Squirt Boating Video

Within the world of outdoor adventure there are many subsets of interests, each with their own rabbit hole of fascination and intrigue. This video is found at the bottom of one of these rabbit holes…

In the subset of water sports, there is whitewater boating. Within the whitewater boaters we have another subset—kayakers. And, of those gnarly bunch we have another subset who label themselves squirt boaters.

In squirt boating, paddlers with neither paddle nor PFD ride currents underwater in sleek crafts designed in part to sink and ride the subsurface flows.

This is my first video I’ve ever made using video files… normally i stick to photos, and my videos have been time-lapses comprised of hundreds or thousands of photos.

I had been trying to capture photos of them in the turbulence, but when I asked Jim what type of media squirt boaters prefer… he replied video! So, I swtiched the GoPro to video for the first time and had at it.

Like the photo below, I would dive down into the flow, but instead of letting it take me, I’d latch on to a rock with my free hand, gopro in the other. Fortunately, I can hold my breath for well over a minute.

The real fun was after Jim and Jesse would paddle past my position, I’d launch off after them into the torrent.

Garret swimming in the Alley