The Launchn Pod Presented by Shyside

Jacob Horton was pretty much born onto a water ski and that passion has not waivered throughout his entire life. He started performing in ski shows before he hit high school and found an avenue for his passion that would ultimately take him all over the world, feeding his competitive nature and a love for exploring the sport he loves. Jacob is a journeyman Show skier who has applied his trade all over the world, skiing at the highest level of show skiing in the USA and bringing that home to help his family grow the sport at numerous levels in Australia through their purpose built lake outside of Perth.A Very insightful listen & as always, I'm super appreciative of Jacob to provide some time for all of us. Enjoy Legends. 

For this episode we are on the phone with world champion, world record holding Australian disabled tournament water skier Jason Sleep. Jason has an amazing approach to life that both led to him becoming a paraplegic & later on, an amputee.  It is that same passion that has driven him to be a seriously fierce, successful competitor in tournament waterskiing as well as a coach & mentor to young people who have found themselves in similar challenging situations in life. This is one epic pod that’s not to be missed. If Jason’s story doesn’t get you inspired, then nothing will. Enjoy & appreciate life legends       

Our guest for this episode of the Launchn Pod presented by Shyside is Ann Kennedy. You might know her better as 4 x world champion Ann Procter. Ann takes us through her life on the water from being a young girl spending most of her weekends with the family on the Hawkesbury through to winning 4 out of the 6 world titles she competed at. A love of the family aspect which got her into the sport, winning her junior world title with her dad observing through the end of her career & very similar reasons for why Ann knew it was time to stop. We touch on a bunch of challenges and triumphs that gave Ann the legendary status that she so rightly deserves.  

Today we catch up with 2 x Ski Race world champion Kelsey Burns who won both the junior girls world title & the womens F2 world title during her career. Kelsey takes us through her ski race career & on the journey from being a baby on a fishing boat, to young influences around the river, her determined nature and what it took to be the best in the world...Twice. In a great follow up & link to our last pod, we hear about the 2015 world titles and how hard Kelsey fought to bring that one home. Kelsey is a person who I admire immensely, more for who she is off the water, so it was truly an honour to have her share her life on the water in her own words. Enjoy......

In this episode, we have Ski Racing World Champion Chelsea Steven on the phone direct form Melbourne to dissect a 2-decade journey to becoming the world champion she was possibly always destined to be. Chelsea shares with us every challenge she faced throughout her ski racing life that could have potentially stopped her from eventually earning the ultimate triumph she had dreamed about as a young girl. We're thankful for another awesome chat with a great personality from the tow sports community who deserves to be an inspiration to many.   

In this episode we sit down with Nic Rapa - currently the No.1 competitive wakeborder on the planet to find out how he got invovled in waterskiing, his transition to wakeboarding as well as the dedication, focus & comittment it takes to make it to the top of the professional wakeboarding world overcoming many challenges along the way. We are very thankful to get this time with Nic as his schedule has him living in the USA for the majority of the year & competing all over the world.This is a great listen for anyone who has aspirations to acheive at a high level.  

In this episdoe we sit down with the one & only Darren Stapleton, The godfather of freeski. Stapo runs us through a lifetime of freeski as well as his racing life in Ski Racing, Moto & Jetski competition. This is a must listen for any waterskier & were stoked to bring you this as our first fully fledged episode. 

Hi Legends, Welcome to the Launchn Pod. We're going to be bring you the story behind some of waterskiing's most talented athletes. Here's a quick run down on how this things going to work.