P A D D l e R P r o f i l e
Welcome back, my friends, to the show that
never ends… come inside, come inside.
Photo lAurA Griskevich
John the Fastest
JohN Kaz DOeSn’T WAlK On WATeR, he RunS
IT WAS PROBABly The BOy ScOuTS who ruined John Kazimierczyk. At the im- the 70-mile general clinton Race in new york State—an eight-hour grind that
pressionable age of 14 they introduced him to paddling. Two years later he was makes a long day of consecutive slalom races seem like short training sprints.
showing the tell-tale signs of serious rebellion; when other guys were dreaming Dividing his days between his workshop full of vinyl ester fumes and endur-
of first cars to chase chicks, he bought his first canoe to chase rivers. ance athletics doesn’t leave time for anything as conforming as a regular job,
like most teenage obsessions that turn to adult fancy, the beginnings of John or a pension plan.
“Just call me Kaz” Kazimierczyk’s journey as a free-spirited slalom canoe de- “I gave up the normal frantic struggle for stuff a couple of decades ago,” he
signer didn’t start all that auspiciously. looking back at 25 years he smiles, “My says. “I live on a dead-end road in rural new hampshire, a place I think of as a
first creation I christened The Special K. It was a hull that was a bit lacking in hidden piece of paradise. There is no alarm clock, paddling and hiking practi-
initial stability—it fell over when I put it in the water. Other people, less kindly, cally on my doorstep and I commute about 300 feet to work. I could also write a
called it The Kazmania.” book about all the different ways to stretch a dollar.”
he raced the wobbly thing for a couple of years before changing the design As the owner of Millbrook Boats in Richmond, new hampshire, he single-
into something not just more user-friendly, but a design that allowed him to domi- handedly creates and designs ultralight composite hulls and outfits them with
nate open canoe slalom racing. Paddling with savage intensity and machine spidery ash gunwales and thwarts and a unique system of hip blocks and seat-
precision he is often untouchable on the course and with his boat designs al- belt webbing, often to order for each customer. his boats are so light that many
ways winning gold, the sport has simply come to belong to him. people buy these race boats and use them for solo canoe tripping.
When not actively encouraging new talent at the annual AcA Open canoe he’s now designed 13 different boats including the Spark, a collaboration with
Slalom nationals, he races in every category that time and the rules will allow. Jacques chassé of esquif canoes. This class-busting canoe is a shortened ad-
These intense two-and-a-half-minute runs (most of us take twice as long) require aptation of Kaz’s composite Ignitor but manufactured in Royalite. As you might
superb upper body strength and endurance just to compete, let alone continu- have guessed, it’s fast… and it most certainly does not fall over when you put it
ously win. Kaz is also addicted to heart-busting endurance paddling events like in the water.—Brian Shields
RAPID
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