Skillset: Low Brace

October-November 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

By Alex Matthews

No matter how good your balance is, sometimes you will lose it. A brace is a stroke used to recover when you’ve been thrown off balance, or used in anticipation of potentially losing balance. Because it’s so quick and efficient to do this stroke, the low brace should become your primary and instinctive reaction to instability.

The low brace is so named because the paddle is kept very low. To set your paddle up for a low brace, sit upright and roll the paddle forward under your elbows so that your forearms are virtually vertical. Think of a pushup position. From here, reach out so that one hand is at your belly button and the other is out over the water, as shown. Then smack the water with the non power-face or backside of your paddle blade.

It’s important to understand that the slap of the paddle just provides momentary support. It’s actually your body that’s responsible for righting the boat. As you flip, the only way to right the kayak is by pulling up with the knee that is going underwater.

The only way to pull up with this bottom knee is to drop your head towards the water in the direction that you’re flipping.

Doing this is extremely counter-intuitive, but it’s absolutely essential for righting the kayak. Your head should be the last thing to come back up on a well-executed brace. If, instead, you lift your head up, you’ll inadvertently pull on your top knee, which simply flips you even more quickly. To ensure your head drops towards the water, try watching your slapping blade as you brace. It’s hard to lift your head if you’re looking down.

As you slap the water, drop your head in that direction and pull up with your lower knee to level off the kayak. To finish the stroke, move your paddle forward and inward, and roll your knuckles upward to clear the blade from the water.

Keep practicing these motions until they become really natural, and then start pushing your boat over further and further. Also practice on alternating sides, making sure that your paddle hits the water flat. If your paddle has any type of feather, you’ll need to rotate your the paddle in order to slap the water with a flat backside of your blade.

The low brace is a great reactionary brace that can be thrown in at a second’s notice. Once you’re comfortable with it, the low brace will become your best recovery technique, and because your paddle is held so low throughout the stroke it also keeps your shoulders really well protected from injury.

© Alex Matthews is our Boat, Gear & Skills Editor.

© Photos by Alex’s wife, Rochelle Relyea.

The Essential Skills and Safety

 

Recreational Kayaking: The Essential Skills and Safety

by Alex Matthews and Ken Whiting

The Heliconia Press, 2006 ISBN 1-896980-23-6

$14.95 US / $16.95 Cdn 86 pp, color photos, glossary www.helipress.com

This guide by WaveLength’s Alex Matthews and world champion paddler Ken Whiting will introduce you to the sport of recreational kayaking, providing basic information about paddling equipment, skills, strokes and safety. Small recreational kayaks are relatively inexpensive and ideal on a mothership or at the cottage. But you still have to know what you’re doing and this guide will help you paddle safely.