The way the centerline hand rule works: If you are weight shift bracing (sitting on edge) at the brink of falling over: if the hand further from the water crosses the centerline (without shoulder rotation) you will fall over.  Consequently, you can’t center your weight and recover on a roll/a brace/a stroke  if your hand crosses the centerline.

If someone rotates at the waist it can shift their weight back toward centerline on a brace, which seems to offset the centerline handrule. However, there is the “rotational inherent knee lock rule.” Which means that if you rotate your shoulders on a roll or brace you inherently load the wrong knee (experts can prevent that, not students).

During the roll, the most stable place to paddle brace is 3 and 9 oclock instead of behind you.  When you roll up, your hands should be centered over the center line. It is fundamentally wrong to come up with your weight off center, your hands not balanced over the center line, your head outside the walls of the boat or on a hard edge.

But a brace is a weight shift or hipsnap.  The only downside to too much emphasis on bracing is that bracing reinforces a fear of flipping; and burns energy and time trying to counter the total force of surface tension against the boat.

Instead of bracing try directional rolling  There are too many times when flipping and rolling is better for than bracing.  It is much more effective to duck under the boat and pop up on the other side (moving the same direction as the 300 gallons of water that loaded your hull).

What is directional rolling? Stay tuned!!