The 2022 World Cup was an incredible show of what a city and group of organizers can do if they want to. Columbus, GA, and Phenix City, AL rolled out the red carpet for the athletes this year, on top of providing great water levels and super fun venues for competing. Ambush wave and Goodwave are both epic competition waves. Next year’s World Championships will be on Goodwave and it is the bigger and more dynamic feature. The Chattahoochee River flows from North Georgia, through Atlanta, and down to Columbus were it was once dammed, but was freed and turned into a whitewater park in town. While there were issues, such as the high dollar “wave shaper” that was installed, but didn’t work, Goodwave was a byproduct that formed downstream at the right levels and created a play boating feature and paddlers have been enjoying it ever since and now, we are competing on it.
The World Cup was also the USA National Championships this year. 98 paddlers competing from 5 continents this year made for a fun group. Due to lack of rain, the river only ran at competition levels for 4-5 hours/day creating some pretty big line-ups and prevented you from getting many rides. When the river first turned on, the features were very different and stayed quite different for about an hour or so. That first hour had almost no line-up and it was when I chose to begin training. While I wasn’t training on the “competition feature” exactly, I was getting a lot of rides on a similar feature and improving my overall paddling, while the waves got closer and closer to the actual competition feature during that hour. By the time the wave was “perfect” line ups were 20-40 minutes long. Paddling in line-ups that long isn’t easy to do and not something I would want to do often. Luckily the line-up consisted of fun kayakers who come from around the world and the conversations were engaging. Often by the time it was your turn to go, you already forgot what you were going to work on and, worse, you could flush right through the wave, only to go back into the line again. Mentally being strong and focused for your few ‘perfect level” rides is part of the game. It wasn’t always a terrible line up, as there were some random releases, such as the morning of World Cup 2 prelims, the water turned on at 6am for a 10am event. I showed up at 7am after I realized the water was on and only Heidi from England was on the water. We paddled for 2 hours with no line or a very short line. It was an amazing stroke of luck (and checking the dam when I woke up)
I flew straight from Portugal with my kayak and Tomasz Czaplicki’s kayak to home and then loaded up for Columbus. The first time paddling my new production Rebound was in Columbus. I can’t tell you how excited I was. Christmas morning was the feeling. When I got in the boat I realized that I had messed up the thigh braces. For 18 years I kept the thigh braces high and forward in my JK boats so that anyone could fit into them. The idea being that you can add foam to them, but you can’t take material away. For some dumb reason, I decided to get more “aggressive” with these thigh braces and went way too far. They held me in like I had a seat belt on. It was impossible to lean back and lift your butt off of the ground for airscrews, loops, etc.. Tomasz almost couldn’t get his legs in and certainly couldn’t raise his seat up any. The way we designed the cleat for the rope into it, you couldn’t totally fix that issue. I cut the thigh braces off 100% on both boats, but the cleat was still down below the level of the deck and ate into the critical space. We are fixing that, and luckily I didn’t have Nelo make my production mold yet. The boat comes out of an epic production mold, but the cockpit rim was still a prototype mold. We are raising the thigh braces, cleat, and moving it forwards as well to the “normal spot” that I like. This will allow boaters to use it as is (perfect for most people) or foam it out if they want it tighter. Tomasz is bigger than I am and decided not to switch boats the week before the competition due to not being Able to raise the seat and fit properly. It was a bummer as he really was hoping to paddle the Rebound, which would have given him a much better chance at a medal in the competition.
Onni from Finland claimed my grey prototype and flew to Columbus without a boat. I arrived the same day he and the rest of the Finnish team arrived. At 16 years old, Onni is already paddling amazingly well for his age and is quite fired up on freestyle. He didn’t waste any time showing off his skills in the new Rebound, finishing second in World Cup #1 to Nanase from Japan.
Nanase asked if he could paddle my Rebound and tried it the day before the competition and was super fired up on it. His English speaking ability is not very strong (way better than my Japanese, however!) So our conversations were limited to a big thumbs up and a huge smile and other gestures that suggested he wanted one. With three other Japanese team mates helping to piece together a string of words in English, he managed to ask, “how much for one?”. In the end, I sent him back to Japan with the boat that I brought for Tomasz, as he likes sitting lower and is smaller and fit into it.
I can’t wait to see what he can do in the Rebound! In World Cup #2- Onni looked to have more competition to deal with, and while he made finals in 3rd place, he was in 4th place after rides in finals. Nanase was in first and Matteo was in second. Onni’s final ride, at 538 points, was an awesome display of paddling, throwing some epic moves and moving into third. This gave Onni a bronze medal to go with his silver and a bronze overall. Matteo from NC, paddling for NZ, finished 2nd and paddled amazingly well. Nanase is 17 and this is his last year as a junior. The other boys are quite excited about that as he dominated every round in both events.
Getting to paddle and show off the Rebound everyday was quite fun for me. Most of the paddlers are either on Team Jackson Kayak, or paddle Gui Gui from France. My skills are not currently top 5, (clearly as I got 14th in both events), but paddlers, and judges could see what my boat was all about. “Wow, that looks fast down the line”, “That looks forgiving”, “Man, your moves are so clean and big”. The Rebound, since mine is the only production one, and it looks pretty cool with the red/white/black, people were watching it. It is lightweight compared to all of the other boats on the water, plastic or carbon, as well, which can be seen in how it acts on the water. I wish my skills were at the or near the top, which is how I launched most of my designs over the years. I will work on that for next year. Next year at Worlds there will be a lot of paddlers in the Rebound from around the world. It is a little known fact that I have always designed my freestyle kayaks for the next World Championships. That doesn’t mean the boats are so specialized that they are not good for anyone wanting the best playboat for their home river as well, but they are certainly dialed into the features we are playing on for the big event. If you look at each All Star or Rock Star we did over the years, I put those boats in position to win the next worlds. 2004, lots of stern rocker for Penrith, 2007 Buseater ready, 2009 short, fast, retentive, 2011 all around big loops, loose, and blunt moves, 2013- a hole machine for big loops, McNasty, phonix, etc.., 2015 for Garb and super fast in case Garb was green (it wasn’t but if it was that boat would be the only one you could win in), etc.. Rebound- Good Wave ready- Fast for staying on if it bubbles on you, short to take off easily, rotate fast, and be super retentive. Bow volume for big loops (Mystery flips that I Never did this year, will happen next year), and thruster chines to create fast carves to the corners, or back to the middle and keep you in a front surf when you land with ‘whiteout” and can’t see. Of course the super lightweight construction assures that you can throw fast, rotate fast, go bigger, and land more tricks.
