New Valley / RockPool / P&H Kayaks ?

I know many of you, especially in the US, take a keen interest in the trade goings on over here, so I thought I would update you on the news and gossip from the most recent BCU symposium.



The boys from Valley were in fine form, with the New Nordkapp RM going down very well, over here the biggest problem seems to have been meeting demand with several people claiming to have them on order. From their composite line the Nordkapp LV appears to be the star, again the boy’s saying there was a healthy lead time on any new orders placed. One new product they were showing was a new RM surf kayak, with radical lines and a very rigid construction, this did attract a lot of attention. Shame there was no surf to try it but those who have reported near composite levels or performance.



P&H were there with a good range of demo boats, although most of their newer stuff does seem to be biased towards the more recreational/newcomer end of the market, Perran even mentioned that they were soon releasing a “Blackwater style” (his words), short recreational kayak. Consequently there were times when much of the recreational stuff was still on the beach, whilst other companies demo boats were all out. At the more experienced end of the market their new lower Quest does look good, although it seems to have been a little more of a cut and drop job than Valley’s more scale-wise approach to their newer LV models.



In general it is interesting to see how the British market is shaping up. Valley seems to be pushing the boundaries of performance (Both in Plastic and composite; Storm, Nordkapp RM, Rapiers, Surf boats etc).Whilst P&H seem to be strengthening there position as the mid-market provider (lots of introductory product, Easky’s, wider glass models, Blackwater style products etc). Meanwhile Rock-Pool have some interesting if quirky innovations

NDK?
Nothing from NDK to talk about?

Nothing i’ve heard about
Nothing i’ve heard about!

Thank you JB56

– Last Updated: Aug-03-06 12:44 AM EST –

Any word from Rockpool when they might be ready to send boats over here? In my last exchange with them, they were having trouble meeting demands over there so weren't yet prepared to ship to NA.

Someone who was at the Burlington BCU week recently told me that the coaches were very keen on the Island boats, especially the new Qaarsut http://www.canoesforsale.co.uk/index.html?pageTitle=Qaarsut_Island_Kayaks&pageDesc=The_Qaarsut_is_a_Greenland_style_boat_which_traces_its_ancestry_back_to_Ken_Taylors_original_Kayak_w&action=detail&maincatID=0&catID=&prodID=1446&brandID=

re: Island Kayaks

– Last Updated: Aug-02-06 4:39 PM EST –

Jim,
I thought that last year's terrible tsunami took down the Island Kayak operation on Sri Lanka.
During last Fall's BCU week at Sea Kayak Georgia (Oct 2005) I thought I heard, that Gavin Major did not have plans to restart. Has that changed?

They still have a website, but there have been no updates posted there since May 2005.

http://www.islandkayaks.net/IKAboutUs.htm

If you received a response from Rockpool great, I tried several times with no luck.


P.S. fyi, I tried using the 'Contact Us' drop-down at the Island Kayaks website. You are taken to a screen and prompted to fill-in your pertinent information, but when you hit 'Submit', nothing happens.

NDK
NDK does have a new boat going into production in less than a month now as well. http://www.kayakwisconsin.net/2006/07/x-boat.html

if i am correct than:
Expedition Kayaking Gear is also Island kayaks…

EKG makes group shelters, storm cags and a handufl of other gear…i have a storm cag from them and a group shelter and love them both!

Interesting Changes
Less rocker, flatter botton, boxy rails: interesting changes for a boat designed to be a play boat. Maybe Impex was on to something with the Force hull.

Rockpool in the US
Sorry for the lack of trans-Atlantic communication, and thanks for all the positive and encouraging emails from the US. Rockpool Kayaks Ltd has recently doubled production to meet the sales demand from the UK, Germany and Sweden. We, as a company, are looking to further increase future production with the aim of supplying kayaks to other countries including the US. This will take a year or so, meanwhile we will continue to refine our boats and develop some new designs over the coming winter. We also intend to get out and play in some waves…



Aled Williams

Rockpool Kayaks Ltd

tsunami took down the Island Kayak

– Last Updated: Aug-03-06 12:45 AM EST –

That is what I thought as well, until this friend called me the other day to tell me how much he enjoyed working with Steve Maynard at Burlington and asked me about Island Kayaks because Steve and others recommended them highly. As I recall, he said there was a Qaarsut there of which he was asking my opinion. (Personally, I think he would be fine in a Romany.)

Thanks for the update
Do you know what the deal is with NDK changing names?

Finances
I was told the NDK name changes reflected ‘reorganizations’ because of financial considerations.