: I was practicing sculling support braces, and rolling up from about 2/3 of
: the way down. My extended hand was about at the spot where I would usually
: grip; at the blade root. My inner hand was at the tip, and the paddle was
: extended fully. It broke right at my extended hand grip, leaving the bulk
: of the paddle floating away, with me thinking "Well, I wanted to try
: this anyway..."

Glad to hear the storm paddle roll worked out!!!

Did you think of turning the paddle around and rolling with the unbroken blade? I'm just getting to the point where I'm enjoying playing with options and "what-if's".

I did some great deep high braces in 35* water on Sunday, but I'm still not able to slowly scull back up from horizontal. Guess I'll have to try a Greenland stick one of these days!!

: And I suspect that brute force had a lot to do with it, something is still
: radically wrong with my technique. I noticed that I keep trying to extend
: that elbow, which is asking for an injury. I'll have to go back and
: re-read Greg Stamer's article on it. I have trouble visualising exactly
: how the blade should be held, and what position the body should be in. I
: can get up for a breath of air, but I cannot stay up far enough to
: breathe.

I can't either. I practice with a mask on, and my face is less than 2" from the surface--very frustrating. It would be easier to accept if I was way under!

Maybe that's one place where good hip braces aren't such a good thing. I know they adversely affect ones ability to do the Petrussen Maneuver.

Shawn