Oh, and in related news, I learnt to roll a couple of days ago. I'd previously had two practise sessions (all in the Point Bennett).

• First session I just practised bracing back up from greater and greater angles of heel, but it was cold and I didn't feel like getting wet so that limited how far I heeled!
• Second session I rigged up a small dry bag as a kind of paddle float, gaffer (duct) taped to the paddle blade. Using this I practised hip flicking back up from horizontal with body mostly in the water and kayak tipped over on top of me. As I got the hang of it I reduced the amount of air in the bag more and more until there was none and I could capsize and flick up. Then I went for a few rolls, and got two but with no consistency at all.
• Third time I used my new Greenland paddle. First few practices at capsizing and flicking back up were unpromising - the lack of a large blade made this type of recovery harder. But I found I could scull and pretty much support myself. So I went for a roll and within a couple of goes had cracked it. The secret (for me) was recovering right back up while sweeping rather than trying to sweep until the paddle was at 90 degrees to the boat and I was on my side, then flicking up in a separate movement. After another go I could also fully support myself capsized, and recover, by sculling.

Having never had any tuition or seen anyone roll in the flesh I was pretty pleased, but I'm sure my roll is very poor compared to most! But I did then manage to roll first time with a Euro paddle and with a different kayak (the blue Dagger in the last pic) so I hope it wasn't just luck. I also need to learn to do it on the other side.

My three top tips from this process would be:

• Learn in shallow water so you can push yourself up with the paddle if you fail the roll. Even though I didn't manage to push up every time, it saved so much time and energy compared to having to wet exit every time.
• Wear goggles: being ablt to easily see what you're doing underwater helped me a lot, and wearing contact lenses I needed goggles for this.
• I'm sure it was worth learning the recovery from capsized before trying the full roll.

It should also go without saying that you've got to practise and be confident in doing a wet exit before you start, and despite me doing most of the above alone it would be much safer to have a partner, ideally one who knew what they were doing!