P A D D L E R P r O f i l e
alter egos: at home
in tennesse.
photo: corey rich/aurora
double
trouble
16 RANDOM QUESTIONS
WITH NICK AND EMILY
Nick Troutman and Emily Jackson-Troutman have
more in common than a talent for gracefully hurl-
ing themselves and six feet of plastic around
monster waves. They also share a penchant for
automotive carnage and airborne superheroes.
Perhaps this is why the couple, who claimed
senior men’s and women’s K1 World Champion
titles at the Freestyle Worlds last September, will
be happily celebrating their one-year wedding
anniversary this spring. In resistance to obvious
Golden Couple references, Rapid honours the in-
dividuals behind this matrimonial juggernaut with
an intimate and gleefully arbitrary Q&A.
Do people treat you more as a couple and
less as individuals since the Worlds?
E: For sure. It’s easier for people to say we did a
good job by addressing both of us.
N: I haven’t found that—there are still people
who don’t know that we are a couple.
last year was critical for both of you,
personally and professionally.
three things you’d want if marooned on a but I don’t believe her.
tropical island?
N: It was a pretty sweet year. First we bought
E: Mountain biking.
a house, then creeking and getting married in
N: My kayak, paddle and a water bottle…or
Mexico. We did the competition tour, travelling
maybe Emily.
three things you’ve never tried but would like to?
around living out of our Honda Element. After the
E: My family, dogs and a really good book.
N: Skydive, rally car race, scuba dive.
World Championships we toured around Europe.
E: Ski, surf, triathlon.
When you were a kid, your mom/dad
Everything just came together after years of hard
described you as:
Best advice you’ve ever received? Worst?
work.
N: Trouble.
N: The best advice was “try harder” and the
i hear you are busy renovating your “new”
E: Special—not sure if it was in a good way.
worst was in the 2007 World Championship finals
home. Who is the better handyman?
when I was told, “Now don’t go and beat your
N: Well, obviously I am. Though it happens that
superhero you’d most want to be? girlfriend’s dad.”
all my handyman skills are because Emily keeps N: Superman. E: Best—Nothing is as good or bad as it seems
telling me [what to do].
E: Someone who could fly. Superman looks a
at the moment. Worst—I can’t continue to live the
E: I’ve never used tools a day in my life. But I top little goofy and Batman is too scary…who else
way I am without going to college.
Nick when it comes to putting on the finishing can fly?
Most misunderstood aspect of being a
touches.
if you weren’t a professional kayaker, you
professional kayaker?
Cooking or dishes? would be: N: People think that we make a lot of money. We
N: Cooking. If I’m not careful the dishes just keep N: An amateur kayaker.
don’t—we do it for the love of the sport.
stacking up in the sink.
E: A working housewife, or someone who works
E: That [professional kayakers] can’t continue
E: I do a lot more of the cooking but Nick likes to with animals.
doing what we do in the long run.
think he’s the major chef.
What is the toughest freestyle move for you?
future paddling goals?
Beer or coolers?
N: Double airscrew. It’s so tough I’ve never
N: More expedition paddling, big wave surfing in
N: Cold beer, preferably at the take-out.
actually done one!
Quebec, sticking a double airscrew and running
E: Chocolate milk and smoothies.
E: I don’t get my clean blunts very often and it
more creeks in a playboat. I’d also like to match
Kung fu movies or celluloid car chases?
took me a very, very long time to figure out the
or beat EJ’s four World Championship titles.
back pan am.
E: Close the gap between women and men.
N: Car chases—I like to go fast.
Each year we are getting closer—women can
E: Car chases, but when Jackie Chan does a
What do you really suck at?
now do most of the moves but not at the same
comedy, count me in. N: Emily tells me that my fashion sense sucks, speed or consistency as the men. —VM
16 Rapid spring 2010
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