I was the only student in my Canoe and Kayak class to learn the Eskimo Roll. Pretty easy if you have a paddle. Impossible if you dropped it. You can get ready for it by tipping sideways, and then up-righting yourself with the right paddle stroke. That's the same stroke you use underwater to get yourself sideways. It doesn't take much effort to move yourself from upside-down to sideways. The harder feat is getting up from sideways.
It was easy for me because I had already done a lot of snorkeling, and had completed a diver certification class. (San Diego State had some terrific PE classes way back then.) I wore a facemask to learn it, so I had no fear or panic being submerged. The instructor didn't even demonstrate it. He just showed me how to move the paddle.
Interesting factoid: Eskimos almost never do the roll accidentally. They use it to cool off from the hot arctic summer sun.
