JK’s Feature Athlete: Alec Voorhees! Read more about him here!

At Jackson Kayak we are super proud of our WW Team- but we don’t always feel like everyone gets to know them as well as they should! So starting with this one we will be interviewing our team to give you a little more insight on the characters that make up Jackson Kayak! The first one: Alec Voorhees!

Alec Voorhees started kayaking at a young age thanks to his parents- both who rock the North Fork of the Payette as their hometown run. Alec has 2 other brothers who both paddle consistently throughout the week. Alec was a great football and basketball player (as he was over 6’2 at 16) but dropped it all to better pursue his kayaking dreams. Since then he has earned his way into the North Fork Championships Race, placed 3rd at the ICF Freestyle World Championships, and has paddled hard whitewater in the Pacific North West, Mexico, Uganda, Canada and more. Alec is also our favorite red headed step child. Lets see what Alec has to say to a couple of my questions of choice!

1. So Alec, you have now paddled in a ton of places many people only dream of- what were some of your favorite runs, rapids, waves and why?

My favorite places to paddle are definitely Mexico, Uganda, Canada, and the Pacific Northwest. The White Nile and Ottawa River are world famous rivers for their amazing big water and freestyle features such as Nile Special, Club Wave, Buseater, Garburator, Gladiator and a whole lot more. Mexico and PNW are full of technical class V and perfect waterfalls. From growing up on the Payette River it is very tough to beat the North Fork though!

2. Did you find playing any sports helped with kayaking and competing or does it have a totally different mind game?

Competing in any sport will help prepare for games and events. Football and basketball are team sports where you have to rely on your teammates. Kayaking competitions are all dependent on how you and only you will perform. Playing in other sports helped put me in different situations to succeed and I could learn from experiences. Outside of competitions kayaking is not always observed as a team sport. In my eyes it is definitely a team sport, everyone is just on the same team!

3.Your two brothers kayak, and well. Do you see Hayden pushing the freestyle realm more, or running harder whitewater?

Hayden is definitely a lot better freestyle boater at 14 than I was. He is a lot smaller than I was so sometimes he would get pushed around more than I would while river running. Hayden is a good river runner and will only get better. Both Hayden and Connor both have some work to catch up to me though. Hopefully it stays that way for a while! They do have a pretty good coach if I may say so myself.

4. As a teenage guy- what is the funniest youtube video you have ever seen?

Ooh.. thats a tough one. I don’t know about ever seen, but lately I have been liking the Bad NFL Lip Reading. “Found a girlfriend for the Latin kid.” “Hey Taylor Swift, wanna wrestle?”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRqKYXcL-2U&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

5. If you could pick the next destination for you to paddle where would it be?

I remember when I was younger always watching the original Jackson Kayak promo video. It had a lot of footage from the Zambezi River. I loved the huge rapids and always getting tossed around in playboats.

6. You have owned and paddled many Jackson Kayaks- give us the full list, from start to finish of all the boats you have owned.

My first boat was a Robson Supersonic when I was 6. I transitioned to a Jackson Kayak when I was 9 years old.

Fun 1 1/2
Original hero
2007 star
2007 hero (2)
2010 star
2010 all star
Villain (2)
2012 Rockstar (4)
2012 zen
2013 superstar
Karma medium
Karma large (2)
2014 Rockstar (3)
Karma unlimited

7. If I had a week to come paddle in Idaho- when and where should I go?

A week is a short amount  of time,  I think you should stay longer to just paddle after the compettions. The Payette is a big one and we would need to paddle all the sections their. Afterwards we would head up to the salmon for some play boating. Also have to hit the South Fork Salmon and East Fork of the South Fork. Then the Lochsa would be super fun with some huge big water class IV.

8. What companies make the best kayak stuff for tall people? Or are all your poly pro worn as capri’s?

Well besides you being a smart-Alec (yes the pun was intended) I fit in gear fine. I use all NRS gear and they do a great job with their Large and XL sizes. NRS is also located in Idaho which makes it a huge bonus for me as well. They make all the kayaking apparel you could imagine and do a great job.

9. Would you say the Jackson Family is pretty normal or are they chaotic?

What isn’t weird about living with Jackson’s?? Just Kidding… I never really consider anything weird necessarily. I like all the chaos, joking around, and paddling together. I’m pretty lucky to feel like part of the family and tag along a lot of the time.

10. Because you travel with so many different people- you see a lot of styles and techniques- who has helped influence your kayaking?

EJ has influenced me ever since I started paddling. He always trained hard for all aspects of kayaking and his work ethic helped him succeed. Dane, in my opinion, is the best kayaker in the world. Whether it is freestyle or creeking he is always super smooth and draws the attention of everyone around him. Jason Craig and Nick Troutman have a very aggressive style of paddling. All their freestyle paddling is thrown hard and super snappy, while their racing is going to just try to out muscle you and push you to go faster. Bren Orton  is very innovative with freestyle, always trying to come up with new combos and showing whats possible in a freestyle kayak. Then guys like Evan Garcia and Rush Sturges have been doing the same with creeking for quite a while now and having some of the best creeking style there is. Combine all that and you have got a pretty good boater.

Pop Quiz:

Blonde or Brunette: depends

Sweet or Salty: Sweet

Harder Drop vs Taller Drop: harder drop(I like tall ones too)

Ice Cream or Cookies: ice cream and cookies