What is a “stern squirt”?
Disorientation
Yesterday I was practicing rolling in some small waves while wating for the sets to surf. I bobbled a bit when I hit my paddle on the bottom unexpectedly and had to reset and made a pretty ugly roll. The water in my sinuses and ears was feeling king of painful even though it is probably 59F. When I came up i was completely disoriented and heading in a complete different direction than I thought I was. I have had that happen in nasty wipeouts but this was a little bit disconcerting, not sure if it was the cold water or old age setting in. I think I may be getting sinus ear infection.
cold water can do it
Cold water in your ears and cause disorientation, dizzyness etc…
go flatwater racing
another option to develop low-brace reflexes(albeit applied differently than in ww and surf or tidal race) is to hop in a flatwater racing boat and give it a go… unless you are a ballerina, you will need that low brace the first few days… a lot. and with the large cockpits, rolling is no alternative.
good luck!
Yeah but…
…you’re reaching out front and planting the paddle. It doesn’t seem like a good position for a quick brace.
I’m with you Sing. Whenever I hear
the high brace is bad line, I can only think of it it in the context of a bad high brace technique. I don’t care what you paddle with or in, but the high brace has prevented me from rolling where I vastly prefered being right side up time and again.
Dogmaticus
Alex Is Describing Classic Eddy Catching
technique. Tripping comes from leaning on the wrong edge (the one facing downstream is wrong)and/or not committing to the bow rudder (or duffek stoke) pulling into the eddy. If you commit to it, high likelihood you are leaning correctly. Once you enter the eddy, you straighten up from the lean.
sing
A number of things are stern squirts
– Last Updated: Nov-29-07 7:54 PM EST –
The real version is done on an eddyline. As you cross an eddyline you bury the stern so that you go vertical. Going over a drop into a hole and getting your stern pushed down so that you go vertical is also called a stern squirt but since it is not deliberate I think it needs another name. On flatwater you can also, for example, edge your boat extremely to the right, do the equivalent of a forward sweep on the right and lean back with your arms and paddle over your head. You are now vertical.
Check this out:
http://www.wetdawg.com/pages/white_tips_display.php?t=80&c=6
Low brace in WW
"I haven’t found much use for the low(elbow-up) brace in whitewater other then eddying in or out."
There are lots of situations where a low brace is very useful. One that comes to mind is going down a chute with rocks on one or both sides. Not only will a low brace keep you from tipping over from reflecting waves but it will give you some steering as well depending on where you place it.
Interesting
My perception is that by the time I realize I need to brace, I’m so far over that I’d have to lift the down blade to get it into a low-brace position.
exactly
If you can brace and stay upright and keep your vision and focus, you can stay on line and continue through the rapid. If you are upside down, you could take a jagged boulder in the cheek( i couldn’t smile for a week), you can get the paddle ripped from one hand, you can end up in the hole you otherwise would have avoided, etc, etc.
One thing to remember on the high brace ( as eluded to above): as you start going over and begin the actual bracing stroke, think of breaking the surface of the water with your elbow, i.e., keep you elbow low and in tight to prevent shoulder injury. The blade will then be around shoulder height.
Thats about it.
We have over scienced this sport enough.
Roll VS. Brace.
Sea kayaking is an Eskimo game. It was created in the very cold north.
There ( and here ) you stay up or you may die.
Derric Hutchinson boasts “kayaking is a dry sport”. While I think he is wrong he has one thing very right. Rolls happen when everything else has failed.
Using the “Paddlers Box” will prevent almost all sea kayak shoulder and elbow injuries. Low and high braces come from this solid platdform.
Good practice is key but the ocean is the place you make all the theory work.
For some this is as natural as eating and breathing.
D H has some years on me so when I am at his skill level I may paddle in hiking gear and stay dry. For now it’s an expensive dry suit and I still get wet when waves crash over my boat.
Braces are a key in anything but a bath tub.
