Stoked I got talked into a last minute detour, during a quick cross country drive, to Rock Island, TN to go kayaking with my good friends Stephen Wright and Clay Wright. It worked out great as I got to hang with amazing people that I don’t see all that often, paddle a new section of river, demo the Karma UL kayak and even get a tour of the Jackson Kayak factory, which is probably now the largest kayak manufacturer on the planet.
I didn’t know much about the Upper Caney Fork before we put on, as it has never been on my radar as a river section I had to check out. We got to paddle the class 4 section at pretty high water, which apparently pads things out and actually makes the run a bit easier. I had a blast paddling the new long boat from the Jackson Kayak, the Karma UL. I got use to the boat pretty quickly, as it is a very forgiving design and paddles pretty similar to other long boats I’ve paddled in the past. The key to paddling any long boat is to plan your line early and drive the boat smoothly and aggressively. I must admit that I did struggle a bit to get use to the non-gripped 0 degree AT paddle, as I’m use to a 30 degree Core Kirri paddle with grips. Needless to say my left strokes were not always perfect! No complaints though, as it is not a common thing to be able to show up to kayak with friends with no gear what so ever and get fully outfitted with top notch paddling gear in a matter of minutes. Thanks guys! A huge shout out to the lovely Sarah Blessington, the better half of the Exploring Elements team, for driving shuttle on this mission.
After the quick 8 mile river run Stephen and Clay needed to stop by the Jackson Kayak Factory to attend to some quick business, as they both work for the company, and were kind enough to give Exploring Elements a personal tour. The first thing you notice walking into the factory is a ton of smiling faces with great southern hospitality in the customer service department. The next room you enter is the warehouse area, which is just a GIANT sea of kayaks waiting for shipment. The high season for kayak sales is the spring, and the warehouse was FULL of boats ready to be shipped, all of which have been presold to retailers around the world. Almost all parts found in Jackson Kayaks are made on site, and the rest are all sourced from US suppliers. It’s an impressive facility and a few magnitudes larger than the previous two kayak factories I’ve visited, Bliss Stick in NZ and Fluid in SA. I’ll let the photos and captions below tell the rest of the story. The only thing I didn’t photograph was the R&D department, which had a few top-secret future models being shaped.
