Getting Closer....

Jeff is back in town for a bit, so I decieded to grab some of his time to keep working on my High Brace. We met at Baiha Point at noon today. After a quick warm up, Jeff had me demonstrate the state of my bracing. He had his camera out, so I'd be able to review the footage.

He noticed that my paddle was staying more parallel to the water. So I had made some proper adjustments. Jeff keep having me focus on an agressive hip snap. To aid in this, we added in spearing the paddle blade back out of the water. This motion helps the hip snap a little more.

Jeff also had me do a roll. He spotted my head lifting up a bit, but the roll worked as planned.

I was able to make good progress in putting the parts together. I had broken the brace into 3 phases: setting up and tipping - body into a C position and paddle shaft parallel, contact and snap, and finally the head flick and paddle recovery.

The first and last parts were clicking fairly well together. It was the middle sequence that was misfiring. I have a better sense of that section now. There's a little muscle memory forming.

At the next pool session, I am going to work on a C to C roll. Jeff suggested that this would translate well toward an even stronger high brace. I tried a couple, came close, but had to revert to a standard sweep roll.

I am getting closer to nailing this skill. I have until the 10th to practice this or I'll have to arrange for some video evidence.