C-to-C Roll - Development of The C-to-C Roll

Development of The C-to-C Roll

The C-to-C roll evolved from the C-1 roll. In the early 1970s Mouse was participating in winter pool slalom events in Wisconsin. Teaching the roll was all one motion and it was hard to break down. He himself had learned a C-1 roll so that he could compete in C-1 class competitions. After executing successful C-1 rolls, Mouse began to work through adopting the C-1 roll to the kayak. When executing a C-1 roll, the paddle swings out perpendicular to the side while in mid air, then flipping the paddle over into a low brace and hip snapping. It seemed that if that could be done with a kayak, the roll would be stronger and more reliable. Getting into a kayak, Mouse tried the same set up as a C-1 roll prior to doing the hipsnap, then used the same hipsnap motion, only arching the back rather than coming forward. The adaptation just changed the timing of what people were doing with the roll at the time. At that point Mouse started implementing it in teaching and found he was teaching people much more quickly and they understood what they were doing. When he arrived at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in 1975, he brought the principal with him. Soon he had the reputation that he could “teach anyone how to roll.” There were people on the NOC staff that he would bet a steak dinner that if he could teach them how to roll in less than 30-minutes, they had to buy him a steak dinner. There were many steak dinners enjoyed by the creator of the C-to-C roll.