I'm a Greenland paddler, but I took a WW class last winter and learned to use a Euro-type paddle for the first time. The roll you describe doesn't sound like the c-2-c that we were taught, it sounds like the sweep roll that ww kayakers use, which Derek Hutchins calls a screw roll.

As a paddler, I say the roll that gets you up from a capsize without a wet exit is the best roll, and as long as you can breathe when you're done, it doesn't matter what it looks like. I am also certain that if you can roll well, you can roll anything with anything. It took me a while to learn the c-2-c with a Europaddle, but I could do a layback roll with it right away, in all of the different high back deck ww kayaks I tried. People in the ww club who had never seen a Greenland paddle before could roll with it right away too.

In defense of the usefulness of certain Greenland rolls, I do think that they have their place. As a teacher, I know that the more ways you can solve a problem, the more chance you have of success. Also, many of the rolls are designed around things like rolling up when you're holding something, which in modern usage could be a camera rather than a hunting knife. Let's face it- you're more likely to capsize while you're fooling around with a camera than when you're paddling and concentrating on that, especially when you're sea kayaking. There are also times when your paddle or your clothing could get tangled or caught on something, and it's good to have a solution that could help you.

It never hurts to know more than one roll, and how to do them on BOTH sides.

Doesn't matter what roll you know.

m