortunate for our team was that we retried several rolls, mostly on my behalf, and so missed Jon Davids under water paddling and all our Walrus Pull which would have scored us a lot more points. Well ok, maybe not the WP. However, the Greenland champ team all three scored full points at the pull!

Ok, enough of the competitiveness

It was great fun! Even watching the less coordinated teams triggered roars, laughs and applause from the great audience. Especially when someone on the water issued a fun remark or joke.

The walrus pull, although competitive, is a thing of mastery and control. In Scandinavia we have heard it is dangerous so we never practice it. The danger is in people (the walruses) not stopping to pull the line when they should. It should be pulled for 10 meters or until the kayaker loses control.

There will be videos of all this here (and there). In the meantime, below are some of my images in sequence where you can see the action.