DUBSIDE

If you are at all into traditional rolling you are probably a member of QAJAQ and know who Dubside is and what he does. If not, you may not know this interesting one-name fellow who is the founder of guerrilla kayaking.If he passed you on the street, you would note a somewhat short fellow, dressed all in black (including a head scarf) with a scruffy beard. He will almost always be wheeling his "luggage" along with him. Actually, that's his folding kayak. Dubside doesn't have a car but, rather, takes his boat on the local bus to some launch site where he assembles his kayak and does his thing; and his thing is something to behold.

Don't let his appearance fool you. He is a soft spoken man with a gentle handshake, and he is strong as a bull. If you are not familiar with Greenland rope exercises you may never have seen a man lift his weight off the ground back and forth over the ropes...with one finger. Not only can Dubside do that, but he has won the Greenland ropes championship (in Greenland, of course). But his true forte' (for us admirers) is his rolling abilities.

Dubside, as he points out in his DVD (Greenland Rolling with Dubside...Volume One available at www.dubside.net) practices yoga to get the flexibility that has allowed him to wow us time and time again, as he did at Canoecopia this past weekend. (He told us that Vol. 2 will be out soon).
In a small pool, he gave a demo of amazing control including rolling without putting out a hand held candle (he also did it with a brick in the other hand). Personal, I loved the way the non traditionalists bought his explanation of the air scull. In that maneuver the paddle sticks straight up out of the water and sculls only in air as Dubside essentially does a roll using the torque of his lower body. Before doing it, however, he took time to tell us how the paddle used the air the same way it does when in the water. Sure.

If you see that name again (it's Dubside), and he's doing a demo, don't miss it. The 100 of us lucky enough to get into the pool venue were, as always, treated to a sight of incredible skill and good humor.

Paddle safe...
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