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Collin Squirreling the Squirrel
First off, you may wonder how we came up with the name. The Flying Squirrel is the name of a move in the entrance drop of Gorilla, the largest rapid on our home river, the Green. Crazily enough, all three of the main elements in the design of this boat (speed, bow rocker, and volume) facilitate this move, and help you deal with the drop below. The more speed you have, the higher off the boof you can fly; the added rocker makes that transition onto the rock smoother, and tons of volume doesn’t hurt when you head into a beast like Gorilla.
The really cool thing about this design is that you all asked for it, our team asked for it, and to tell you the truth this is the boat I have been wanting to make for a few years. You guys asked for a Remix with a ton of volume and more bow rocker. I have always loved the Remix so that was right up my alley. The team wanted something that could carry gear for overnight expeditions and crush big whitewater. We tweaked the edges and rounded the hull ever so slightly so that the big drop folks would feel even more comfortable hucking themselves off of waterfalls.
Not only did we use the Remix as the place to start the design of the Flying Squirrel we actually used the Remix model as the starting point of the Flying Squirrel. This is actually the kind of stuff that I live for. When I first started designing 20 years ago this hands on shaping was all that we did. So it was really fun to cut loose back in the shop with Ken, Brad, and Ken to chop, carve, and power sand to make this boat happen.
Ken working his magic on the mess we made.
The testing, however, was the most fun part of this whole design process. 2013 was the most epic year of water that I have ever experienced in the Southeast. The Green ran high all year and creeking opportunities abounded. The R&D crew and team paddlers were out on the water almost daily paddling the Flying Squirrel and because it was summer for much of that high water we were able to tweak the designs during the day and then paddle in the evenings.
Afterwork special Flying Squirrel at Gorilla
We had the first prototypes out the week before Green Race in 2013 and we took the team down to the Charlotte Whitewater Park to see how it felt on pushier water, and of course we tested with them on the Green. Woody even paddled one into the Green Race with thousands of people and hundreds of racers. I thought that was going to be a little too high profile for the protos and the word would get out about what we were working on, but in true Woody fashion he just floated down the river and nobody said a word.
Katrina dropping into the Charlotte Whitewater Park.
Once we had the protos we sent them out to Oregon for team folks to test on the big drops and big flows of the Pacific Northwest. The word came back, “It Boofs well, It’s fast, It skips out of landings, It runs waterfalls really well. For the bigger waterfalls it is easy to plug, and for drops like Spirit it is really nice to control your angle of entry.
Fred dropping Tokatee Falls in the first Flying Squirrel Proto.
Here is one of my more exciting lines while testing the Flying Squirrel.
Here is one of my biggest lines while testing the Squirrel.
After a couple months of testing, we made some small changes to the hull including softening the edges and rounding the hull just a little more than the Remix to make it land a little softer off of drops and be more forgiving while dealing with rocks. I have to admit the softening the edge was directly influenced by the run in the above video. More testing was to follow that and a final proto where we put the finishing touches on the rocker profile and deck crown.
Brad putting in the Remix crescent detail.
Once the fellas in the shop were done with all the changes and final detail work, we put the models in a crate and sent them away to the foundry. Once they have them it’s a good 3 months before we get them back and another couple weeks to have them in full production. When you first open up that mold, it’s pure excitement. Look at the shine! You can see all the specs, reviews, and pricing for the Squirrel by clicking HERE.
Nathan making one of the first Squirrels!
Thanks Everyone, and I hope you get a chance to try out a Flying Squirrel. It’s been a really fun project and it’s starting to rain right now outside my office window. I think it’s time to Squirrel away.
Shane