I've been reading a bit lately about high brace vs low brace . There are a few recent videos online, but of course it's not a new debate - it's been accepted for decades that although the high brace is a thing, it should be eschewed whenever possible in favour of the less fragile low brace position. And that's fine. And also flawed.
Let me explain.
Back in the dawn of whitewater kayaking, or pre-seventies at least, pretty much everyone (generalisation, shoot me) was either a sedentary paddler or a slalom paddler. Sedentary is a word I use instead of recreational, because I hate the expression "recreational paddler". All paddling is recreation, unless you are paid to do it or it's your daily commute. What I want is a distinction between gentle paddling and athletic paddling, and the word "bimbling" has been struck off as not scientific or grown-up enough (bastards), so sedentary is the word I choose.
sed·en·tar·y
ˈsednˌterē/
adjective
(of a person) tending to spend much time seated; somewhat inactive.
(of work or a way of life) characterized by much sitting and little physical exercise.
Sedentary seems appropriate because a) all kayaking is done seated, and b) some paddlers do it with infrequent, or indeed non-existent, bursts of anything one might call exercise. And that's fine too, I'm not against that at all. Just making the distinction. Again, shoot me.
Back to slalom. The early slalom paddlers used high braces, as well as the Duffek techniques and the now forgotten High Telemark (Google those), and even to this day you can see slalom athletes cranking a vaguely bow-ruddery-draw-thing stroke mash-up back until the top hand is almost behind the head. This sort of behaviour is routinely denigrated by some coaches as certain to cause injury (shoulder strain, shoulder anterior dislocation) and to be avoided at all costs, but the truth is it's likely to cause injury to people who have poor strength and conditioning or are genetically prone to shoulder dislocation. Neither group includes any slalom athletes, so they can be left out of the argument from here on!
In a nutshell - yes, the high arm positions associated with some strokes should be avoided when they are not adding to your paddling functionality. Why take unnecessary risks? But surely more important would be to acquire the kind of musculature that will enable (most) people to perform these strokes when required without undue strain or risk of injury, and to avoid injury in the event that the scenario occurs accidentally.
The way much of the coaching world sees it is currently this. Dislocation or shoulder strain are caused by:
1. Allowing the arm to rise above the shoulder and/or to be forced upwards/backwards.
2. No, that's it really.
The way I see it is this. Dislocation or shoulder strain are caused by:
1. Weakness.
2. Strength - muscle or conditioning imbalance that allows the paddler to resist forces in excess of those sustainable by the shoulder joint.
3. Reflexes - failing to let go with the hand or release core tension instantly when overloaded by external forces.
All three of those are somewhat interconnected of course.
These problems can indeed be circumvented by never adopting the position that puts us at risk, but I think that's a bit of a cop-out. They could be circumvented by staying at home and wearing a straitjacket, too! It was while watching a coach say "Never let your arm get above your shoulder and never let it get pushed back!" that I realised. This is nonsense for dynamic paddlers. I must admit that I'm not in the habit of high bracing, but actually my arm gets well above my shoulder while just carving a simple turn. Take a look at this pic - in my head I am doing a low brace, but in real space both my arms are well above the shoulder, and all the forces are pushing my left arm backwards, even before a few tons of water crashes into the whole situation. Reaching over a big wave, punching a hole, or sometimes boofing, it's equally the case, and in many more complex conditions even more so. Therefore... I require a physique that is able to handle that. And, perhaps, so do you.
Now, you may be thinking that you are much better than I am and that you aren't going to get yourself into these situations. But let me ask you this, if you are a dynamic paddler (and this whole rant is irrelevant if you are not). How do you roll? I can't think of a single paddle roll technique that doesn't involve moving one or other arm into the sort of position we are talking about trying to avoid, while all the while waiting for some unexpected event to push the shoulder joint in the wrong direction. In particular the screw roll, which most people learn first and is the fall-back roll for most when things go wrong. Back in the real dawn of kayaking, the Inuit invented the screw roll, as they did most of the rolls we know today, but they were paddling with a stick that provides very little resistance to the water. It would take a large sea creature swimming into the paddle full tilt to dislocate that kayaker's shoulder.
Another interesting area is sculling for support. This is a super-useful skill, both as a confidence exercise and as a recovery technique when you really, really don't want to go back under the boat. It is often taught in a sort of low brace or low high-brace position, but the truth is it's only useful when you're a bit over-extended and at its best when hanging from the paddle. Great video from Ken here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDyug_cURao
Some modern coaches teach the "high brace" (using the drive face of the paddle) but with both elbows down so that the stroke is for all intents and purposes a low brace with the paddle the other way up for, I dunno, a bit of additional wrist strain maybe. They do this for reasons of safety, of course. But it's of no comfort when this happens (left).
In conclusion - should you do high high-braces, elbow wrap bow rudders and the like? Probably not... unless you really want to. But whilst being cogniscent of the danger of such gymnastics, it also behoves us to be fit and strong enough to manage the arms in "above and behind" positions of stress, rather than just believing we can avoid the situation altogether.
Coming soon - an article about strength and conditioning for a more robust physique for paddling. In the meantime, don't forget to breathe.
I read recently this excellent piece by freeskier David Lesh from Virtika - in truth it echoes many similar articles that have been written by professional outdoor sportspeople and by frustrated industry types, the latter as they trawl through a hundred misspelled and poorly thought out requests for financial support. It also mirrors my experience, both as an athlete and during the many years that I was CEO of Nookie. Want to get rich through sponsorship? You won't!
