Introduction

Bracing is a topic with lots of strong opinions.  Many kayak instruction books pay lip service (or don't cover the topic).  That is sad because done correctly, it is an important safety measure.  I have seen many paddlers with "bomb proof rolls" run intermediate and advanced rapids flipping 4 or more times.  They congratulate themselves and claim they are ready for bigger and more challenging rapids.  Unfortunately, sooner or later they will become pinned, trapped, or get a severe beat down.  Think about it when you are upside down, the river is in control - not you.  While you are upside down, you may hit rocks and ledges.  For many, it takes time to setup for a roll.  In a nutshell, you are out of control.

The concepts behind bracing are simple enough.  If you toss your paddle, you are riding a log (your kayak).  Essentially, you have a straight line with two endpoints.  If someone pushes your head to the side, you can't stop them and you will flip.  Now let's add an outrigger or pontoon.  This provides lateral stability.  Now when someone pushes your head, the pontoon pushes back and it is far more difficult to flip the kayaker.  Basically, we are looking for a third endpoint like a tricycle or three legged stool.  Your paddle blade can be placed horizontal to your boat and act as a  temporary pontoon.  This is a major component of a brace.

The next consideration is where to place that pontoon.  If the pontoon is real close to your boat, it just means you have a wider boat.  A bit more difficult to flip but with a bit more effort can still be knocked over.  Move the pontoon out 2' from the boat and it is much more difficult to knock you over.  The end of your paddle is a paddle blade.  If you slice the water like a knife, you really don't have too much support.  If you smack it like a fly swatter (either side), you get a great deal more support.

The beauty of bracing is you avoid flipping in the first place and have near instantaneous recovery to a loss of balance.  This makes paddling a great deal more fun and often much more safe.  Once you master bracing, use them for waves and hole surfing to keep your skills sharp.

A few tips on safe bracing:

• Keep the head down and don't lose sight of the paddle blade you are bracing on.
• The brace is simply a crutch.  The heavy lifting is done with your hips (not your arms) turning the boat back upright.  Your aim is to use as little pressure on the blade as possible and just for a brief moment.  You are catching your balance.
• Your head and body follows the blade as it skims the water surface.

Here is a nice article on shoulder safety from the NOC: Shoulder Safety.

Here is a short video on the brace strokes from Mike Aronoff of CKAPCO: Bracing Strokes.

Another great video from Janey Cowie of Zoar Outdoors: High & Low Bracing.

Low Brace

Continuing from the discussion above, a low brace is simply a brace on the water with the power face (inside of the spoon) facing upward.  Another way to think of it is your knuckles are pointing down towards the water and you are pushing down on the blade for stability.  This is a great brace to use if you were leaning back when you started flipping.  Simply turn your head and torso towards the end of the paddle, pretend you are looking down a well (dip your head to get a better look), push down on the end of the paddle and skim the water surface by moving the blade and your body forward while rolling your hips (the Hip Snap) to right the boat.  As with all braces, the head comes up last and the boat returns to the upright position first.  A good way to practice this skill is to lean back in flat water until you can lay on the back deck.  You will find this position very tippy.  Now look to your side and chances are good that you will begin to flip.  Perform the low brace as described above to right yourself.  If you don't have a roll, get a spotter to help out.  The low brace is the safest brace and the tool of choice for most play boaters.

High Brace

The high brace is a brace on the water with the power face (inside of the spoon) facing downward.  Another way to think of it is your knuckles are pointing up away from the water and you are pulling down on the blade for stability.  Although the low brace is often the better choice, a high brace is often easier when you are almost flipped over.  If you are leaning forward in an agresive posture, your paddle blade is already close to the front of the boat so it will need to sweep towards the rear of the boat - the opposite movement of the low brace.  The high brace is also the basis for most kayak rolls, in fact - you can consider it to be a half roll. Simply turn your head and torso towards the end of the paddle, pretend you are looking down a well (dip your head to get a better look), pull down on the end of the paddle and skim the water surface by moving the blade and your body towards the rear of the boat while rolling your hips (the Hip Snap) to right the boat.  As with all braces, the head comes up last and the boat returns to the upright position first.  A good way to practice this skill is skulling.  Keep moving your skull stroke out further to the side of your boat and see how high you can edge your boat before it flips over completely.  If your head remains upright, you will flip rather quickly.  High braces are a very common way that paddlers dislocate their shoulders.  Try to keep the center of the paddle shaft below your eyeballs.  If this isn't possible, ditch the high brace and get in the roll position immediately.

Sculling draw strokes are just another way to smoothly pull yourself across the water sideways.  The sculling draw stroke shares a great deal of similarity to the sweeping motion of a sweep roll except you are upright and the paddle shaft is higher of course.  As with all draws, you need to turn your torso sideways facing where you are going.  You move the paddle blade from front to back in a gentle arc and keep repeat vice versa.  A great way to start practicing the roll is leaning the boat on its edge and perform the sculling draw.  Here is a good demonstration of this stroke: Sculling Draw Stroke.

Bracing is a whole topic in itself, check out the following article for a more in depth discussion on this critical topic: Bracing. 

The opposite of the forward stroke is the back stroke.  We often use this stroke to slow down and stop.  Back strokes are also used when performing back ferries.  The stroke starts with the paddle flat on the surface rather than the stabbing entry used in the forward stroke.  This provides extra stability.  From this point on it is very similar to the forward stroke, just in reverse.

This is an excellent video on the back stroke from Mike Aronoff at CKAPCO: The Back Stroke.

This short article and video from REI covers all the basic strokes with the back stroke at the end: Basic Kayak Strokes.