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August 2, 2006

Dear EJ,

I just wanted to write a quick note to thank you for teaching such a
wonderful week long clinic on the Ottawa. I gave this clinic to my husband,
Jack, as an early birthday present. He has progressed a great deal during
his 2 1/2 years of paddling but he is also getting to the point where he
needs technical paddlers who are way better than him to help him progress
even further. He can’t stop talking about how much he enjoyed the trip.
Not only did he learn a ton but he got to paddle with kayak greats like
yourself and your family. Ideally, Jack would like to be an instructor
someday and looks to your teaching style as something to emulate.

I’m not sure if he told you this story, but Jack tried to start kayaking
through a friend of his. Although he meant well, the friend’s idea of
teaching was "just get out there and follow me." Jack didn’t know how to
role, he didn’t know how to brace, he didn’t know how to paddle. A
frustrating circumstance to say the least. Jack thought if he couldn’t just
pick it up, he must just not be meant to paddle. It was either something
you got or something you didn’t. He almost quit.

Luckily, that was about the time that he picked up your strokes and concepts
DVD. It was exactly what he needed and basically made him the paddler he is
today. (It also got me out there.) As we have continued to paddle, we have
also collected and enjoyed each of your instructional DVDs so what better
present could I give him than a chance to learn directly from Eric Jackson?
I couldn’t resist.

So thanks again for giving him a once in a lifetime paddling opportunity and
for producing instructional materials to help all those paddlers that may
not have access to you personally. I’m sure there are many more people out
there with stories similar to his.

Sincerely,

Amy L. R. Hill