Fact is, being sponsored is more of a status thing in most adventure sports. Sure, it saves you a bit of expenditure, but it also ties your hands and you give a lot of hours, days and months for a return which, if quantified, might not feel like such good value! But you'd rather work at your sport than in McD's. I get that...
A few top athletes do get serious money. Think Kelly Slater. I've been considering what it takes to do that, and I think it's this; you have to be up at the level where people you don't even know chase around after you taking your photo, writing shit about you, bigging you up or badmouthing you and trying to sue you. You are so awesome everybody wants a piece of you, or to hear about you, and you can't have a drink in a bar because you'll get too much attention. If you are still the guy who's paying people to shoot you (or worse still getting your friend or your mum to do it) and doing all the talking about you yourself, you are not there yet.
Take a look at this list. Surfers, kayakers, skiers and boarders are not on it. Or in the top 100, for that matter. Super rich dudes like racing car drivers are not even hitting the top ten, despite being the most sponsored people on earth, most of them.
Still... there is no harm in trying to change the world for the better, so:
Doug Cooper
Don't underestimate the power of personal recommendation. Kayaker Doug Cooper was recommended to Red Bull by Shaun Baker, who told them he wasn't just another wannabe, but had the communication skills as well as the drive, talent and dedication to endorse their brand. I am lucky to have made a name for myself in kayaking, so whenever I am working on a book, mag article or other project, kayaking industry peeps are falling over each other to give me stuff, pay for stuff, and basically leverage my ability to get exposure. But when I was working on the Haynes Skiing Manual, I thought I might get some help from the ski businesses because hey, I know how to sell myself - I got nowhere. Most ski companies didn't even reply. Because they'd never heard of me. Then I was at an outdoor show, meeting with one of my other strategic partners, and when I told him this story of woe he said "I'll call my friend who represents Atomic..." Ten minutes later Tord Nilson from Iconic Agency is standing in front of me - I tell him about the book and he says "You can have anything you want" - because it was a personal recommendation from someone he trusted (Rory Atton from Dewerstone).
So, it's not what you know, and it's not who you know. It's who knows you.
Beyond that though, never forget that it is what you can offer the brand that matters. No one wants to give you things just so that you can look cool or have more fun. It's often better to approach companies about specific projects and quantify what it will be worth to them. A marketing executive is more likely to give you £100 for a day's work that gets him the photo/video/result he needs, than he is to sponsor you year round. And that's great, because you aren't then tied to any one brand. The downside is that the brand won't be interested in marketing you by name, and as I said at the beginning, status is often what truly motivates an athlete.
As Tez Plavenieks said to me on Facebook the other day:
"Sponsorship is overrated. There are other ways to turn the sports you love into a job you love - as you'll no doubt agree." I do agree...
I've long had an association with Mega Surf Kayaks. Malcolm gave up the day job and started Mega not long after Helen and I launched Nookie, and we all shared a favourite surf beach, so it was a fait accompli. We'd meet up and go surfing, test boats and gear, he'd make me striking-looking boats and we'd make him eyecatching paddling kit.
Twenty-odd years down the road (and they've been very odd years, believe me), Malcolm has decided to retire, and I find myself coming back to kayaking after a few years in the wilderness/city/studio/Alps - *delete as appropriate. Peter and Arron have taken over the Mega brand and I'm back on board/in boat as a team rider/brand ambassador - this X/Y sh*t has to stop, right?
Doug Cooper in the latest experiment
Long story short - paddling Mega surf kayaks. Fun times.
First up is this little prototype - slightly embarassed about the quality of the pics, since I sometimes moonlight as a photographer, but hey... it was raining and I was testing a new water housing. ISO cranked up to crazy and the action a spec in the distance doesn't lead to good results, but since we don't really need anyone to know exactly what the boat looks like just yet, it's a blessing in disguise ;) Also, we were pretty hung over, like the top professionals that we are...
Thanks to Nookie and Dewerstone for making good things possible, and Red Bull for (maybe) making the hangover better than it might have been.
A dance does not take place on the ground. It takes place in the air. And yes - all my words are second-hand, including those ones (but excluding the ones I make up myself).
The point being, as it says in the red pull quote (the "looks a bit like Dymo tape" part) :
"The quality and efficacy of every stroke that we take has largely been dictated before that blade ever enters the water"
I've just submitted my words and pictures for issue 156 of Canoe & Kayak UK, and in doing so realised that I'd forgotten to share with you this offering that's in #155, and already on the streets, coffee tables and in some cases perhaps fires. It doesn't have made up words in it, but I was very pleased with finally finding an opportunity to use "efficacy", and "elegant-ish" seems to have slipped past the editor as well.
I'm not allowed to tell you what's in the forthcoming edition, but it will contain more than its fair share of controversy, by dint of my disagreement with the fundamental tenets of almost everyone's paddling faith. And a disproportionate amount of nail polish, for a sports magazine. The Ed did say it was a "cracking read", though, which following hard on the heels of him labelling me an "aquatic alchemist", seems to me to call for a bottle of something bubbly.
I'm not entirely comfortable with the use of "quote" as a noun. It irks me almost but not quite as much as when people use "invite" to mean "invitation". But I have just Googled it, and apparently it's acceptable to all but the overly formal. And who am I to talk, so dedicated to Oxford commas, and starting sentences with all the things one shouldn't?
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