The SMOOTHIE blade went into production in 1997. This was a major departure from the Big Blade in terms of how the blade behaved in the water. Our intention was to create a blade that would catch the water quickly, then easily be buried to a preferred depth, but then not allow the rower to dig too deep and get caught at the finish. Although the SMOOTHIE has been widely accepted, there are some coaches and athletes who prefer to be able to bury the blade deeper during the drive than the SMOOTHIE allowed. The improvements made by the SMOOTHIE2 mold changes in late 2006 (see above) have made blades from the original SMOOTHIE mold available only by special request and for spares.
