This almost throwaway line Ken offered up cemented in my mind why so many people seem to have such trouble when they start to tip: "As you flip, the only way to right the kayak is by pulling up on the knee that's going underwater." And, of course, we see in this video that a (the?) way to do that is to effect the low brace with a hip snap (and keeping the head down). Conversely, pushing down on the side of the coaming which is heading underwater (in a fruitless attempt to right the boat) will have no (or worse!) effect because there's nothing to push off of! That's the value of the brace; it gives us something to (briefly) push off of. Awesome. Thank you so much for helping me get clear on the physics of the flip and the recovery! I'm new to the kayaking world, but lucked into Ken's videos early on and am so grateful for his clear explanations of all things paddling, like this one.
This almost throwaway line Ken offered up cemented in my mind why so many people seem to have such trouble when they start to tip: "As you flip, the only way to right the kayak is by pulling up on the knee that's going underwater."
And, of course, we see in this video that a (the?) way to do that is to effect the low brace with a hip snap (and keeping the head down). Conversely, pushing down on the side of the coaming which is heading underwater (in a fruitless attempt to right the boat) will have no (or worse!) effect because there's nothing to push off of! That's the value of the brace; it gives us something to (briefly) push off of. Awesome.
Thank you so much for helping me get clear on the physics of the flip and the recovery! I'm new to the kayaking world, but lucked into Ken's videos early on and am so grateful for his clear explanations of all things paddling, like this one.
Excellent video. Thanks!