Eric Jackson on the Past, Present, & Future of Paddlesports
BLISTER Podcast
BLISTER
4.8 • 560 Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2021
⏱️ 79 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eric Jackson is a visionary, iconoclast, designer, founder, and one of the most successful and influential kayakers in history. In this conversation, Eric provides a masterclass on the history and evolution of paddlesports — and even if you’ve never paddled a day in your life, Eric’s insights into the sport that he played such a seminal role in shaping offer numerous lessons for how to grow — and preserve the best aspects of — other sports, communities, and industries like skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, trail running, etc.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- When did you first paddle a boat? (3:43)
- What was the sport like when you started? (5:30)
- Key moments in modern kayaking? (13:35)
- The visionary gene (20:20)
- Product Design (31:30)
- Community: Growth vs. Intimacy (38:09)
- Best ways to increase participation? (44:12)
- Where would you like to see boating be in 10 years? (50:36)
- Eric’s hearing loss & hearing aids (59:12)
- Apex Watercraft (1:13:43)
RELATED LINKS
- mountainflow.com
- Getting Here: Gunnison & Crested Butte
- Blister Summit Registration
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- Become a Blister Member / Get our Buyer’s Guide
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, welcome back to the Blister podcast on the Blister Podcast on the Blister Podcast Network. |
| 0:07.9 | I'm Jonathan Ellsworth and you can check out everything we're doing and reviewing over at |
| 0:13.3 | blisterreview.com. |
| 0:16.6 | Our guest today is Eric Jackson, one of the most successful professional kayakers in history. |
| 0:24.6 | Eric spent 26 years on the USA kayak team between 1989 and 2015, competing and winning on an international level well into his 40s. |
| 0:37.8 | And then, he made the U.S. team again in 2017 at the age of 53. |
| 0:45.4 | Along the way, Eric has pushed and defined the world of freestyle kayaking, founded the |
| 0:51.7 | best-selling brand and paddle sports manufacturer Jackson Kayak, and he also |
| 0:58.1 | found time to win four world championships. In our conversation today, Eric essentially provides |
| 1:05.8 | a masterclass on the history and the evolution of paddle sports, |
| 1:14.0 | and even if you've never paddled a day in your life, |
| 1:17.8 | I think that Eric's insights into the boating world that he played such a seminal role in shaping |
| 1:21.1 | will provide a number of takeaways |
| 1:24.3 | for how best to grow and preserve the best aspects of other sports and communities |
| 1:31.4 | and industries such as skiing and snowboarding and mountain biking, trail running, etc. |
| 1:37.7 | This episode of the Blister podcast is presented by Mountain Flow, makers of high-performing biodegradable ski wax and bike |
| 1:47.1 | loop. |
| 1:48.1 | Now, we just published this past Friday a Gear 30 podcast episode with Mountain Flow founder |
| 1:54.7 | Peter Arlene, where we really dive into the details on how ski wax works and why having biodegradable products |
| 2:03.3 | that also work is maybe a bigger deal than you might realize. And for that reason, we are |
| 2:10.5 | really proud to be partnering with Mountain Flow. So check out that Gear 30 episode. We'll |
| 2:16.4 | include a link to it in the show notes and head over to |
... |
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