Rollapalooza Rocks Raleigh

By Stephen Wright

It’s 6:45 am Saturday morning, do you know where your kids are? If you’re a
parent in the Jackson, Troutman, or Craig family the answer is simple:
They’re crammed into an old F-350 with no heat, no CD player, an unshaved
wierdo driver, and no less than 14 Jackson Kayaks precariously tied and
strapped down into the bed. Why are they doing this? To attend a huge pool
session 8 hours away–it’s that cool.

Rollapalooza has become one of the coolest indoor kayaking events in the
country with hundreds of paddlers enjoying the massive warm basin. This
place is a giant inflatable room surrounding a huge swimming pool heated to
82 degrees. It’s so big that we didn’t even notice that the walls and
ceiling were inflatable until opening the outside door–This resulted in a
massive wind-tunnel effect that nearly blew us off our feet. There was a
safer rotating door entrance that Dane and I immediately started playing-in
until a staff member made us stop. The event lasted 4 hours, with 16
different clinics being taught at once by instructors, pro kayakers, company
owners, and everything in between. JK’s fantastic dealer, GOP, came with
lots of demos, gear, and used boats for sale. Several other kayaking
related companies were also represented, and I had the opportunity to see
friends from all over: Bryan Kirk, Jared Seilers, and Brian Jennings to name
a few.

Jackson Kayaks came-out en force to bring our complete line (minus the Super
Star) to the people and enjoy paddling for the night. Dane, Emily, Nick
Troutman, Jason Craig, and I all had a blast teaching clinics, meeting lots
of great people, and showing everyone our 07 boats. It was an impressive
sight to see the complete line all in a row on the side of the pool: 07
Shooting Star, Star, All Star, 2 Fun, Fun, 4 Fun, Super Fun, Punk Rocker,
Rocker, and Mega Rocker. Everyone was happy with the comfort, and ease of
rolling the new boats paddling in the pool–we even had 2 adults who could
fit in Jason’s Shooting Star!

If you were there, thanks for making Rollapalooza a great time for Team JK,
if you weren’t, hope to see you next year! Enjoy the pics!

Live From Rock Island,

Stephen Wright