Knowing how to “roll a kayak” is an essential skill to know for anyone pursuing whitewater kayak trips or even long-distance sea treks. The skill requires a certain level of balance, flexibility in the back and hips, and upper body strength to have the momentum to pull your entire body back out of the water to an upright position.

We had about 45 minutes to learn the skill, not nearly enough time according to our instructor. But John insisted. (It was John’s idea to put “roll a kayak” on our list of to-do’s in the first place.) After some trial and error, John managed to do the full roll no problem. Me, on the other hand, I struggled a little, but managed to perform a half-roll. If given a little more time, and a nose plug, I’m pretty sure I would have got there.