pool not equal condition
part of the problem with these things is that there is no need or a high brace in a pool and, in fact, the high brace is much easier to do when leaning into moving water. if i get tipped sea kayaking, i’ll generally low brace to recover. if it looks like i’m going over, i’ll do the ej version of the high brace or just capsize and roll up. sometimes i’ll high brace when i know i want to convert the brace to a bow rudder to get off a wave i’m surfing. but whatever brace once is using, it is a lot harder in flat water than in conditions. that’s why my teachers never worried about teaching bracing (as contrasted to skulling and rolling) on flat water, but we spent a lot of time paddling parallel to breaking waves in the surf zone.
I Guess Everyone Has Their Own
learning approach. I learned to high/low brace, scull and roll in flat water and then went to practice in the surf zone and ww.
The injuries I have seen with bracing have come from those whose techniques where not ingrained (reaching way, way out) and furthermore not knowing where to brace in moving water. Yes, moving water can make it easier to brace (and roll) up on the right side (sometimes to a fault because one is relying on the water movement rather than good body mechanics). At the same time, the most likely and worse shoulder injuries come from bracing on the wrong side of a hole/drop. The more you practice good bracing, the more your body ingrained the feel of being "supported" by the brace. When you take to moving waters, and feel no support on a brace, that's a clear indication that one is bracing on the wrong side. Quickly give that up and tuck and roll on the other side.
The reason to work basics in flat water is to avoid having to worry about consequences. It's focus on correct basic movement, awareness and feel. After these can be done reliability than you can introduce free and dynamic elements (and mental training) that come only through challenging conditions. Anyway, just my experience of it.
sing
Now you tell me.
Better late than never ;-).
I learn something new every day. Should be a J (bent at the waist), not a C (bent also at the neck.) A ‘C’ for balance over the boat was taught in a strokes class I took at WCSKS in 2003. It was actually the first time I remember hearing the term ‘C.’ I get the point of the J though.
Paul S.
feltman, what did the guy mean about
slapping the water? That MAY be done when low bracing, but not with a high brace, where it usually will not work.
As a predominantly whitewater paddler, I don’t associate the high brace with any particular edging or body lean. On some violent turns, I may be leaning way out toward the high brace. On tight eddy turns, I may be leaning away while engaging the outside edge.
It is with low braces that one is usually leaning toward or on the paddle, and hip-snapping to bring the boat up from the low brace side. If you think about it, it is difficult to be on a low brace and be completely upright or even leaning toward the other side.
I think it is misleading to describe the C-to-C as a high brace roll, because if the hip snap is done properly, one will NOT be hauling on the paddle the way one does when doing a high brace. This may be what leads some people into spoiling C-to-C rolls, visualizing high bracing against the water. It is rather that you hip-snap against the resistance of the entire upper body, arms, and paddle. The blade does not do much.
If you want to see a kayaker using a LOW brace roll, study William Nealy’s flip book illustration in his book “The Kayak.” I think very few people who study this book have realized that he is illustrating a roll method commonly used by us C-1 paddlers, but seldom used by WW kayakers, most of whom lack the forward flexibility for such an approach.
High brace/low brace
From the sounds of it you were doing the high brace as I would have done it, The head up, over edge, slap and hip flick sounds like a combined high brace/low brace, I definetely keep my head over the centre, slap the water with the back of the paddle blade, knee lift and hip flick when low bracing. I imagine that everyone developes their own style which could be quite individual.