Low Brace in the Surf Zone

[PeterB]

Recently there has been a movement, in BCU circles and elsewhere, to discourage or eliminate the use of the high brace, especially in the surf one , because of the obvious risk to the shoulder. I haven’t surfed much this season, but had been giving this matter considerable thought, as I had an experience out west in July (I high braced, with sound technique, into a pretty forceful wave; wasn’t injured, felt no pain but did feel a noticeable, unsettling level of stress on my shoulder), and had listened to others, especially Bill Gwynn, who in message boards and in person has emphasized the use of the low brace exclusively while surfing. So it was with all of this in mind that I surfed at Popham Beach last weekend resolved to use only the low brace, and see how things went. I was pleased to find that the low brace worked perfectly well, both bracing into a wave, bongo sliding, whatever, and I now will feel comfortable in the surf zone entirely sans high brace.

If I’m the last person on the planet to have come to this this realization , please ignore this post. If not, well, don’t ignore.

Now that I think of it, I had loaned someone or other a video on the surf zone (by Wayne Horodowich) , which has a lengthy, involved section extolling the high brace (shows you how two persons can practice high bracing using a sling , the whole nine yards). Whoever you are, (senior moment, can’t remember) please consider this disclaimer… this may be a prime example of how kayak videos and dvd’s should not be taken as gospel , as they can have out-of-date stuff in them…. Peter

[djlewis]

I hear ya, Peter -- low brace instead of high. But then whattabout this... Lamar Hudgins, 5-star sea, Coach 4, etc., in some current and standing waves...

http://djlewis.smugmug.com/photos/94871895-M.jpg

I realize this is a high brace turn, but everybody else was doing low brace turns at this spot. Of course, Lamar was zooming in a lot more aggressively than anyone else.

--David.

[RogerPollock]

I can only speak for myself, not for the fellow in this picture, but all last year in the surf (not current) I used the type of brace he's demonstrating and it led no horrible tendonitis and rotator cuff irritation, which I'm still not totally recovered from. Allowing your arm to extend so far away from you body like that, especially on a foam pile, is bad news. High brace might not be SO bad if the elbows are tucked in tight, and the wave isn't too high or aggresive, but why bother? Low, keeping in mind the same principle of keeping you elbows tucked in tight.

Where he's at in the current, high brace isn't so bad at long as the water isn't overly aggessive.

[shewhorn]

I've found that high braces definitely irritate my right shoulder in a very major way (ummm... even when I'm doing them correctly :-). Fortunately for me I've been told that the low brace is more than adequate in most cases even in more challenging surf. Not enough knowledge or experience here to know if there's a limit to that information but in the interest of my shoulder (given my own phsyical limitations) I've decided that I'll just low brace until the point comes when someone presents me with a compelling (safety) argument to the contrary where a high brace should be used and nothing else will work.

Cheers, Joe

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

To be honest, I've found both braces to be effective without any additional pain from the high brace. I agree it's more dangerous than a low brace given what it could do to your shoulder and that it should be discouraged up to a point since many have bad high braces; however, just because it's of higher risk doesn't mean you should never use it. In certain circumstances I've found the high brace to be very useful where a low brace may have failed me.

[ccarlson]

If your paddle is in the forward quadrant when you need to brace, it's very difficult to use a low brace. High brace is much easier and faster in this position. Another new-to-me tip from John Carmody was to keep the hands low, near the deck, during the high brace rather than raised... elbows in of course. Let the water come to you as the boat leans toward capsize.

[Kevin B (RPS Coach)]

Carl,

Yup, same advice John gave me. Works like a charm with minimized exposure.

[Dee Hall]

To protect the shoulder, a high brace should be done with the paddle shaft below the head and the elbows tucked close to the rib cage.

People with shorter torsos, like many women, can have difficulty getting a low brace into a good position unless their boat is very low volume. The coaming gets into the way. My boat is definitely not low volume, but I was out surfing in a Force 3 last weekend, and it did offer me more options for low bracing.

