First Descents in the Gorge Jackson Kayak

First Descents in the Gorge

Posted by Heather Herbeck, 06/07/2010| Posted In: Heros, Whitewater

heather4 Hey All

I had two choices this morning: go paddling or play catch-up on writing some updates on my summer activities . . . before packing up and leaving for the Rogue River this afternoon for some more kayak instructional courses. Figured I’d put ‘fun’ aside and get some writing in

For the past two weeks, I have been living out of a suit case in the Bingen Hostel in Washington. I certainly missed my family and my home, but gained another family by experiencing my second year of First Descents in the Gorge (www.firstdescents.com ). First Descents is an organization which empowers cancer survivors through their whitewater kayaking experiences.

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This is the second year FD has been near Hood River, OR. As a counselor/instructor for my second year, I always walk away from this with a new outlook of life, on friends and on priorities . . .

Words cannot explain what the campers and staff experience through a First Descent camp . . . to understand, I encourage you to become involved. There are many ways to volunteer your time and give of your resources to provide these amazing experiences to campers . . . all I can share with you are a few photos courtesy of Chris Ohta – “Point” (camp #1) and Kate Wagner- “Pixel” (camp #2). Enjoy . . .

See you on the water . . .
Heather Herbeck aka “Mrs. Robinson”
Team Jackson Kayak

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About Jackson Kayak | Contact Jackson Kayak

Jackson Kayak was born in October of 2003. We are a family owned business, dedicated to making paddling better for everyone. I’m Eric Jackson, co-founder along with Tony Lunt, my kayaker friend from Arizona. David Knight and I design the kayaks together and have been doing so since 1994. David Knight is a C-1er from the Washington, DC area. His full time job is at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Bethesda, Maryland. There, he is a naval architect with a special interest in structures (he likes to blow things up, then make them stronger, and try to blow them up again) David will retire from the government in a couple of years and move to Rock Island where we can play with him every day. My wife, Kristine is my external hard drive, my conscience and reminder of things, and my advisor. She is a partner for me in every way. You will see the attention to detail that Kristine brings to Jackson Kayak in everything we do. My partner, Tony Lunt, adds a strong business focus along with the financial support needed to strengthen the bootstraps that we have started Jackson Kayak with. He is a destination kayaker that must normally travel to find water. When not “street surfing” during the occasional downpour in Tucson, AZ, you can find him riding his stallions and roping cattle on his expansive desert ranch. Jackson Kayak is located at Rock Island, Tennessee, home of the Ultimate playboating spot as well as a river running and creeking paradise during the rainy season.

We have a 92,000 square foot factory in Sparta, TN that we purchased in 2006 when we grew out of our 735 square foot ex-laundry matt. In 2008 we installed two large ovens, brining our manufacturing in house for the first time. We have a true dream team in manufacturing with John Ratliff, John Shepherd, Brad Cisco, Leif Koehler, Jase Bouldin, Tony Lee, and more! My Right hand man is Dave Olson, who I have worked with since 1999 in my former company. Dave is a genius that loves business, especially the hard stuff. He has helped me grow up as a business owner, keeping pace with the challenges of running a company that is growing and getting more complex each year.

We are becoming a full service kayak company, opening up our products to the flatwater paddlers with the All-Water, Day Trippers, and Journey’s in 2009. This is just another step to bring the Jackson Kayak flavor and dedication to making paddling a lifestyle, not a commodity. With manufacturers moving to China, and going for cheap labor instead of dedicated paddlers with years of experience and skills in making boats under the JK motto: “Build it like it is yours”. We can certainly put our boats up for the most intense inspection and you will find workmanship in every corner, every trim job, and every piece of assembly.

We back up our product with a lifetime warranty on workmanship and go above and beyond the written warranty in case of anything going wrong. You will always have access to the president of this company, me, by emailing (ericjackson at jacksonkayak.com) or calling me on my cell phone at 931-224-1721 . I answer all of my own emails and come from the paddler’s perspective, as I most likely was on the water that day, and every other day you try to get me. This is my dream, for myself, my family, my friends, my partners, and my staff. Most of them fall in more than one of those categories. We are living our dream and working to make this company something we can all be proud of for years to come and pass off to our children.

You and your local dealer are our company advisors; we are making this company to cater to you. We are doing what we can to be your company of choice. Feel free to provide any input, at any time.

So, you have never seen a Jackson Kayak and you want some specifics, Check out the Kayaks section to learn more.

About Jackson Kayak | Contact Jackson Kayak

Jackson Kayak
325 Iris Dr
Sparta, TN 38583
Main number: 931.738.2628
info at jacksonkayak.com

Become a dealer: Marty Cronin, 303.517.2621; ,marty at jacksonkayak dot com
Dealer Service: Teri Lee x101; teri at jacksonkayak.com or Tara Etter x107; tara at jacksonkayak.com
School/instructional program sales: Colin Kemp, 931.314.3414, colin at worldkayak.com
Warranty issues: Please fill out the downloadable customer warranty info form and email to: warranty at jacksonkayak dot com. Download the form here: WARRANTY FORM
Please allow up to five days for a reply
JK store customer service: Lorraine Valet x118; websales at jacksonkayak.com
Accounts Payable: Debbie Sopha, x105; dsopha at jacksonkayak.com
Accounts Receivable: Donita Koelhler x117; donita at jacksonkayak.com or Camile Collins x100, ccollins at jacksonkayak.com
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Jackson Family:
EricJackson at jacksonkayak.com
Kristine at jacksonkayak.com
Emily at jacksonkayak.com
Dane at jacksonkayak.com

Who makes Jackson Kayak fly? I am a business owner who is successful because my team is running like a well tuned racing engine. Each member of the home team is responsible for more than the tasks their title suggests. They don’t ever say, “that is not my job”, but instead, it is “how can I help?”. Kristine’s mom does accounts receivable, payable, the accounting, banking, and accessories. She is 65 years old and her career is just blossoming. Get in between her and her job and you’ll see one New Yorker you’ll side step before it is too late. Goat has been shipping our kayaks to your dealers, and to random locations, one boat at a time for over two years and when I get to the factory and want to get the quick version of what’s up, I go back to where he is staging shipments, and anticipating boats that are still on the line but will ship that day. When I want to get to the real deal, where it all counts everyday, I go to the line, where our team of assemblers have been building your boats since 2004. We have some new faces, but we still have the original ones; and for that we are blessed. Built it like it is yours isn’t a slogan it is a way of life in that plant. Look at any cockpit rim trimming job on a Jackson Kayak and you’ll see a smooth, beautiful hand trimmed, hand shaped boat. What makes them so much better? Time, time, and more time, by trained, practiced, hard working, kayakers who don’t want you to cut yourself on their rim. Who is that sweet southern voice on the line when you call in? Carman Ratliff. Carman is to customer service what hot water is to coffee. She adds the service to the customer. Her husband John is my right hand man, the Chief of Operations. He is the team leader that everyone falls under, but he doesn’t have to run the plant like a classroom. People show up to work, do their job, and then some, bringing new projects to the table on their own, without having to be told to get to work.

I am very lucky to have this team of individuals that definitely fall under the “The Whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Concept. There is no limit to what this team can do. They care like it was their own baby. I just hope that I can help them become all they want to be as part of this team, known as Team Jackson Kayak/ Home Team.