England’s Pikey, new team JK member, writes about his experience on the road during world cup

England’s Pikey, new team JK member, writes about his experience
on the road during world cup

October 2, 2006

By Pikey

The second leg of the World Cup has finished and once again Pikey is trying to “pikey” his way into getting a lift down to Rock Island, Tennessee.

Knowing that Kristine Jackson is aka Paddlers’ mum there was nobody better I could think of to ask for a lift. With open arms and a big smile she sorted me out a lift with the Jackson Team Bus. I was looking dead forward to mixing amongst this bunch of paddlers and finding out how this team works and lives together.

Traveling with these guys has been great. I’m not a team member and don’t even paddle a JK boat but that was the only difference between me and the rest of the team. They opened their hearts to me and made me at home straight from the very beginning: when they plastered my Wavesport ZG with JK stickers (Which was nicely replaced shortly after by duck tape!). I knew at that point I was going to have a great time but I was so wrong; I had an amazing time!

Traveling with the JK team is truly like traveling with a family but with great bonuses. It’s not just a normal family but a big international family with one thing in common: their love for kayaking. This international family consisted of people from USA, Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia and the UK. There was an even mix: father figures like Jez keeping the bus moving and making sure everyone was safe, Devon being a great mum by just keeping a eye on us all the time, little Dane and Jason trying to annoy the parents with funky noises and misbehaving (but staying as cute as usual never to get into trouble), cousins like Sandro and Lucas keeping everyone on their toes with their language.

In a convoy including the land cruiser, bus with trailer and uncle brad’s car we where on the way to the Upper Yough. I was lucky to be away from uncomfortable seats of the bus and into the arms of Nick and Raf in the JK land cruiser. This was my first chance to really get to know about these guys and their feelings on the JK team. What Nick and Raf told me on that first drive was only to be shown to me in the following week. They agreed that the team consists of people that love the sport, are super friendly, caring for each other and everyone else, give great pride in what they do and what they do it in.

We where lucky enough to meet up with super legends Clay and Stephen to paddle the Upper Yough. Old man river, Clay gave us a great history of the river and the past time of the town. I was feeling super excited to run such a famous stretch of river.
Hitting the water amongst the many JK boats I was feeling lonely but that didn’t last long with Nick and Raf right on my tail splashing me. Clay took charge and lead the group down the river after asking us to pair into buddies. I knew I wanted to push my paddling abilities so asked Clay to be my buddy. His only comment was that I had to be prepared to go down some funky lines and some tight slots. My smile was big and my heart started pounding: I was nervous but I knew I was in good hands. This was by far the best river I have paddled and likely the most technical. But the JK team made me feel confident. The confidence in my paddling had quadrupled in just one days worth of paddling with theses guys. Yet it seemed like nothing to them, they even allowed me to run national falls four times after needing to roll 3 times and they were still cheering after every attempt. Raf greeted me on my fourth attempt with a big high 5. I felt so happy knowing I had run a class 4 drop properly without a beating. I was feeling good and everyone knew it. They seemed proud of me, like my family would be back home. I even did the second line first time. As we waited for the Shuttle the usual family teasing ensued: I ended up in an arm wrestling contest with Nick and Jon to see if I had to paddle a JK boat. If I lost to both Jon and Nick I would paddle JK for life. If I lost just one match I’d paddle a JK boat for 6 months. My left arm did me well with stopping them both from beating me.

We ended up eating out at a Mexican restaurant, joined by the WT bus. It was an eventful dinner with me and many others filling our mouths up with red and green extra hot sauce, many mouths still burning it was good to see the old like Stephen and Clay joining in with the young with there stupidity.

Thanks to the love and understanding of Kristine we had a good nights rest in a hotel. People on the beds and many crashing on floors, Dane was super fast at turning on the TV which I happily joined with him while others checked email or crashed out. It’s amazing how Dane being the smallest is not only the loudest during the day but also at night with his snoring. I felt sorry for Jez and Matt that had to put up with Sandro and Lucas’ bad snoring as it was heard from our room two doors down! Big thanks to Jez for being the man and sorting me out after I left my wallet in the hotel: such a great father figure.

Day 2 we paddled the New River, again meeting up with Clay and Stephen and the WT bus, we had a wicked time at the put-in stairs before running the river and doing some crazy slide off this rock which had a meter drop halfway down and not the nicest entry into the water. Again with Stephen and Clay leading we had choice paddling at all the different levels, these guys know how to get the best out of a river and make it super fun! Boys being boys we found things to do while waiting for our bus to turn up, even if it was chasing after the little ones who decided whipping people with sticks was a good idea. We got time to reflect on the day over pizza looking back at pictures and video footage, I learnt that internet is everything to these boaters after sitting outside a café in the dark just to check emails and to find out what’s running the next day. We had another family/team meeting to decide what the plan was, after many times voting it was clear the stairs was too much fun to miss out on, so a morning session was a go ahead followed by a trip to Charlotte Whitewater course!

I joined the Bus for the Trip to Charlotte where I got to chill out with Dane and Jason and watch movies and to find out about there lifestyle over here in the States. For such young kids they have so much for them, they are bright for such young men but still have the kids inside them, which is nice to see. They both made this trip that little extra fun, never having a younger sibling I felt an attachment with both of them, even if it is just being able to pick on them a little like my older brother did to me. Their mental strength is just as good and strong as there physical abilities and I have learnt from them, it’s amazing to see people can live dreams at such a young age. These two young kids are great inspiration not only to me but to everyone young or old.

Charlotte was the first time I got close enough to really paddle with Devon, she is a great paddler and is always super excited, while everyone rushed off for the biggest rapid, Devon and I started off on the wilderness one. She is always smiling but her face during a rapid is one you can’t forget, if she isn’t swallowing water she is screaming with excitement. The course was good but my time on the course wouldn’t have been half as fun if I didn’t have such an excited paddler like Devon on the water with me. Jez was just going crazy and the Switzerland Boys were hard to drag off the water, bombing down the channels like water was just about to disappear.

Now I’m sitting on this laptop on the way to Rock Island, I look back at the time I’ve spent with these amazing people and I really don’t know what to think. I love them all, they are so nice to be around, they are super good at what they do and they make me feel good. This team was put together well and for the right reason, they were put together not because they were good boaters but because they all had strong and pure personalities, they all want to see the sport become bigger and better, they have great feelings and dedication on getting many other people into kayaking. And most importantly they all have fun doing what they do.

Through being in this team and putting in time and dedication they have improved their boating to become some of the top boaters in this world as well as some of the nicest people in the world.
I truly thank all the JK team for being so open to having me for this trip and having me as part of the family. I look forward to be joining the JK team on many other trips as long as the can put up with me!

Pikey
13/9/06