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< November December 2006
	Hotline
Father Squirt Hall of Fame inductee Jim Snyder achieves “one-ness with fun-ness”

When mystery move pioneer Jim Snyder was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame in October, there was nothing mysterious about the reason: Snyder was at the vanguard of squirt boat innovation in the early 1980s and invented such modern freestyle staples as stern and bow stalls and cartwheels. Paddler asked the 52-year-old father of two about his 70 boat designs, squirting and the art of ELFing. —jc

Paddler: You grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. Not exactly a whitewater town. How did you get into paddling?

Snyder: I joined a canoe club which gave me ties to rafting on the Lower Yough. I started guiding in 1969. My first kayak was a Klepper SL7.

Paddler: And designing?

Snyder: In those days, if you paddled, you had to build your own gear, whether it was boats, paddles or sprayskirts. During the ‘70s, there was a defection from racing. I was one of those who gave up racing and went directly into showing off.

Paddler: So you invented squirt boating?

Snyder: No, Jesse Whittemore had been squirting for a decade before I got into it. I concentrated on making the boats shorter for cartwheels. Enders were great, but we wanted to link them. With my first squirt boat, the Slice, we were able to start getting multiple ends.

Paddler: When did you master the mystery move?

Snyder: The first mystery move I got was at Tumblehome Rapid on the Upper Gauley in 1980. Its evolution was a slow process. We started getting 20 seconds of downtime and by the late ‘80s, everyone was mystery move-centric.

Paddler: Did you ever scare yourself?

Snyder: Yeah, one time at the bottom of Lava Falls in the Grand Canyon I was held down for over a minute. I got totally manhandled in all these weird currents. I thought about swimming but decided I wouldn’t be any better off. When I came up, my chest was paralyzed and I couldn’t breathe.

Paddler: What is elfing?

Snyder: Actually it’s ELF, which stands for creeking at Extremely Low Flows. We’ve done some awesome first descents on the East Coast in high-performance inflatable kayaks called Thrill Seekers. We go in and explore the drainage and then hardshell guys come in and run it at higher flows.

Paddler: Recently you’ve gone away from the fringe and started designing boats for a broader audience.

Snyder: I hooked up with Tom Strauss at Emotion Kayaks and have done three boats for him: the Mojo, Mojo Advantage and Bliss. The Bliss has slalom racing length and is super-sporty for the rec market. Designing for recreational boaters is pretty challenging. You have tougher criteria because the boats have to glide straight, be light and still maintain speed. No matter what kind of boater you are, everyone wants a fast boat.

Paddler: What do think when people call you the Father of Freestyle?

Snyder: Freestyle would have happened with or without me. The sad part is paddling became all about the paddler—who was starring in the next video. I was a big part of that. But we all wanted higher performance. We had to go against the paradigm to get it. It was uncool to go vertical when we first started throwing cartwheels and splats.

Paddler: What do you think of being inducted into the Whitewater Hall of Fame?

Snyder: It’s awesome. I didn’t have to do much other than a lot of sanding. I’m proud to be part of a crew that helped define the sport. All I really had to do was have fun. I guess that’s the best part.

—Jim Snyder is the author of Squirt Boating and Beyond. He recently left to Japan to consult the Japanese National Squirt Team. See his line of custom wood paddles at www.jimisnyder.com.