Squirt Boating - Manoeuvres

Manoeuvres

• Squirts - 'Squirting,' moves the boat from flat to vertical. The feeling of the boat doing a squirt is similar to the feeling of your hand at an angle, out the window of a fast moving vehicle, rising or falling and turning against the flow of air. There are several hydraulic river features that facilitate this manoeuvre.

• Screw-Around/Screw-Up – This is a vertical or past vertical manoeuvre where the kayak is pivoted around its long axis. It is usually performed after a squirt.

• Blasts - "Blasting," is typically done in a vertical pour over, although it can be accomplished in a less vertical hydraulic (or hole), the effect is less fantastic. The effect of the move is to have either the bow or stern of the kayak sandwiched between the upstream flow of the river and the reversal flow of the hydraulic. In vertical features, the kayak is balanced vertically.

• Mystery Moves – This is the Holy Grail of squirt boat manoeuvres. In a mystery move, the kayak and paddler submerge entirely into the flow of the river via total immersion into downward flow.

• Cartwheels – The kayak transitions from vertical to vertical, sideways, utilizing the "smash" technique of rotating your hips and boat against the paddle-torso configuration.

• Double Enders - Similar to a cartwheel, but older in origin. The transition in a double ender is performed utilizing squirt, rather than smash, principles.

• Zero to Hero – When surfacing from a mystery move upside down, the paddler executes a "screw around,"/"screw-up," and effectively surfaces vertically.

• Clean Wheel - A variation of the cartwheel, executed without the usual paddle strokes.

• Clue – The boat and boater sit partially submerged in a hydraulic.

• Loop – Different than the loop in rodeo/play boating, a loop in squirt boating refers to a roll around the long axis of the boat while submerged in a mystery move. There are three variations of the loop, described below:

• • The Loop – Essentially an Eskimo roll performed underwater.
  • The Retarded Loop – Performed the same as a loop but the second half of the roll (from upside down to right side up) starts as the hull breaks the surface of water.
  • The Light Loop – A high energy loop where the boat is thrust partially out of the water as it breaks through the surface. It has the appearance of the boat exploding out of the water to an upright position from underwater by way of a 180 degree rotation.