Re: High Bracing to Recover from an Imminent Capsize

a high brace is just a slightly more frantic stroke...

With a wing paddle, that is what it turns into. With a flat paddle, that isn't necessarily true, but the wing paddle doesn't let you do a true high brace very well. Instead, what seems to work for me is a sweeping high brace, much like the frantic stroke that Rob is talking about. That is one nice thing about wings, though. When you are pulling them through the water, they are very stable and you can use that as a brace.

If you do start trying a high brace, keep in mind what Mako is saying. They can ruin a shoulder very fast, so when you try them, keep your elbows down and close to your body, don't have your arms 90 degrees to your torso!

Thanks for the tip Shaun. I did however dislocate my shoulder one time from doing a low brace. But the wave came from an outgoing Catamaran and the force was just too great. I was on an icf k1 back then.

Can you guys post me a picture of how a high brace looks like? I just want to confirm if what Im doing is right.

I'm not so sure whether this can be done on a surfski without falling out. Your center of gravity is higher because a surfski is sit-on-top vs. a sea kayak which is sit-inside. I'll give it a go though.

The low brace, done with knuckles down, "punching the water," varies in effectiveness with a wing paddle. With a right feather, it is easier to low brace on the left, and high brace, "palms up," on the right. When you watch video of someone surfing, they may skid their paddle along out to the side for stability. This works well on the non- power face, knuckles down. If you are stopped and wallowing, the low brace on the non-power side with a wing, tends to sink more than with a flat paddle. Not only that, but it is difficult to pull back up, as then the scooped power face grabs as it is designed to do. If you are in this situation with the left blade submerged, jerk the paddle to the right in line with the shaft to exit the blade.

A high brace is really useful when you broach on a foamie. Just stick the paddle in and ride it out.

Stuartknaggs is absolutely correct; you can ride out a broach on a breaking wave with a high brace. Picture yourself broached on a beachbreak and parallel to the shore.The paddle is held horizontal, and perpendicular to the direction of your movement towards the shore, so the water doesn't grab and pull the paddle lengthwise to the boat. Also, the relative motion to the water is where your hull meets the green water shore side, not on the offshore side where the foamie stays put relatively .

However there is a problem when a nervous paddler with forward momentum in open water reacts to a twitch in stability with a high brace. The wing scoop grabs the water and forces the blade aft and/or slows you down. The jerk caused by this grab can hinder rather than help your stability.