A Jungle Adventure – Part 4 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsAt 7pm we were all settled in and so tired that I thought sleep would come easily. Danny and I laid down on our boats next to each other, as did Jessie and Chris. It was so quite and dark, and it would be so for the next 12 hours. That was when the first person...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 15 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsTo summarize this all would be futile. However, to tell you what I learned and believe from it all might be acceptable. This may seem off subject, but these are the lessons I believe I have learned and are worth telling. This one comes from my dad: It has nothing to...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 14 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | Internationalisation, JK Family Posts, United StatesBack to Spain- I struggled in the beginning with the problem of not being able to tame this hole. The water was high and the hole was just plain mean. After one week of training I still didn’t have a routine I liked. I kept a training log of the entire time in Spain,...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 13 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsOk, sorry, we were in 2001, World Championships, Sort Spain. I designed the EZ as my boat to compete in this event. It was designed to be super user friendly, meaning, no matter what kind of feature they made, I could focus on the moves, not on keeping my boat under...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 12 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsSo going into 2001 we were already thinking about our next step, moving into a house, but this time, we would pick the best place we could think of, with no consideration to jobs, etc. since I was dedicated to the concept of being a lifetime kayaker. I would go back...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 11 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsIn the spring of 2000 I again competed in the US Olympic Slalom team trials. I came in 7th, 6th, and then 2nd in the last race. I was even winning after the first runs, wow. I was happy with that. Scott Shipley made the only spot on the team by winning day one and...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 9 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsWith a little help from my new friend Jessie Stone, I raised enough money to buy around the world tickets for my entire family. London, Victoria Falls (Zambezi), Sydney, New Zealand, and then back to the RV all in three months. It was my next step in total freedom as...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 8 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsWe put an add in the Washington Post for “house sale” everything in house will go. We didn’t even pack. We just had hordes of people come and literally fight over our stuff. Kids toys, kitchen stuff, beds, furniture, books, TV’s, videos,...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 7 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | Internationalisation, JK Family Posts, United StatesThe first day of trails was a joke. Everybody choked hard enough that the number 5 or 6 ranked person could have easily made it if they raced well. Rich Weiss had the best run of the lot and secured his spot, which was only to be two. Eric Giddens got second that day....
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 6 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsThe race was eventful, to say the least. I over ran my warm-up time about 500 meters away from the start and found myself having to set my new personal record for the 500 meter flat-water time trial in a slalom boat to make my start. 174 seconds from the warm-up gates...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 5 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsI trained for five years, more or less full-time, when in 1989 I made the US Team. In that period, I quit school in 1985 after my junior year, because I just wanted to kayak. I also met Kristine who became my wife in 1988 at age 18. Life was good. The funny thing...
My Kayaking Career, the Early Years – Part 4 by ericjackson | Feb 1, 2003 | JK Family PostsUntil one day, I was taking photos at the “Three Sisters” now named “Big Momma” (I named it that) and a guy came down in a slalom boat with a red/white, and blue outfit that had USA written on it. I watched as he surfed the first wave of the...
