High-Bracing Drills - Feb.2005 Sea Kayaker Magazine

Linking Braces and Strokes
To practice a deep high brace in rough water conditions where waves might be hitting you from both sides (clapotis), try performing a recovery brace on one side then fall over to the other side and perform a recovery brace. Go back and forth a few times or fall over to the same side twice, then go to the other side. Some people practice bracing in this manner by having a training partner at the stern of the kayak randomly twist the boat in one direction or the other to force the paddler to brace on both sides.
Try performing a deep high brace while on the move. Paddle forward a bit, then without changing the cadence of your stroke, fall over as the paddler in Image 7 is doing, and brace back up. After you’ve braced successfully, don’t just sit there and admire your work, but continue paddling forward or perform some other kind of stroke (perhaps a recovery brace on the other side). When paddling in real conditions, if something has knocked you over, typically your first priority is going to be to get away from whatever it was that caused you to capsize.

Image 7: Paddle up to speed before falling toward the water to get used to more realistic conditions
Image 7: Paddle up to speed before falling toward the water to get used to more realistic conditions.

Try the deep high brace from a variety of starting positions. Paddle backward, fall over and brace back up. Paddle forward, perform a low brace turn, then as you’re about to finish the turn, fall over, flip the paddle over and perform a high brace.

Back Flop
For the last exercise, try delaying your hip snap and brace after your body has hit the water. When you have capsized, you’ll find that there’s a short period of time when your capsize momentum is interrupted as your body makes contact with the water surface. If you’ve ever jumped off a diving board, you’re probably familiar with a dive known as the “belly flop.” If you’d done a nice vertical swan dive, you’d usually end up near the bottom of the pool. However, if you’re unfortunate enough to perform a well-executed belly flop, you likely will end up only a foot or so below the surface. The greater surface area you present to the water, whether you’re diving or capsizing, the more it will slow you down.
As you start to capsize, try rotating your torso so that your back hits the water fairly flat, then wait for the water to slow you down before you perform a hip snap and a high brace. Instead of diving in with your head as you capsize, as demonstrated in the deep high brace earlier, try to perform a “back flop.” Image 8 demonstrates how the paddler has rotated his torso as he capsizes. Notice that his paddle is in an ideal position for bracing once he hits the water, and his body is coiled to provide power as it unwinds during the brace.

Image 8: By twisting as he capsizes, the paddler can set his back flat against the water and keep from sinking as deep as he would otherwise.

If you practice these drills often enough, eventually your instinct will not be to lean away from the water if you’re about to fall over, but to get into a position that’s most effective for a recovery brace. Once that happens, you may find that you almost never need to roll because you can recover using a high brace. While rolling is always an important skill, a good high brace will prevent a complete capsize and often provide a much faster recovery from a loss of balance.
In summary, keep that outboard hand low. A high brace is much more effective when the paddle shaft is horizontal with the water surface. After you’ve mastered the skill in calm conditions, try it in progressively rougher water. The best way to learn a recovery high brace is to create a situation where a high brace is mandatory. If you make your high brace bombproof, you may never have to resort to your bombproof roll.

John Fereira has been paddling for about seven years and helps teach beginner and intermediate kayaking classes at a local paddle shop in Ithaca, New York. He has a BCU 3 Star rating and hopes to obtain his BCU Coach 2 certification in the near future. When not paddling, he enjoys fly-fishing, building kayaks, taking care of his 16-month-old son (a future paddler, to be sure) and working as a programmer/analyst at Cornell University. He can be reached via email at: jaf30@cornell.edu