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World Champion Kayaker Nick Troutman Now Drives an RV

Today we speak to Kayaking Pro Nick Troutman.

I was born and raised in a small town, Beachburg, Ontario Canada, and grew up with a very outdoorsy, adventurous lifestyle. My mom was always taking my brothers and I to the forest or river. When I was 13 my best friend Joel Kowalski introduced me to kayaking through his family’s rafting company. Within minutes I fell in love with kayaking, the fact that there was such a thing as freestyle kayaking, and the fact that I lived five minutes from the world famous Ottawa River made it even easier. It was as if I had stumbled upon the sport of skiing and then realized I lived on Whistler Mountain.

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I became addicted to kayaking; it took up my every thought, all day. With a best friend to learn with and a world-class river in my backyard it didn’t take long for my learning curve to steepen.

After a couple years of traveling the world with my kayak in tow, I married my wife, Emily Jackson. We got married, bought a house, and both won the World Championships all in the same year (it was a big year for us).

A couple years later, we are still kayaking, making videos, teaching, coaching, competing, and traveling, though know we have our two year old son in tow. Nowadays I am cruising across the country in our 24 ft. RV, as we paddle, train, compete and get ready for the 2016 GoPro Mountain Games. (Follow Nick along the journey here)

As for my personal style:

Jeans: I rock out in the good ol’ worn out jeans that have been in the closet for the past several years.

Shirts: Well, my closets is full of event shirts, though I usually just throw on a comfy three stripe t-shirt.

Pants: I wear shorts whenever possible (like these from adidas) . I try to keep in the warmer climates if I have a choice.

Suits: The only suit I own is a Dry Suit.

Shoes: Terrex Hydro_Lace for the river and my Terrex Solo whenever I’m on shore and not rolling barefoot

Accessories:

Watch: Polar M400

Helmet: Sweet Protection Helmet- Rocker– Custom Painted

Outerwear:

I have never been one for wearing a jacket often. Though when the snow falls, I pull our my trusty puffy jacket.

Favorite Cologne:

Eau de Rivière. Ha ha

Your favorite App:

That would probably be Instagram. I love how easy to it to check out amazing imagery, and how it lets the photo tell the story. As they say a picture tell 1000 words.

Favorite piece of technology:

My GoPro. I use it for everything, taking family photos, keeping my social media feeds fresh, and to study my training laps when racing.

Next tech purchase:

Probably another drone. I just love flying them and filming. Is six drones too many already?

Cator Sparks
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
Cator Sparks was the Editor-in-Chief of The Manual from its launch in 2012 until 2018. Previously, Cator was covering…
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