Jackson Kayak

August 29, 2004

This morning the Junior Women Kayakers competed for only 2 spots on the US Team and it was hotly contested! The format for the final cut from 5 girls to 2 was 3 rides, 2 count. I was nervous watching Emily compete, especially when she first entered the wave and then just sat there surfing back and forth looking like she didn’t know what to do….then she cut loose in her 2 Fun and started spinning, doing back roundhouses, and blunts to the buzzer, cool! She had three solid rides. Hannah Farrar did the best blunt of the competition in her second ride, and had three solid rides too. Brooke Bevin had two good rides out of her three as well, making it hard to know who was going to win…

Emily Jackson wins US Team Trials at 14 with a score of 219 points. I can’t tell you how fun it was to see! She was both relieved, happy, and told me that she threw up from being so nervous. It was unbelievable to watch her compete and see that her skill level in action, her awareness of where she is on the water and her ability to do the moves. She looked quite relaxed to me when paddling, then looked nervous each time she finished her rides, when she started thinking… “Was that good enough?, Did I get that blunt?” etc. etc.

Hannah got second with 198 points and had three solid rides. I was very impressed with her paddling. Between Hannah and Emily, the USA has a great shot at winning the world championships in January in Australia in the junior women’s class!

Dane paddled this morning also in the Junior boys class. Todd Baker made the show throwing tons of great stuff, including his signature tall lefty blunts. He was stand alone followed by Dan Simenc (Skippy) who had lots of great moves and kept the boat moving on two of his rides. Joel Kowalski from Canada was third and did really well on two of his rides. Billy was next with solid rides across the board, and finally, Dane came in 5th, making the cut. Dane’s first ride was terrible flushing off the wave two times and getting almost no points. He second ride was pretty good, and then he hammered it home with an awesome high scoring third ride! His third ride was fun to watch! The Junior boys will go again tomorrow- the top 9 made the cut for finals. Tomorrow the junior boys will cut from 9 to 3, and the top three will be on the USA Junior Men’s Team. Oh boy, I am getting a shot of adreline just typing this! I think my heart rate just jumped from 55 to 100 when I pictured little Dane going against the top juniors of the USA. I need to save my adrenaline for my rides which will be in about 90 minutes! I need to go from 40 men to top 20. It isn’t a hard cut for me, but that is the scary part- got to keep the eye on the number one spot and be disappointed with second in each round until the team- then it is time to relax. I compete best this way.

Time to go- I just came back to the RV to eat lunch and get away from the event for an hour to recharge after watching the kids and the women. I am in heat 4 of the men.

I think I will go watch some of the men’s heats to get a feel for it.

:) EJ

p.s. watch for photos in the next articles- I am taking the camera to the event (which is like being in an amphitheater, full of people, music, TV, and athletes)

Dane Foam boating