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~~~~~~~JIM~~~~~~~

                   Jim Kinney photo

One Bladed Paddles

Kayak Paddles

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What's New in Ruth Bell?

Here’s the story of my recent trip to Japan.

Feather Study

Don’t miss the sweet
Gift Veneers
by Taiki Sugawara
of Sapporo, Japan!

Hey! I’m All About
Ordering Now!

Logo Story...

yeah...  wood is good!

You’re going to love the               Warranty!

Stew Caldwell
testing on Gorilla

Green River, NC

Glossary

OK~  Let’s be realistic- I work a lot- and I play a lot.  But- I don’t update my website a lot- sorry!  Looks like this might be a seasonal occurrence.

I had an interesting winter- was part of a group that MAY have found a shallow grave by the river...  more details on that here

OK-  it’s summer now.  I just completed my long run down the Cheat-  I’ll have a full report soon.  And Amelia is really learning to kayak now- more on that soon too!

And I just returned from another stellar Bubbler Fest-  Ricky and the boys sure know how to welcome guests!  More on this later too!

Don't miss "Gift Veneers" in the "Extras" page. These are handcrafted in Japan by my apprentice~ Taiki Sugawara, an excellent paddle maker in his own right.

 I recently I got to join my daughter, Amelia, for her first run down the Lower Yough.  She ran in her Thrillseeker (I did too) and did a great job (me too- sort of- except at Schoolhouse Rock there~ which people thought was pretty funny...) Here’s a picture of her at Cucumber Rapid.

 

Plus~  Amelia was recently selected as a “Princess” for the popular Buckwheat Festival in Preston County.  She even got to ride in the parade!

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And I was able to recently finish one of my "Long Runs" down the Cheat River. 140 miles in two days! It's really fun and not all that hard. This year's trip was memorable because I was able to get entangled in grapevines while jumping a large tree on the Shavers Fork of the Cheat. I was held at the mercy of merciless currents- and yes- I was "uh-horsed"...

I was thrilled to see a rare "Fisher" on the Cheat River along with many Great Blue Herons and thousands of Swifts. The level was perfect- except for the bodacious 4.5’ I soloed the Canyon at. No worries tho. Job well done. I was off of Cheat Lake by 7 on the second evening.

The High Falls of the Cheat on the Shavers Fork

   Hour 6 of the trip and the beginning of a small ClassIV section.

There were plenty of beautiful streams chiming in and the laurels and rhodedendrons were in full bloom.  It smelled so nice!

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I also recently designed a new C-1 squirt design- the Ceamweaver. It is a park-and-play design with a concave hull designed for maximizing downtime in safe mystery arenas.

It’s got little ‘puppy dog ears’ for hip huggers.

And an interesting hull. It’s designed to be wide with low volume and stability with the ability to spin flat underwater and cartwheel well.

hmmm... Thin to Win....

A few dozen people have tried it by now and enjoyed it on flatwater. Finally Martin Breau of Toronto bought it and got it rigged out right and is really putting it through it’s paces.  He’s still working on a technique to stop the “Auto-Cartwheel” option.  But- he’s never one to worry.

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And I recently completed my part of a six year project- helping to build "Serena"- a carbon fiber turboprop Lancair 4P. She's nice! I did the body work. Everything you see that's white- I shaped and sanded first! It was a lot of work but the owner, boating buddy David Weinsweig, was as patient as possible and it's a very beautiful, very fast plane now. I helped design the paint scheme also- I call it "Fast Electric Miami".

 

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Copyright 2008 Jim Snyder