KAYLA Imrie, New Zealand representative flat water kayaker has been using a Power Balance bracelet since June this year to help her speed and power in the water.
She’s no water novice, at 18 years of age she’s been a member of the Paekakariki Surf Lifesaving team for six seasons and last year brought home a bronze medal from the Australia Youth Olympics with the four-person kayaking team.
“I think it’s psychological. For instance rugby players wear the same pair of undies every day and they think it helps them. I think it’s the same as that.”
The sceptics include Wellington Boardriders Club committee member Rico Lane who says he tried it out once and “had a great surf – it might have been a planetary alignment”.
But the scepticism hasn’t stopped the bracelets going viral through the surfing industry. Surfing New Zealand national selector Ben Kennings estimates nearly 50 percent of competitive surfers will use them in the upcoming ASP professionals’ men’s pro tour.
“They’re used by all the top surfers in New Zealand, from 10-year-old kids through to guys who are 60.”
The bracelets retail for about $90 and are made by a company which sponsors some major surfing competitions in New Zealand.
Jockey Darryl Bradley, who won two listed races at Trentham Guineas Day on October 23 and is 13th on the premiership table, reckons the bracelets have saved his skin while he was riding and should really have fallen off.
“I would have fallen off and I scrambled back on. I don’t know whether it’s mind over matter or not but I just feel good with it on, so I’ve kept it on. Is it a phase or does it help?”
He does the typical balance test on this Capital Times’ writer, and the results are, as surfer Imrie says: “Creepy.”
With arms outstretched and the bracelet held in one hand, he is able to tip me over more easily than without.
“There’s something in it that does help your balance,” Bradley says. “There must be.”