Squirtboating Maine

The New Wave Vulcan and Shred are repaired and drying in the cellar as paddling season approaches here in Maine. Chuck just sold me the Shred and the Vulcan, my favorite, isn’t even mine. Maybe soon Mike will sell it.

These are two of the three squirt boats I use and the third is a Murky Water Whirld. The Whirld is made to go under water and the others are river runners. Last year after Twave season, I started taking out the Vulcan and had a hard time wanting to paddle anything else. Blue Hill Falls and the Kennebec River are the places I spent most of the last summer in the Vulcan.

Paddling at Blue Hill or the Kennebec in a squirt boat is amazing. They are both high volume, somewhat deep, fast and a killer places to paddle a boat meant to surf and squirt its way down the river. Squirtboats put the paddler in more contact with the waters energy and push. They are the originator of the stern squirt, handed down from the pivot turn in slalom racing. Both sought after by many.

The one place squirtboating gets really fun is called The Undertaker. This is a powered up eddy line at the bottom of Magic Falls that can yank a large squirt boat underwater with no problem. As soon as the kayak stops sinking it is headed up really fast, unlike the Whirld I have that sinks slow and controlled this spot is like getting sucked into and out of a giant water canon. I can stay there for the 3 hours the release provides, dodging rafts and paddling.