Breakthrough Time by Will Richardson | Sep 8, 2005 | Whitewater | 0 comments September 8, 2005 Hi Ross, Thanks for your letter! I am very aware of the quality of the Valley Mill staff and love them for their commitment to both my products and instructional methods! I am glad it helped you and your girlfriend also! I will put your letter up on my website as a testimonial to the great people on the Potomac! 🙂 EJ EJ, I’m a beginning kayaker enjoying what will be my first of many seasons paddling on the Potomac in N. Virginia. Earlier this year I purchased a Fun from Colin Kemp @ Valley Mill Boats. I can’t say enough about the personal service I got from Colin and the quality of the outfitting that he provided. But that’s only a small piece of why I’m writing you. All summer, I have been struggling with my roll. Buying my own kayak and having it outfitted helped, but I was still inconsistent. The engineer in me was determined to solve the problem and I started breaking it down into pieces analyzing in my head what I thought was good and what I was doing wrong often underwater after blowing 2 or 3 attempts. The struggle continued. I consulted more experienced friends, bought your rolling DVD (which I watched but only haphazardly applied more on this later), and found myself bracing in situations when I should be rolling. Oh yeah I was trying to do the traditional C-to-C & sweep roll that I had learned early in the summer in a group lesson. Unsatisfied with my progress, I asked Colin for advice and help. Last night, my girlfriend and I took a private lesson from Monique Hubshman, one of Valley Mill’s excellent instructors. Monique walked us through your progression and about half way through the session I had the proverbial "lightbulb" moment. Suddenly all of the points I had seen (but not understood or correctly applied) in your DVD came home I rolled so easily I was amazed I was up. I’m told the look on my face was complete and utter surprise and that I was bracing expecting the boat to go over when I was sitting stable on my back deck. Now I know Follow the techniques in your DVD use the design of the boat to help you and rolling is a snap. I’m not bombproof but I’m an order of magnitude better in just one evening lesson. To summarize (these points I’m sure you know!): 1) Colin Kemp is a great representative of your company. Low pressure sales, tons of free advice, huge amounts of personal attention and service, and a level of outfitting and quality that makes several of my friends jealous when they see my boat. 2) Your instruction sequence is much more intuitive and natural feeling for me. I wish I’d started this way and I wish somebody had said "do it this way" when I first bought my boat oh well.. I’m doing it now. 3) Monique is a great and patient instructor taking the time to explain the mechanics and providing the right amount of motivation to push sometimes reluctant paddlers to new achievements. 4) I absolutely love paddling my Fun I demo’d 6 other boats and knew I was buying a Fun within minutes of putting the demo boat Colin lent me in the water. This enjoyment will only grow as I bombproof my new roll! Thanks for your efforts, your excellent designs, and your outstanding instruction methods. Ross Romer Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