By: Jackson Kayak, Courtney Kerin - This year my whole life has made a HUGE change and it was all most definitely for the better! I faced many amazing opportunities, meet numerous incredible people and went to handfuls of unbelievable places! My Year began with a final few weeks in NZ doing some last descents of my favourite rivers before I headed abroad for my epic adventure!

I packed my boat and Bill’s bag, equipped with my passport, US Visa and an unimaginable fulfillment of excitement. First stop USA, I stayed here for a week with a new classmate Nick, as I had come to attend New River Academy. Within the week we were headed for Uganda to start off the spring semester. Now Uganda, for those of you who have never been there, is definitely a must go place for any kayaker. While there we lived on the Hairy Lemon Island training at Nile Special and Club wave everyday, and Bujagali where we ran the Silverback section of the Nile each day, until its final resting day…the last day it was ever paddled, as now the rapid is flooded out by the infamous Silverback Dam! I also got the opportunity while in Uganda to get to know some of the locals, visit local primary and high schools and go on a extraordinary safari.

As spring break came, we headed back to the US and I stayed in Montana with my best classmate Juno! We hung out in the snow and did a First Descent of the world’s shortest river (Roe River).
After spring break we were off to the East Coast of the US to finish off the school year paddling around West Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland…
With New River Academy, I graduated my high school career and then hopped onto the next plane to Germany to begin my World’s Mission!

When I arrived in Germany I was picked up by my friend Emily Wall, who drove me to Plattling where I pitched my tent right by the river and called it home. I was lucky enough to also get the loan of her boat until mine arrived. So armed with a small Rockstar, my paddling gear and the World Championships Freestyle feature right at my footsteps I began training hard, trying to learn as much as I could in the short time I had. Water levels were a hassle with not enough water to make things easy but I persevered in hope it would pay off.

The build up to Worlds was very nerve racking as we got made to move camp and more and more countries and people started showing up, it became real! The pressure was now on, not to blow everything I had worked for! The US team arrived strong and proud showing how serious this competition was with their strict training regime. EJ took me for a drive to the Czech Republic to go pick up our Shiny New Carbon Rockstars. It was unbelievable. I never thought I would ever have a carbon playboat, but with the help of my family support back home it was made possible. It is super light, stiff and B-E-A-Utiful!

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