i didn't mean it to be...i didn't read that in my head as melodramatic and it wasn't my intention. now, if i said something like "...uncontrolled hurtling missile of death bee lining towards nuns and small children playing along the shore" THAT would be melodramatic.
i think that for the most part nobody gives a rats ass about anyone paddling their boat one way or the other until someone either looses or just can't control their boat and it then goes careening into or even towards a bunch of bathers. an incident that could aptly be called dangerous and that could be avoided if one chooses their surf/play/learning spots with some forethought and a nod to safety and consequence.
Hey rick! What about the rest of the animal kingdom - such as terriers, retrievers, etc… frolicking in the surf and on the beach. They could also be easily wiped out (killed) by 17+ feet of fiberglass projectile
Paddling along the break A bunch of in CT do the same thing - we paddle along a sand bar where the waves are breaking on us. Great practice and a lot of fun! They can be over your head at times. I like the high brace. I don’t know how you can use the low brace for high waves that are breaking? A lot of people feel secure with the high brace because if you get thrown on your side, you can pop your self back up with a hip snip type of thing whereas in the low brace position it’s very hard. Greenland rollers can do that but I usually see them revert to the typical high brace lay-back position to pop themselves back up. I have never been injured but came close when I got sloppy. I always try to keep tightly crunched with arms in tight.
Whenever I see instruction videos of the low brace in waves it’s always fairly low waves.
Beware of: Never, Always and Only. There are lots of strokes and braces out there. Most will be useful somewhere.
Low is perhaps more sound but a high brace is often the one that does the trick.
The paddlers box trick should keep your shoulders out of trouble.
I don’t believe in all inclusive “sensible sounding” generalities. “Never, Always and Only”:
I almost always wear a dry suit… I have to. If I paddled in the everglades I may decide not to wear it.
I ALWAYS wear a PFD: But if I were paddling on the bras’ Dor Lakes I may store it under the rear bungies and strap a mask and fins to the Front bungies to do some diving.
A low brace is safer but a high brace can claw you out of a bind.
The first guy to post was Greg Stamer, in truth you don’t need to look much further, any advice he gives I would pretty much take as truth.
Not sure how well this works with a long boat. But if a breaking wave is over your head you can still stick your paddle into the wave in a low brace and lean into the wave hard. If the lip is crashing down on the blade don't do it. If you do tip over you can usually move the paddle into a sculling brace and come up after the wave passes.
Low can be used for surprisingly high waves. However we all have the tendency to go for a high as it seems more supportive. I think the issue for me is not so much the height as it is how quick the brace is, if I am surprised by a wave, or pushed suddenly by some white water, a low brace is really the trick. Also if I am racing downwave and find that I have tripped an edge or bounced a bit on the ride down the wave, a low brace is much more effective than a high brace, unless I am already in a deep stern rudder. However that said a high brace if done correctly when trying to hang on in a side surf will work too. But I have pulled myself out of some surprising accidental bongo slides even in my surf kayak with a low brace.
tits Was watching tits3 with an eye to this thread, it is beyond evident that some really great paddlers in really tough conditions use both low and high braces, with no shortage of the latter. In my experience, which seems to echo the tits paddlers, I end up instinctively using a high brace when I need to brace with my body buried in the wave, when I’m tossed into the roll finish position and elect to finish with a brace rather than yielding into capsizing and rolling up, and when I anticipate sliding the paddle forward into a bow rudder to exit over the top of the wave. With my imperfect form, I also tend to high brace on my right (onside) more readily than on my left (offside) mostly because I’m more instinctual with my onside roll. Expect to keep after this one.
