Has anyone here used and have 1st hand information on kayaks made by Norse Seakayaks?
Good, bad, ugly, or even neutral?
Steve never heard of them until now. Every day I learn something new here. 
Never paddled one but they from their website look to be a fairly fast, and stable hull design especially the hard-chined models.
Which model are you looking at, since they seem to have a really wide range.
Hi Craig.
I am not looking at one. I am looking at them all. They are glass kayaks and all seem to be well designed from what little you can see in a picture. What little I was able to learn on line is that the company is based in Norway and now the kayaks themselves are made in Shi Lanka because the socialist tax structure and laws of Norway forced Norse Seakayak to either have be made out of country or go out of business. (I am told Eddyline in Oregon is doing the same thing now, for the same reasons. Eddyline kayaks are now to be made in Mexico) Taxing and regulating your people into prosperity seems to have a perfect 0% success record.
I have tried to contact them, but so far I have received no answer at all.
I am "standing by’…
Well I’ll weigh in with the hope that this is a kayaking question rather than a political statement. 
I have a Norse Embla and I’ll get the disclaimer out of the way quick. I’m a brand new kayaker and have only had this kayak for about a year. My quick take is that I think these Scandinavian sea kayak designs are pretty niche when I compare them to the typical sea kayaks I see mentioned on this site. Often folks seem to want longer, larger kayaks that can haul a load for touring. I was drawn to the Norse Embla because it was designed by the same designer as the Current Design Danish series (Jesper Kromann-Andersen) and at the time I wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Current Design.
My goals for my first kayak was, Day Paddling, Play & Touring in roughly that order. I’m also a bit of a minimalist so the Scandinavian influence suited me.
I choose the carbon layup (42 lbs) since I usual paddle alone and I appreciate the ease of getting it to the water. The makes my day paddles pretty easy. I tested the Current Design Karla and Sisu along with the Embla. The Norse Embla seemed, to this novice, to be in between the play oriented Karla and the more touring oriented Sisu. I’ve had it down to Cattle Pass a couple of times and it seems to be meeting my “play” goal pretty well. I will add that at my skill level, I need to rely on a touch of skeg for tracking in a bit of wind.
Touring was always gonna be an interesting challenge. And by touring I don’t mean weeks of unsupported trips. I live in the San Juan Islands so my trips will be a few days in the San Juans or Gulf Islands. I just returned from a 3 day trip to Jones Island and was very please with the performance and ability to carry what I needed for a comfortable trip. This time of year water is the issue and most of my weight, but 3 to 4 days wouldn’t be a problem. In the summer, with available water, I could likely stretch that out to a week.
I haven’t owned it long enough to weigh in on build quality and or durability. The one issue I have had is that the skeg is pretty “sticky” and has been since new. It does seem to be getting a touch better with use, but I hope that new builds have sorted this issue.
All in all I’m super happy with this little kayak.
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Thank you Bill.
If you don’t mind my asking, where did you buy it? And what did it cost you?
As I look into the brand I can’t find a US distributor. Since my last post I did get a reply to my questions, but I am still waiting on a 2nd reply.
The short answer is that I bought in Canada. Western Canoeing and Kayaking in Abbotsford is a dealer and that’s where I first got to sit in one that one of the store workers owned. They were sold out of the model I wanedt but they helped me track one down in Comex Valley on Vancouver Island.
I don’t know where you are located but here’s a link to the Norse line at WCW.
https://westerncanoekayak.com/norse-kayaks/
And they have demo days as well.
https://westerncanoekayak.com/canoe-kayak-demo/
Bill
Thank you Bill
That information is helpful.
These days in the USA it seems that good sea/touring kayaks are not as available as they were years ago and most of the best ones are made overseas. Even Eddyline has moved the manufacturing to Mexico.
Sales of Sea/Touring kayaks are down in the USA and we are told the demand is down, but I have some question if it is not more a matter of the supply being down then the demand.
Yes fishing kayaks and SUPs are up that that is not a reason to lower the demand of Sea kayaks. Fishing and paddle-boarding should be in addition to, not instead of.
The large supply of SUPs and fishing kayaks made and sold today would have no effect on the interest of people in the other aspects of the sport.
I’m really too new to all this to have a useful opinion, but in my case the difficulty was due to my search for a “niche” sea kayak. There were actually quite a few choices in the Pacific Northwest USA both new and used. I deliberately searched out a hard to find sea kayak. 
I tend to be that way. At least I “only” had to go 8 hrs to Vancouver Island. My last sailboat came from Maine, and the one before from Florida. Yeah, not the brightest bulb in the box.
I’ve summarized my thought on my Norse Embla Carbon with a short post on my website. Don’t know if adds any value, but here it is.
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Yes it does add value to the thread. But the model you mention is apparently not made anymore. See here>>>> Their website doesn’t list it. >>>>>> https://www.norsekayaks.com/kayaks
For what its worth, Steve, I’ve a brand new Valley Anas Acuta. Sold my older, heavier '94 AA that Ive had for 5 years. Quickly.
Looks somewhat similar to the Norse hulls.
The Anas is a very playful West Greenland derivative, hard chine, lots of rocker. Skegged. Not an expedition kayak, excells in rough water, imo. Has storage for 5 to 6 days worth of camping gear. Valley also offers the two Gemini playboats, but I’ve not paddled them. Umingmaqpaddleshop@gmail.com is a Wisconsin based distributor.
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That looks like the same website version, with the new for 2023, I checked back in 2023 when I purchased my Embla. I’m not sure they have updated it. I still see the Ask and Embla available at various retainers. And the Norse Canada site shows them in the header of their front page.
But I don’t have any inside info so maybe you are right.