No skill will take you farther faster in kayaking than developing a reflexive brace. It’s not just about preventing capsize, it creates comfort at the balance point which is essential for getting the most out of your maneuvering strokes AND dissolving the fear-induced muscle tension that CAUSES most accidental capsizes in the first place.
The key word here is “reflexive”, meaning that the skill happens AUTOMATICALLY when you tip past the balance point. If you are already holding the paddle flat to the water or you are slapping the water before you actually start to tip over, you’re getting zero benefit from that practice.
Start by holding the paddle perpendicular to the water, NOT flat. Lean until you tip past the balance point, THEN rotate the wrist back for a high brace or forward for a low brace, slap/push off the water, and then rotate the paddle back to perpendicular and slice it up out of the water. (I have a more detailed video about this on my YouTube channel)
To make this an automatic skill you MUST not start the brace until you are actually past the balance point. You are training your brain: When I feel this, I do this.
Repeat over and over. When you’re chatting with friends on the water, the whole time you can be gently rocking back-and-forth, crossing your balance point and just throwing tiny braces and barely get your hands wet. If you have a splash jacket on you can do the same thing with high braces. Do this 10 times per paddling session for a dozen paddling sessions and you will have the skill for life.
Once you’ve got it, test it. Invite friends to push you over unexpectedly. If this makes you uncomfortable, chances are you’re probably not wearing the right immersion gear for the kind of paddling you’re doing, which is another thing that’s worth thinking about.
Regardless of what triggers it, the first time you throw a truly automatic brace is a revelation, it changes everything. If I could learn to kayak again, I would develop this skill first before I did anything else.
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