Paddling in the ocean requires stability and balance, and one of the most important skills that goes with this is a solid right side brace stroke. In my camps we learn the brace stroke and practice it every day throughout the camp.
Why do I emphasis a strong brace stroke?
- Leaning left does not make for fast paddling
- Leaning left creates more instability not less
- Leaning left hurts your body and leads to injury
So, once you agree that a brace stroke is a good thing, what do you have to be willing to do?
HULI
As part of learning to brace at my camps we practice huli recovery. If you want to learn to brace you have to be willing to huli, since it’s normal to mess up when you are learning to brace. The more willing you are to huli, the more you can practice recovering from a huli and the less of a problem it is when it happens unexpectedly in the ocean.
As a coach, I’ve upped my commitment to teaching this by taking the sting out of a huli by
- Normalizing the event – it happens to everyone!
- Helping people learn to get back in the canoe quickly and safely when they do huli
- Practicing in flat water over and over.
During my first OC1 season in Hawaii I hulied seven times during the Hawaii States race. In my first Molokai Solo in 2009 I hulied about one minute after the start of the race. I came away from those experience knowing I had some stuff to learn and was determined to figure it out. I had never practiced my brace stroke, let alone remounting after a huli. This is why I designed my camps to help you overcome these issues. I continue to practice my brace stroke to this day. I don’t huli nearly as much now, but I do still do sometimes and its just not a big deal when I do.
I encourage you to first get comfortable righting your canoe, managing your paddle and your leash, and remounting in flat water. Once you feel a level of comfort with that, intentionally practice in rough water. This is important so you can figure out how to manage wind and waves safely and quickly.
If you have access to water and it’s safe for you to be paddling and it won’t add stress to your life, now is a great time without the pressure of racing to build your skill set. Here is a video in which I break down all the steps for huli recovery.