Re: [Paddlewise] deep brace?

John Fereira wrote:
"It shouldn't require any more effort than a roll unless you're doing more
of a sweep roll than a C-to-C......

Despite the preoccupation by many on a "head dink" I find that the far more
common problem is to let the offside hand come up.  What that does is
effectively change the angle of the paddle shaft such that it is pointing
toward the bottom of the water.  As a result, any effort you provide by
pulling on the water side blade will tend put pull the boat sideways
instead of creating lift.  Next time you practice a deep brace try holding
your offside close to your body (sometimes it helps to think of squeezing
an orange under your armpit) for the duration of the brace. "

After reading this I went out to try it holding my offside hand lower.  I
noticed that it was already pretty low but further emphasizing it did help a
bit, but not enough for me.  Your first comment above is interesting to me.
I do notice that the sweep roll requires almost no muscle.  I can do it very
slowly and come up almost without any effort, and it is completely reliable.
When I try the C to C, I now notice that it requires the same muscle as the
'deep brace' and I sometimes miss the roll.  So whatever I am doing wrong in
the c to c, I am doing the same thing in the deep brace.

Steve Brown wrote:
"Dropping the head toward the water (head dink) is very complimentary with a
hip-snap (driven by the knees usually). During a (successful) "deep" brace,
my head will often hit the water.

Doing the right thing below the waist is essential, but doing the wrong
thing above the waist robs power from the hip snap. Same as rolling."

Try as I might I cannot tell what I am doing with my head.  Do you have any
suggestions for head awareness training?

Michael Daly wrote:
"One technique that some use is to rotate the torso at the last moment
so the back hits the water, not just one shoulder.  This will help
prevent your body from sinking as much.  The brace can be done in
conjunction with sliding the body up to the rear deck - not a full
layback necessarily, but something to reduce your inertia.  I know
that some folks also do this with a partial sweep - from
perpendicular to the kayak toward the stern.  This partial sweep is
like finishing a sweep roll and will have the effect of reducing the
likelyhood of the paddle submerging as it does in a C-C type of
recovery.  It goes without saying that you need good hip rotation and
your head is the last up.

If you're comfortable with a C-C and a forward recovery, treat the
deep brace as the same as the completion of a roll.  In this case,
hitting the water with your back will not be useful, since your
recovery will need a full torso rotation to get to the fore deck. "

I am not as comfortable with the C-C as with the sweep.  So I did try adding
some sweep to the deep brace, which had the effect of the rotation you
mention.  (I had not read your comment till after I got home.)  That did
help a bit in reducing the muscle required.  I do get my head in the water
on the deep brace and generally get back up, but it puts too much strain on
my shoulder.  In the sweep roll there is no strain whatever on the shoulder.

Unless I figure out why the C-C and the deep brace require so much muscle, I
might stop practicing for fear of shoulder injury.

Jerry
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