If you worry about capsizing when sea kayaking, you may be thinking of your kayak as just another boat. It's not...The kayak is an extension to your body. You wear in, like pants, or shoes.

capsizing in sea kayak how to feel confident sea kayaking
More information on "Body Wisdom for kayaking": https://www.dancingwiththesea.com/fun...

If you worry about capsizing when sea kayaking, you may be thinking of your kayak as just another boat.
In this video you will learn a very easy position that makes capsizing almost irrelevant. At least in most conditions.

You may fear capsizing when paddling in waves.

Or maybe you don’t edge much when making a turn.

Maybe you’re not as graceful as you would like to be because of it.

When we fear capsizing we just don’t have the same peace of mind.

Or elegance.

I’m Paulo and this is Dancing With The Sea. DancingWithTheSea.com

It’s for those of us who want more ease and finesse, and less feeling like “it’s hard and I don’t feel safe”.
The kayak is not a tool to help you conquer. It’s to show us that we belong to nature.
If you secretly wish you could do the balance brace, but think

I’m not flexible enough or
I’m too old to learn new tricks
It’s too hard
It would take years to learn

You’ll be happy to hear about what the research department of Dancing With The Sea has been up to.

When you have the flexibility for this, it’s easy.

As of the making of this video, we have a pilot program experimenting with body movements to unlock the range or motion you need specifically for doing the balance brace.

And the results so far are very promising.

This is me at the beginning of a session.
And this is my range of motion at the end.

In one short session.

How is that even possible without doing any stretching?

The new balance brace lesson will be added to the course “Body Wisdom For Kayaking”. If you want to learn more about this course click on the link in the description below.

It’s a course that is included with the “Dancing With The Sea Club” membership. You can find out more about it at DancingWithTheSea.com

Here’s why you may want to learn the balance brace.

It’s the position you want to get into automatically as soon as you know you’re going in the water. It’s a lot more relaxing than being underwater setting up for a roll.

If you don’t learn this before rolling, you may find you need to use force and coordination. And your roll probably won’t be very reliable.

A lot of people think that this is an advanced technique that requires a lot of talent. But actually if you have a good fit with your kayak and some flexibility, for most people it’s quite easy.

The position is simple. Lay on the water, on your back. And tilt the kayak upright so it doesn’t push you underwater.

To be able to rotate enough, you need to let your upper thigh move back, and your lower thigh move forward. Your lower leg will bend and put pressure on the thigh brace. You will use that pressure on the thigh brace to tilt the kayak upright.

The other leg can be relaxed, or it can help by putting pressure on the bottom of the kayak. Just play with it and see what works for you.

If you can’t get your back flat on the water, it’s probably because you are not rotating enough inside your kayak. Try loosening your footpegs and see if that helps you get more rotation

Think of taking up space on the water with your back.

If you don’t have a good fit with your kayak, you will find out right away.

You may feel like you will fall out if you rotate that much. If so you may require more support from your thigh braces.

And as you slide up on the back deck focus on arching more and putting more pressure on the thigh brace. You may find that it makes it smoother.

Practice just this motion until it’s nice and easy.

What you don’t want to do is sit up as you slide your back over the rear deck. This will pull you back in the water.

Even if your kayak has a high rear deck, you can still arch your back as much as it will allow you. This will keep your head as low as possible for as long as possible.

It can still feel easy.

You also want to make sure you don’t un rotate as you come up. Notice that i have more of my body weight out of the water. And it’s preventing me from tilting the kayak upright. When you stay rotated you have more flexibility, and you can keep your body weight in the water for longer.

As you become comfortable in the balance brace position you will find yourself automatically taking that position anytime you hit the water.

This is the most stable position when you are out of the water.

This is the most stable position when you’re in the water.

With some mindful practice it will become very easy to lay on the water, and come back up again. You may even be able to relax and stretch yourself when you’re on a longer paddle. You will feel a lot more confident in rough water knowing that even if you did go over it’s still no big deal.