2010 Pan American freestyle kayak competition on Ottawa River

   Something about dream come true...


   Have I ever thought about I would one day compete in the same freestyle competition with Eric Jackson and Stephen Wright—I would tell myself that I was out of my mind. But it happened! It is definitely the highlight of the week. Alright, just a brief introduction on EJ: he holds four World Championship titles in freestyle kayaking and is still a very competitive kayaker. He is the founder of Jackson kayak, which is one of the most popular freestyle kayak options in the market (I just bought a new Jackson All Star). Stephen Wright has been a rising star in freestyle kayaking after EJ. He gets huge air on his moves, I mean HUGE! He also has several US freestyle kayaking championship titles. He is also part of the Jackson kayak team. Both EJ and Stephen are very cool.

At Pushbutton--Judges were setting up

and competitors were warming up.

Men's pro competitors (from left: Tino, Stephen, ..., Francois, Devyn.)

    

NRA student-Jason getting ready

NRA student-Hunt is inflating his air thrust.

NRA student-Jacob can't wait to throw his huge air screw!

NRA student-Taylor in her competing ride.

The audience cheering up for the competitors

   The water wasn’t great on the competition day but was definitely decent. I was registered in the Men’s recreation division and luckily, there weren’t too many competitors! The most awesome thing was that EJ was my MC during my ride!

My ride. Trying to stay on the wave.

    He talked about how I came all the way from Taiwan just to compete in the competition (Of course, that was what I told him. Lol. We had a brief conversation earlier). The crowd was super cheering end encouraging even when I was not doing huge tricks, comparing to the other Pros. Man, the competition was a lot of fun the level of focus that gathered in my system was incredible which allowed me to perform well and squeeze out some extra juice when I needed to. I got a picture with EJ but when I was trying to get a shot with Stephen, the batter died, I tried 5 more times, but didn’t work. It was too bad.

EJ and myself

    Overall, I got 2nd place in the competition!! I received a medal, a Kokatat rash guard, and a Level Six air bag!! It was super cool! The first medal in my freestyle kayaking career! Let’s go HUGE!