How many people will we see in the new Rebound for 2023 World Championships? There are two kinds of people in athletics, early adopters, and slow to change. The addition of professional coaches into the sport slows down the changes athletes make as they are rarely quick to change. Best practices is the mantra of most coaches and innovators throw best practices out the window and invent their own techniques, gear, etc.. and only after they show success for long enough, do the slower adapters join the party. I am not suggesting that coaches are bad, of course, just that the athletes who don’t have coaches are more likely to end up in a Rebound for next year. (Perhaps we’ll track that one. :))
There are other reasons that people won’t switch. They are on a factory team and represent that brand through thick and thin, or at least as long as they have equipment that they feel competitive in. The final reason somebody might not paddle the Rebound next year is they don’t like it. I asked one paddler from the UK if he wanted to try the Rebound and he said, “no, I don’t like it.” How he knew that without trying it, no idea, but I’ll guess we won’t see him in my boat anytime soon. Luckily for me, Apex is a start-up brand that doesn’t need to be #1 in 2023. We’ll go from a single production kayak, the first one, on the water at the World Cup, to building them one at a time in the medium size, then 1 Ringer at a time in the medium size, to building a small, large, and XL rebound, and small and large ringers, all in carbon. Finally, we’ll add in hybrid plastic kayaks, but again, one mold at a time. Slow progress is what it will, and already does, look like. If you were around in 2004 when I started Jackson Kayak, it was the same. “Yes, we are making whitewater kayaks! We have a Fun 1 if you are interested!” Paddlers would say- “EJ, how long until you make a Super EZ?” My answer- “Be patient, the Super Fun is coming… but it will be the end of the year or so before we can make all 6 molds!” Apex will follow a similar path, but with something I was never able to do before, make lightweight carbon fiber whitewater kayaks first in all models, before starting the plastic boats. If anyone wants a good plastic kayak, you have a lot of brands and models to choose from. If you want a good, lightweight carbon fiber kayak, you have almost zero options. I am going to change the whitewater industry as we know it, because kayakers, even though most don’t know it yet, want lightweight carbon fiber kayaks. In the next 3 years, Apex will be the brand that makes carbon fiber boats in all categories, sizes, etc. Full slice? Of course. There is a place for plastic, and always will be. We will be there too, but not until we get our carbon fiber boats out. Charger- our creekboat is what I have to design next.
Sorry- that was off topic from the World Cup.
I got 14th at Ambush and 14th at Goodwave. My 13th at Goodwave was also good for 3rd in the USA National Championships. Dane won, Mason Hargrove was 2nd, and I was 3rd. I didn’t know I got third. So many great paddlers from the USA. At awards I was talking to the Japanese guys and people kept yelling my name- “EJ get up there”…. What? What is this for? “You got third.” Stephen Wright was there and I said, “how did I get third… did I beat you?” He said “yes”. Wow, OK, that is why you don’t normally combine events, like a World Cup and a USA National Championships. Getting 14th, you are so far down the list that you would have to count how many Americans were above you. I imagined a few of them, but in the Quarter finals (top 20) there were only 5 Americans and 15 foreigners. This was definitely the first time I medaled in any National Championships and didn’t know it until the awards. My first National Championships win was at Wausau, Wisconsin in slalom at the Champion International Whitewater Series event that was also filled with foreigners (over 100). Richard Fox won that event, and I was second, but the first American. I had never won a National Championships at that point and was watching every American after my run to see if any would beat me. Rich Weiss and Scott Shipley finished behind me and I was celebrating my first win with Kristine long before awards. Almost missing awards this time was weird.
What is next? I paddled at Rock Island with Courtney, Dani, and KC yesterday at 1 generator. A tree fell in the river from the cliffs over the hole and made it so there isn’t much you can do at 1 generator right now. John Best (Team England), Bartosz (Team Poland), and Courtney Team New Zealand are all here hanging out before they fly home. Kayak Bass Fishing- National Championships is coming up next for me. Kentucky Lake/Barkley Lake TN. $75,000-$100,000 for first place. I have not won the nationals in kayak fishing yet. I am current Pan Am Champion, but the KBF Nationals is something I want to win. I was third in the KBF Kentucky Lake event on day 1 last year with about 125 competitors. Nationals typically as over 250 competitors, so it is quite competitive. My lightweight Carbon fiber Tyr fishing kayak is part of my competitive edge, I think.
When can you buy a Rebound Medium, or a Ringer Medium in carbon fiber? I hope to have the first available boat in the USA in December/January, and the first ones in Europe in November. If you want one, email me at eric@apexwatercraft.com and I’ll find a dealer for
you.
I am still so jazzed up from competing in the World Cup. I don’t think I’ll be 14th next year. I’ll start with a focus on making finals. From there I know what to do. Of course, so do the others in finals. That is what makes it so exciting.
🙂
EJ