Alex
the wonderful thing about sternsquirts
is that sternsquirts are wonderful things!
My dad put me on my first dirt bike at 4 yrs old. I’ve been riding wheelies ever since. The sternsquirt is the ww kayak equivalent of a wheelie. A good sternsquirt can leave you with a smile so big that it won’t fit on your face. :^)
And There’s Over The Top Naming Dropping
– Last Updated: Nov-30-07 5:22 AM EST –
In my comp days, one of the most aggravating and obsequious thing that happened a lot was the incessant name dropping. I used to listen to these guys go on and on and on, blah, blah, blah... I guess I was supposed to respect/fear them by association. Ultimately it's about action, not talk (thank goodness!). I would simply say, "Yeah, your coach is cool. Now, step in the ring with me and show what YOU can do..."
sing
PS. I have always loved this saying... "Kill your villians AND your heroes." I think the first was intended to be literal and the second figurative... Or maybe not. LOL
PPS. Western sports have started to adopt/steal some of the age old eastern adages. First Nike with "Just do it!" Recently, I have noticed another commercial, maybe Nike again or a sport drink, in which basketball star is shown making his moves while his voice can be heard saying, "Practice -- not to be like me -- but to be better than me."
Yes.
– Last Updated: Nov-30-07 6:03 AM EST –
and no.
practice is for imprinting movements and reactions, hopefully mechanically correct ones to begin the process of making it more "instinctual", or "second nature". Without doing this, your natural "instinctual" movement/thinking takes over and it could be the wrong one for the situation, e.g. boat is flipping over, I am bailing so I don't drown (at least not immediately).
The trick is then take that practice and imprint the physical movements/reactions in progressively challenging conditions to test how second nature these have become. This information is than fodder for the next practice.
"Overthinking" can be a detriment, especially in learning physical skills. (Yes. This is where a good coach can make a HUGE difference.) Over-analyzing is often more of an issue with the overly "intellectualized" types where his/her ego is so caught in being "smart". Sometimes, it simply of matter shutting up both the mouth and the mind and then just doing it so the body can experientially learn. The overly intellectual types take longer, and sometimes not all, to get to point of understanding that their own thinking is getting in the way of the body learning.
sing
Pain in ear
Suggest you get and use Doc’s Plugs (vented and you can still hear people talking). I started getting a bit of pain in one ear the second full season that I was wet a lot and then sometimes when not in the water. After paddling one day with a guy who had let those symptoms go unattended and lost a good bit of his hearing, I got these ear plugs and wear them religiously including making them part of my standard “clothing” for winter paddles as well as pool sessions. I’ve had no problem with pain in my ears since.
Cold water does hurt, but agreed that 59 degree stuff isn’t “cold”. That’s what we paddle in come summer in Maine. If you were getting pain in your ears at those temps, it may indicate that some damage is trying to start.
fun practice
– Last Updated: Nov-30-07 12:04 PM EST –
For squirts, and bracing....;-)
http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?215
Rolling is a basic skill
"In my opinion, after the wet exit, learning to roll is next."
Being able to roll is very valuable for being able to learn other stuff.
The problem with bracing is that people get stuck on rolling.
original question
if I am in a sea kayak on flatwater and want to practice bracing, I simply attempt to capsize on a given side then high brace myself back up and continue that momentum to capsize on the other side now, then high brace back up, and continue alternating sides like that for about 10 reps total.
its easy for me to analyze the braces and make adjustments. Get the head in the water, dink the head and look down at the water on my recovery and hold it down on that side until I hit the water and hipsnap on the opposite side, and so on. Break the water with the elbow to keep the shoulder protected, etc. Its a very splashy few seconds and you do as many sets as you feel like. If one side is week and you miss, then you get to practiced a roll.
can’t argue with that…
After learning to roll, learning to brace and roll effectively in real situations definitely should be next on the skill development progression. We’re on the same page there.