The most extraordinary feat of kayak handling is the ability to right the craft after a capsize. This maneuver, called "rolling," is usually practiced by capsizing on one side and recovering on the other. Under emergency conditions, a kayaker will recover on whichever side is more convenient. When rolling, a kayaker wears a waterproof jacket having long sleeves and a hood. The waist, face, and wrist openings are fitted with drawstrings, so that when the waist opening is fitted over the cockpit rim, the kayak and kayaker become a waterproof unit. Thus equipped, the kayak is the most seaworthy craft of its size, this quality being limited only by the skill and stamina of the kayaker.
The art of kayak rolling was highly developed in Alaska and Greenland. Eskimos in both of these regions depended upon seal hunting by kayak as a major part of their economy, hence the ability to roll was an important means of survival. Very little detailed information exists regarding Alaskan kayakers, but the Greenlanders have been the object of intensive study by ethnographers and explorers. The earliest detailed record of rolling was that of David Crantz, a European missionary, who in 1767 enumerated ten methods of rolling in his History of Greenland.[7] His description follows.
[7] See bibliography.
1. The Greenlander lays himself first on one side, then on the other, with his body flat upon the water, (to imitate the case of one who is nearly, but not quite overset) and keeps the balance with his pautik or oar, so that he raises himself again.
2. He overturns himself quite, so that his head hangs perpendicular underwater; in this dreadful posture he gives himself a swing with a stroke of his paddle, and raises himself aloft again on which side he will.
These are the most common cases of misfortune, which frequently occur in storms and high waves; but they still suppose that the Greenlander retains the advantage of his pautik in his hand, and is disentangled from the seal-leather strap. But it may easily happen in the seal-fishery, that the man becomes entangled with the string, so that he either cannot rightly use the pautik, or that he loses it entirely. Therefore they must be prepared for this casualty. With this view
3. They run one end of the pautik under one of the cross-strings of the kajak, (to imitate its being entangled) overset, and scrabble up again by means of the artful motion of the other end of the pautik.
4. They hold one end of it in their mouth, and yet move the other end with their hand, so as to rear themselves upright again.
5. They lay the pautik behind their neck, and hold it there with both hands, or,
6. Hold it fast behind their back; so overturn, and by stirring it with both their hands behind them, without bringing it before, rise and recover.