A proper fitting kayak will do that. Many people think they want a roomy, "comfy" kayak they can sit in and paddle. Ideally you want to have the kayak fit you like a comfortable pair of shoes, like you're wearing it rather than just sitting in it. The amount of control you have with a properly fitting kayak will amaze you. That's why some "performance" kayaks come in different sizes, from low volume to high volume, tailoring the fit of the kayak to the paddler.

Hang on a dang minute. You didn't dump any water out of that qajaq but you picked it up like it was empty. Was that edited out? If not, how do you get that kind of seal?

I think I might have dumped it out earlier, can't remember

Not really, but what I do plan to do is make an video course on rolling and teaching rolling this winter. Rolling is very easy, it just needs to be taught right.

Hi Nathan, I need to spend more time with the Reed stuff before I make a judgement. I used their online form with exact measurement for everything and also indicated room for a drysuit underneath. Face and wrists, excellent. Deck, fine but looser than I would like. Room for drysuit, NOPE. I like the fabric and the weight. Neoprene tulips are just too bulky and take forever to dry out.

it's a reed tuiliq

Healing would be nice. The reality is I am is too sick to function for 3 days every time I touch the water. The boat is my West Greenland kayak, I've got a video coming out soon talking about it!

Very sorry to hear. Hope your health has improved

Great question. It has to do with the history. Hunting sea mammals from skin on frame kayaks was extremely dangerous. The kayakers had no immersion gear, other than a seal skin jacket which sealed around the cockpit and the water was literally ice cold. In those conditions, a wet exit was a death sentence so they developed dozens and dozens of different rolls to simulate different potential scenarios one might encounter in a hunting accident, and they trained their kids to paddle and roll from a very young age. In addition to the rolling techniques themselves this also trains the nervous system to remain calm in complicated underwater situations, which interestingly has been hugely helpful for me as a whitewater kayaker. When I first started in Whitewater and surf kayaking, if I got knocked over, I would immediately try to return to a set up position and roll up but that only works well if you are actually oriented in the water that way and there is no current pushing against you which is often not the case. When I returned to Whitewater after I damaged my shoulder and spent a couple years working on Greenland skills it was incredible how much more relaxed and oriented I was underwater. It seemed like anything the river threw at me, before I could even get into a set up position. I was already halfway through some type of Greenland roll, and all I need to do was complete the motion, and I was upright again, which saved me a lot of time and also potential exposure to underwater hazards. So, even though the reason these rolls developed no longer exists, they still have powerful applications today.