-Dee

[Bill Gwynn]

Just to clarify my position on bracing in the surf. Yes, low brace pretty much all of the time, unless the waves are small, or I am trying to make a manuever to get off of the wave. My point is for those people new to surfing is that they sometimes have a tendency to want to put the paddle on top of the wave. As the waves get bigger, the only way to do this is to go to the high brace. It is not necessary to brace on top of the wave. A low brace stuck right into the middle of the wave works great, and offers protection for the shoulder. As the waves get bigger, and more powerfull, stick with the low brace when broached and the wave is collapsing. As the foam pile diminishes, you can then go to a high brace/draw on the move/bow rudder to get yourself headed back out for the next ride. The high brace certainly has it's place to be used, but not in big powerfull surf. My 2 cents.

[JohnHuth]

The current "standard issue" advice is to have the away-side arm rest right on the cockpit coaming and the water-side part below the shoulder with the elbow bent. Both arms should be close to the cockpit to prevent over-extension. Also - you're supposed to first try a low brace and then go to a high brace if the low brace fails.

Mark Schoon showed me a good exercise to try - first try a low recovery on the move, then deliberately blow it and then go to a high recovery. It takes a bit of patience to get this right (I flipped a bunch of times trying this at first) - but it really helps develop that reflexive action needed to hit a high brace or recovery.

In the past, I stretched way too much on high braces and felt the stretched tendons in my shoulder the next day. I can see why the BCU is thinking of scratching that from the 3* syllabus - but I'm glad I have it in my bag of tricks. But it took a fair amount of practice to get it right.

[Carl Tjerandsen]

A dislocated shoulder getting hammered by a monster wave out at the first break might make me afraid I might die followed in short order by a greater fear that I might not die. These injuries are excruciating. Having this happen in the green/white room is just unimaginable - then a hundred yard swim to shore. So, I basically like the admonition. Inventorying my brace uses in the surf, I find two instances where I go high instinctively. I go to tucked-in high braces when side surfing in front of a very nasty fast moving pile or caught close-in to the sand on the last break. In both cases the bottom of my hull is not just "mooning the beach" but the horizon/sky (past 90 degrees) - a very aggressive lean into the wave. I can't imagine a low brace being at all helpful in this configuration. Any thoughts?

Carl

[scamlin]

Carl:

I'll take a shot at pulling together a few of the previous comments and add some speculative thoughts to puzzle through the question:

As Billy says, a low brace works anywhere in the face of the wave where you have water moving "up" relative to the boat/paddle. You don't need the blade to be on top of the wave. In fact, on many waves, the low brace tends to ride the boat to the top of the face. The dynamic is that you're retarding the slide down the face of the wave, so it moves under you and up you go. That was the theory the coaches who taught us: the top is a better place to be anyway. The stronger the wave, the faster you'll ride up, or so they said.

Your two scenarios seem to be wrestling with how to physically execute a low brace when the beam is at or past vertical. If so, you're right that it's hard to get good form (elbows above the shaft) and leverage on the paddle if it's up around your collar bones. The higher the deck or and shorter the paddler, the bigger the problem. Hence the instinct to go for a high brace.

So if we're going to use low braces, the question is whether the aggressive lean is really needed. Is it to 1) put more body weight on the paddle; 2) keep the body past vertical (into the wave) or 3) to avoid tripping the hull itself on the downside of the wave or the sand. In short, how how does a radically rotated hull help in big waves?

More body weight? I think a low brace offers more opportunity to bear down on the paddle shaft, IF you can get it under you. If you can put the blade in the middle (or even the bottom) of the wave face, you can keep the hull down and still lean on a low brace.

I suspect the exaggerated hull rotation is an instinctive attempt to get the body over the centerline towards the wave: cocking the hips puts the torso outboard from the centerline of kayak, which tends to throw the torso into the wave face. But I think it's also an instinct many of us learned from hard lessons: don't let the downwave edge of the boat trip.

However, while a hull cocked way up past vertical won't trip, it presents the sharp edge of the upwave sheerline to the wave which would dig in hard. That edge may create its own problems: it seems to keep the boat anchored under the breaking wave.

I'm suggesting we keep the hull a bit more neutral than edged. Yet another well-known coach observed me edging hard in a bongo surf and commented that if I wanted to let the wave go under me (the goal for most of us once sideways to the wave), I'd have to flatten the hull so it could ride up and over. Works like a charm for moderate breaking waves and a low brace helps. But I've not really experimented on the monsters. Of course the trick is not let the downside edge of the boat trip--more difficult as a flatter hull is closer to tripping.

