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Jim's Story
So~ here I am talking about myself. But some of you might be curious- so here goes:
I was born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1954 but grew up in an eastern suburb of Cleveland Ohio~ namely Euclid. I started paddling in 1965 and soon moved to a canvas-covered Gruman canoe with a double-bladed paddle. My first kayak was an imported Klepper SL7. I raced a lot in my youth and was the Middle States Downriver champ at one point. I was also an early member of the Madhatter and Keelhauler Canoe Clubs and that's how I came to meet Ralph McCarty.
It seems he was starting up an outfitting business on the Lower Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania so in 1969 I became an early raft guide for his company~ Mountain Streams and Trails Outfitters. Ralph ran his customers in decked inflatable kayaks- "duckies". I got my first runs down the Upper Yough in those boats. I also made my first kayaks in the basement of the "Last Resort" facility Ralph had there. After a couple years I went to work for Wilderness Voyageurs in the same town. Working there, I started running more challenging whitewater including first descents of the Meadow Run Slides in Ohiopyle and the first descent of the Big Sandy's "Wonder Falls" in West Virginia.
In the late winter and early spring of 1975 I apprenticed master paddle builder Keith Backlund at his company "Woodlyte Paddles" in Lemont, Pennsylvania. I started making "RivrStyx" directly after that. I designed my first paddle blade- the Slasher- that year and it went on to become a popular asymmetrical blade shape for many companies. In 1976 I started working for Imre Szilagyi's "Appalachian Wildwaters" and went on to finish my guiding career with 13 years with that company. That's also where I met my wife, Doris! The late 70's is also when we were getting first descents in West Virginia like Daugherty Run, Fike's Run, and 686 fpm Quarry Run (1977). I also moved into West Virginia to stay then! I became one of the first raft guides on the Cheat and Upper Yough Rivers.
In 1980/81 I designed my first kayak- the Slice. It was probably 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. I detoured into trying to design a cartwheel able boat and went off to design my own shorter squirt designs. In 1983 Phoenix Kayaks started making my Arc design and an early prototype of that design (the "Baby Arc") was the boat I did the first flatwater cartwheels in- fetching like 12 ends right off the bat in January of '83. New Wave Kayaks started making my designs around 1985 and they were the major factor in popularizing the sport of squirt boating. I went on to design a few plastic kayaks for them but eventually they down-sized to making just squirt boats and the business was turned over to Paul Schreiner (John Schreiner's brother- John was the president of New Wave). Paul continues to make my squirt designs at Paul Schreiner Composites. Other manufacturers picked up my designs soon after- like Murky Kayaks in Canada and Downtime in England.
Squirt boating became very popular in the late 80's and some say it helped spawn the sport of "Rodeo" which went on to become much more popular. Many of the early rodeo stars were also squirt boaters. The mid to late 80's is also when we did many first descents on creeks in West Virginia like the North Fork of the Blackwater, Red Run, and Elzey Run. Doris and I also had our children, Nathan and Amelia, in 1989 and 1990. That was a good move.
In the 90's I started traveling to Japan to help promote squirtboating and have been privileged to go there every year for many years now. In 1991 I developed the patented Jimirim which continues to be the optimal form of spray skirt system. I also won the National Squirt Championships in 1993 and competed for the US Team in the World Championships on the Ocoee River, placing 6th. Soon after I joined my brother and others on a televised expedition, “Rivers of the Maya” in southern Mexico featuring a first descent of the Santo Domingo River. That production went on to win an Emmy for cinematography due to the excellent work of our producer~ the famous Roger Brown.
In the late 90's I did a short stint of design work for Perception Kayaks and was also honored with a "Legend of Whitewater" award from the American Canoe Association. I started doing design and plug work for Emotion Kayaks in 2004. They make great recreational kayaks. And in 2007 I was honored to be inducted into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame as a "Pioneer" of the sport.
So- that's pretty much it. My life has been centered around the sport (after my wife and children, of course) and I've been lucky to have my brother Jeff nearby to paddle with all these years. He is famous for his "Striding" ability- where he stands in an inflatable kayak while running whitewater- very well too! I hope this all hasn't been too boring for you. It's been a fun ride for me. Time well spent.
Jim
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