Tony and Dominique Lunt and Dave Olson visit Rock Island Ranch!

My partner, Tony, and his lovely wife Dominique flew in from Tucson, Arizona, while Dave Olson drove in from Greensboro, NC to have a board meeting with EJ and Kristine. Technically it was a board meeting, even if much of what was discussed was done while walking from the river in our full gear after a good day of paddling. Tony reminded me that we were having a board meeting, and looking back, they have all been in less than standard locations. My trampoline, France/Austria, Walking home from the river in 30 degree weather because I gave Kristine the wrong pick up time. Dave Olson and I do the dueling laptops, emailing each other from two feet away until we get everything in good order.

During this trip, we conferred, confirmed, and reconfirmed our resolve to make Jackson Kayak everything it can be, keeping the business run like a small family business, with the expert help of our CFO, Dave Olson, and the advice of many, but in the spirit and intention of what I have promised my customers, dealers, team, and staff. We will continue to do what is right by everyone, deciding on actions based on whether they are right or wrong, and then figuring out how to run a profitable business based on those decisions. This is a big year for Jackson Kayak! We just completed 10 of 11 new whitewater molds! We are running the factory with zest and resolve to meet our customer needs, and we are in the first stages of launching Jackson Rec to bring the same kind of fun, quality, lightweight, durable, versatile kayaks to those who want to paddle with their dogs, kids, coolers and other toys. Marty Cronin is leading the charge as our brand manager, and is doing a great job.

Meanwhile, at the plant, Carman Ratliff is busy as she has ever been entering orders, scheduling what boats go to who, etc. John, her husband is busy with all things related to production, like increasing the rate of production by 50% in the past two weeks! Goat is shipping boats almost as fast as we are making them, while Brad is making sure the assembly staff is operating smoothly.

Today, if you were to show up to the plant, Jay Kincaid, Nick Troutman, and Emily Jackson would all be working hard doing quality control and wrapping and preparing boats to ship! Dane has too much school to do!

I am very lucky, (so are all of you out there that want a wonderful new model 2007 Jackson Kayak), that my partner Tony believes in what we are doing!

Our board meetings are over for the time being. We have some important paperwork to do over the next few weeks, and all is well here in the world of Jackson Kayak, thanks to a wonderful staff, and a great partner in Tony Lunt!

🙂
EJ

p.s Tony took this photo of me paddling… I was busy paddling with him and forgot to take pictures of him paddling! Tony named the photo, not me!

Dave and EJ with dueling laptops

EJ Spray