So if you're trying a flatter hull, you still have the problem of how to do a low brace with the offside shear line sticking up. I suggest its a problem only if you are trying to keep the paddle shaft horizontal. If we let the paddle shaft angle up to clear the shear line, it would theoretically end up perpendicular to the angle of the wave face and maximize lift for the boat. However, the more the paddle shaft is off horizontal, the less it would keep the paddler from pitching into the wave: it would feel like spearing the wave. I think the answer is that the water in the wave is moving up relative to the paddler, so even if the blade is pointing down 45 degrees to the horizon, it is getting a strong lift UP and will support a leaning paddler in a low brace.

So in summary: lean the boat (don't edge) with a relatively neutral (flat) hull, keep the paddle shaft and your hands down by your hips (the strongest and safest position for your shoulders) and don't worry where that puts the blade. The wave will take care of it.

That's the logic: I welcome comments how it would work. Or maybe we should just go out and try it.

As postscript, if you want to turn through the wave rather than survive it, a high brace may be appropriate--or really more of a bow rudder. It works like this: you are parallel to a breaking wave (on a surf break or even steep wind waves), you plant a vertical high brace/bow rudder upwave at the bow next to the boat, which anchors the bow and lets the breaking wave knocks the stern down wave...and voila, you're turned out to sea. Fortunately, the bow rudder is to the front which is the safer quadrant for the shoulder, but you do need to be careful not to reach out to the bow but rather tuck the onside elbow in against the ribs. To get the effect, however, you need to raise the offside hand (hence making it a bow rudder rather than a high brace) in order to get the blade to provide lateral resistance rather than vertical support. Again, works like a charm on moderate breaking waves, but I've not been tempted to experiment when I'm about to get crushed.

Does any of this make sense?

Scott

[Bill Gwynn]

+1 what Scott said. Thanks for putting into words what I was trying to say

[jonsprag1]

looks a lot like a bow rudder turn to me---I suppose you would call it a type of high brace turn

[rick stoehrer]

it's instinctive at this point and i rather doubt i'll ever break the habit. i understand why the bcu would want to get away from it...the dynamics are such that even if you do it right, the torque on your joints can be tremendous; let alone if you do it incorrectly. i guess it comes down to knowing when to let it go - capsize and roll up on the other side.

i agree with you though - for a lot of what we're doing, if it's at the point where i need to brace aggressively i mostly bring myself sideways and then just hang on in the high brace position...i've never tried to low brace with some of the larger things we've played with down south with you guys carl...i suppose that the lean of the boat would be far less aggressive for the low brace to work....BUT then i might be worried that i could trip over downward edge of the boat depending on the angle/height of the wave we're talking about and once that edge is caught you're window shaded immediately. paddle position i don't think i'd worry about too much as i guess you're going to get pretty big lift from the water in the wave pitching up. i think it comes down to boat edge/lean on the wave face and a strong brace regardless....interesting.

don't know....i wonder if i can remember to try it next time we're down? that could be memorable.

anyways, a lot of this i think is reflexive - people act tactically and plan strategically. lamar probably ain't thinking about what he's doing - only about where he wants to be. if the low brace is as effective and you can get it done without exposing the joint that's great but man, once those tools like high brace are in the box, i can't imagine they ever come out and you end up using them uncoinciously regardless of however curriculum changes. he may not teach it, but lamar may very well end up perfoming it for his own enjoyment for awhile yet.

[Dee Hall]

>So in summary: lean the boat (don't edge) with a relatively

>neutral (flat) hull, keep the paddle shaft and your hands

>down by your hips (the strongest and safest position for

>your shoulders) and don't worry where that puts the blade.

>The wave will take care of it.

>

My employer encourages us to use as many different boats as we can and as a result I can tell you that this would probably work in most boats, but not all. In my own boat, it works for less time that you can say "windowshade". (I wish I had enough time to take every boat out in the surf to figure out exactly which hull feature causes this dramatic tripping up.)

However, Rick's point about when a high brace doesn't feel right is great. Whenever I feel that a high brace is getting away from me I just let it go and resign myself to rolling back up. I'm a pretty big wimp about it, and don't go in for heroic big braces.

-Dee