Jeff Potter (of OutYourBackdoor.com) wrote:

Then I tried some "eskimo sculling" it might be called---where you lay
on back in water and scull to keep face up.

The Sculling Brace. If you get it right, the amount of sculling is
absolutely minimal - indeed you can stop sculling entirely at which
point you're doing the Balance Brace.

It didn't work. Not very
well anyway---I could get a breath with each scull, then I'd submerge.

The secret to this is to rotate your torso _and_hips_ in the cockpit so
that your lower back is against the side of the cockpit and not against
the backrest. Your upper leg will likely have to leave the footpeg and
the knee will be against the side of the hull to make the rotation happen.

By rotating like this, your whole back is down in the water and your
centre of gravity is as low as possible. This allows your floating body
to support itself and you float well.

The other thing is to push the kayak away from you with your legs as if
you were trying to right the kayak.

There's no doubt this is easier to do in a narrow kayak. A wide kayak
keeps you too high out of the water.

Mike