Culinary jokes aside, there is probably no one better at making sea kayaking films right now than Justine, and her first foray into the realm of kayak coaching DVDs features well-known Greenland-style paddlers Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson. There's almost three hours of material on the DVD, all of it well presented. The DVD focuses on three rolls: the standard Greenland roll, the reverse sweep and the storm roll. Cheri and Turner are excellent presenters and they cover the material in great depth. Having watched a few "how to roll" DVDs over the years, this is certainly the most in-depth one I've ever seen. Heck, it was more in-depth that most rolling lessons I've had. Of course, there is no substitute to having an instructor right there in the water telling you what you're doing right (and wrong), but this may be as close to that as one may come with a DVD. It's dense; there's a lot of material here and repeated viewings will be required. For instance, the number of rolls shown during the film must be in the hundreds, and I'd swear that none of them are repeated during the course of the film.
All the members of our little viewing party were impressed and think it's probably the best instructional video any of us have seen.
Will it make you a better roller? I imagine it will, along with lots of practice, of course. Despite an absence of breads and pastries, This is the Roll is an excellent DVD.
