Our buddy Hiro loves to spend his downtime on the water. He works at Pearl Trading Company, Japan’s premier supplier of paddlesports gear, and he’s also an accomplished kayaker of many disciplines. One of the newest subcultures of kayaking is the blending of two sports: kayaking and fishing, which I hear is a ton of fun. Hiro is one of the founding fathers of Japanese Kayak Fishing and as you can see by his photo below, he’s just about got it dialed.

Another impressive subculture of kayaking is Squirt Boating. which has also become quite popular in Hiro’s homeland. Each year, squirt boating legend Jim Snyder makes his annual pilgrimage to Japan, accompanied by a “guest of honor.” The growth in popularity of squirt boating all over the world can be attributed to Jim and his amazing boat designs and technique. This year he invited our good friend Paul Bartholic from Asheville to join him on the journey. Paul (aka “Buddha”) was able to snag a video camera for the trip and he captured some pretty cool images of what hanging out in Japan is like. So check out this short video of Jim, Paul, and their friends from Japan. Musical score is compliments of DJ Phidelity.

-Bryan

Squirt boating is an interesting activity. Even to most whitewater paddlers this rare subculture of kayaking is nothing short of a mystery (pun intended). Our buddy Paul Bartholic from Asheville has devoted a good part of his boating “career” to perfecting moves like the whirly-gig, mystery move, flying fish, and the screw up…these ancient squirt moves are at the roots of some of today’s most popular freestyle tricks. At the helm of this underwater movement since the 80’s is Jim Snyder who needs no introduction to most whitewater paddlers. Each year Jim travels to Japan on his annual squirt pilgrimage and this year he invited Paul to join him. We look forward to seeing some of their footage when they return from their 8 day trip.

In the meantime enjoy this short video of Paul getting some DT on the Cheat River…

(please note: squirt boaters DO wear PFD’s when traveling downstream..but sometimes they take them off for destination mystery moves. These moves take place in safely approved locations by experienced squirtists.)

video courtesy of Ben Durrant