The gang from Jackson Kayak have just released a trailer for a new whitewater kayaking film they have set to release this March.

From the blog post:
'HERE & NOW' is a FIVEIGHTWO Films production, and is our first duplicated film. Well, ever since we started kayaking we have been making little videos, mostly showcasing our carnage and biggest moves; the only difference now is that we are showcasing each of our different styles, while doing our biggest moves and hardest lines, and of course some big hits. We have been working hard and playing hard for the past year to create this film, in the hopes of blowing your mind, getting a laugh, and showing you some sweet whitewater.

The film cover three major sections:
Quebec: The land of High volume rivers - one of the worlds best whitewater destinations.
Newfoundland: The Easternmost land of North America, Newfoundland is teeming with Big Game and Wild Rivers.
Niagara Gorge: The Famous Niagara Gorge holds some of the largest continuous whitewater on Earth, and the most illegal.

It is a great looking film with the a good soundtrack to boot. Now if sea kayakers could only figure out how to get angles like this then we would have a real gem on our hands...

View the trailer here: jacksonkayak.com

Claiming it is the Number One Jackson Kayak boat yet to be released, Jackson Kayak will re-introduce the Hero series of river running boats in time for Christmas.

Team Jackson Kayak, already a powerhouse on the river with more national and international freestyle competition titles over the past four years than all other whitewater teams combined, is setting its sights on earning the same reputation at the factory that produces the leading brand of whitewater kayaks.

"We want to be known as the powerhouse of quality and delivery," said Jackson Kayak founder, president and namesake Eric "EJ" Jackson. "Our two main goals for 2008 will be one-week turnarounds and achieving a level of quality never before seen in the paddlesports industry."

To achieve these ambitious goals, Jackson has added horsepower to the factory management team that has been under the helm of John Ratliff the past three years. Joining Ratliff will be Chief Financial Officer Dave Olson who will lead operations with a big helping hand from industry veteran John Shepherd, formerly of Wilderness Systems and co-creator of Confluence. Don Holden moved up from Atlanta, to take over duties as controller. Tony Lee, is adding rotomolding management to his duties as research and development manager.

For the second time in the three-year history of the event, freestyle kayaking World Champion Eric "EJ" Jackson was honored for his achievements with an Everest Award presented during the Teva Mountain Games at Vail.

For those interested in the different types of plastic used for molding boats, there is a really interesting technical discussion going on right now at playak.com. Several companies have weighed in on the issue of strength verses weight including representatives of Dragorossi and Eric Jackson of Jackson Kayak.

Eric even did a quick podcast talking about raw plastic that they use. Very interesting. Here is the link.

Eric "EJ" Jackson earned a record fourth world title at the Freestyle Kayaking World Championships May 2 - 4 on the world-renowned Bus Eater wave on Canada's Ottawa River. Jackson's prevailed over a field of nearly 70 of the best 20-something boaters from around the globe. His win also marks the first time anyone has ever won two World Championships back to back.

Just heard the news from Jackson Kayak that their 10,000^th just rolled off the line. Congrats!

JacksonRec.com launched Feb. 1 heralding the arrival of Jackson Kayak's entry into the recreational kayak market.

As the owner of a web design company, nothing drives me crazier then websites that are outdated or non-functional.

Looking for a good example, go to Perciption Kayaks. Under "Resources" they still haven’t added the promised forums that were supposed to arrive in 2004. They also have two "Sponsorships" that I have been also waiting to learn about from that era as well.

Now, I completely understand old content on sites, it happens. But if you are not going to offer something, just take it off the menu item. If it isn’t there, nobody will ever miss it.

Want to see a great site? Go to Jackson Kayaks. Visually it is OK. Nothing to big or exciting but they have fully embraced all the technology that the web has to offer and they have kept the content updated regularly. You can find a regular podcast created by Erik Jackson and taped it into itunes so you don’t need to go to the site to get the update, you can get it automatically downloaded into you computer through itunes.

The crowning section about this site isn’t even big or obvious. Look at the site and see how much acknowledgement there is to you the customer. They take the time to post user submitted photos and bring a family flair into the "Family Corner". By truly acknowledging the customer working to embrace them in their business model, they have created a very strong bond between company and customer.