STARTING A COMPANY had never been part of E.J.'s master plan. The family had been living on the road for years, with few expenses and fewer responsibilities. But E.J. resigned from Wavesport in 2003 (he cites differences with the company's owners), and Kristine saw the potential to build a small family business that their kids could eventually take over. "I definitely pushed him—that's the proper way to put it—into doing this," she says.

E.J., who'd been in debt for most of his adult life, convinced a friend of a friend, Tucson entrepreneur Tony Lunt, to invest $400,000 in seed money. Then he rented a 700-square-foot former laundromat in Rock Island and started sketching boat designs. From the start, he's aimed to build high-performance boats and market them in ways that make a traditionally hardcore sport more accessible. It was E.J. who came up with the brand's perky boat names, like 2Fun and SuperFun, and created Jackson Kayak's mascot, a stick figure with a paddle and a goofy, gung-ho smile.

"I knew when I saw the smiley-face logo that people would say, ‘That's not aggro or cutting-edge,' " says Clay Wright. "But I should have seen it coming a mile away. They're a family; they like to paddle. They don't care!"

E.J.'s going his own way on the R&D front, too. He uses a plastic that's more expensive—and, he says, stronger—than what his competitors use. (Other companies have steered away from the material, claiming it's more toxic and harder to recycle; Jackson points out that his company does recycle, by grinding up customers' old boats for useasphalt.) E.J.'s also devised ways to construct kayaks without drilling holes in the hulls, making the crafts less leaky, and he designs boats in as many as six sizes, rather than the standard two or three. In the company's rookie season, he created the first kid-specific kayak, the shrimpy Fun1.

To save cash and keep boat prices low, he has no advertising budget and no sales reps; retailers place orders directly with the factory. But as long as E.J. continues to win and Emily and Dane keep improving and the whole hypertalented tribe keeps making the rounds on the freestyle circuit, he believes the brand will continue to grow. "The better I am as a paddler, the better my business does," E.J. reasons. "Bringing my family with me is good for the business and promotes kids kayaking. It's a well-thought-out, functional package."

In 2006, E.J. says his company sold over 3,500 boats—more, he believes, than any of his competitors—and traded up to a 90,000-square-foot building in nearby Sparta, an old Wrangler Jeans factory so cavernous that the company's 45 employees ride cruiser bikes to get from one end to the other. He redesigned 11 boats in his fleet for 2007 and expects Jackson Kayak, which he says is now worth $4.5 million, to become profitable by the end of this year.

It's all part of his audacious goal to dominate the $11.7 million whitewater-kayak market—and double it by 2012. Though phase one may soon be within reach, phase two borders on the absurd, even by E.J. standards. The industry has faltered in recent years; whitewater-kayak sales fell 59 percent from 2001 to 2006, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Whether the drop was caused by a general economic downturn, a few drier-than-average seasons, or, as E.J. suspects, lack of corporate sponsorship for clinics and river festivals (which he says are critical to drawing new paddlers to the sport), he's convinced that more customers are out there. He just has to lure them in with some strategic PR.

This past spring, E.J. launched WorldKayak.com, an online community offering river information, competition calendars, and boater blogs. Jackson Kayak's posse of top paddlers spread the feel-good gospel of whitewater by teaching novices how to paddle at rivers across the country and pitching the brand directly to dealers. And then, of course, there's the brand recognition afforded by E.J.'s cult of personality and his unbeatable record: He's won five of the past seven major freestyle events, including the 2001 and 2005 world championships.

"Anyone who says Eric's all about the marketing, they're right," says Dagger's Hoeve. "He wants to see the sport grow. But anyone who tries to deny that he's also in it for the fun of kayaking is wrong, because he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't love it. None of them would."

"I want Jackson Kayak to have longevity and a lot of margin for error, so that Emily and Dane can make mistakes without it tanking," says E.J. "But if I had to choose between Jackson Kayak and kayaking, well, it's simple: Kayaking comes before the business. It's not even a question."