Description
Designed around a 28” or less inseam, the Fish is a flatwater expert’s dream. The short length and super low volume allow it to trade ends with lightning speed, and the hard chines in the cockpit area make it stable during the critical juncture between bow and stern ends. This same quality lends itself to effortless clean and superclean cartwheels. Though the flat bottom and hard chines make it a dynamic surfing and spinning boat, the design retains just enough of a curve in the hull to allow for graceful past-vertical moves like screws and washouts. The Fish is an excellent competition boat for smaller paddlers, having taken the Silver and Bronze medals (Men’s and Women’s squirt classes, respectively) at the World Freestyle Championships in 2001, and Gold at the PreWorlds in 2002 (Women’s Squirt).
Designer: Jim Snyder
About Jim Snyder
Jim Snyder
Jim is a world famous kayak designer and paddle maker. He’s been doing both for decades and is credited with helping the sport evolve into the cubic state it is in today. He was one of the pioneers of squirtboating and was the first person to cartwheel a kayak on flatwater in 1981. Jim began his whitewater career as a raft guide and lives like a squire in northern West Virginia. He was inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame years ago but claims he only needs rocks and water to keep himself happy.
In 1980/81, Jim designed his first kayak- the Slice. It was the first commercially produced short boat in the country. The next year Jess Whittemore kicked off the sport of Squirt Boating by discovering many new exciting moves in his long pointy squirt boats~ fun things like Blasting and Splats. Jim detoured into trying to design a cartwheel-able boat and went off to design his own shorter squirt designs. In 1983 Phoenix Kayaks started making Jim’s Arc design and an early prototype of that design (the “Baby Arc”) was the boat he did the first flatwater cartwheels in- fetching 12 ends right off the bat in January of ’83. New Wave Kayaks started making his designs in 1985 and they were the major factor in popularizing the sport of squirt boating. Today Jim’s designs are produced by Murky Water and PS Composites.
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