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The design
principles adopted in this kayak i.e. moderately V’d keel, softer
chines and the distinct Greenland side profile (although with
increased freeboard to accommodate the increased loadings) become
so widespread in other kayaks that these characteristics became
known worldwide as “The British Style” according to Valley.
A short article on SeaPaddler.co.uk
gives some background and suggests that the kayak brought back
from Greenland all those years ago is therefore arguably the inspiration
for virtually every modern kayak, including the original Nordkapp.
Duncan Winning, writing in 2007 on Garnock
Canoe Club's website also gives an interesting history and
suggests that probably in excess of fifty different kayak designs
have their roots, one way or another, in the Taylor boat.
Writing in UKSKGB in 2005, Jim Wallis provided this
succinct summary of Nordkapp history - "The original
Nordkapp was developed by Frank Goodman for the Nordkapp Expedition
way back in 1975, making the basic design 30 years old this year,
although it took inspiration from centuries of Inuit kayak development.
The original boat proved seaworthy, fast and able to carry large
amounts of kit, but weathercocked more than was comfortable. To
solve this only problem a small fixed skeg was added to the after
part of the hull. These boats were designated as HM's.
The result is a boat that tracks very well,
and is still fast and can carry a lot, the only issue then being
that it wasn't very maneuverable. The original Nordkapp then became
HS. More recently further development was undertaken to increase
the waterline breadth of the standard hull for more initial stability
and use the now generally accepted lifting skeg to counter weathercocking
when needed - this boat is called the Nordkapp Jubilee"
Valley offered no less than 12 varients of the Nordkapp
in those early days, according to the Nordkapp
page of their 1985 brochure. (Thanks to Arnold Kuiter for
the .pdf). You could have a basic boat with no hatches and the
original hull design (an SS - Standard deck / Standard hull) or
a pair of hatches and either the standard or modified hulls (HS
or HM - Hatches / Standard or Modified hull). If you wanted a
"large, racing style cockpit with a sliding seat", that
too could be yours with the designation L. There was even an R
varient, that having a hull fitted with an inbuilt understern
rudder.
If you enjoy such things, there are many hours
of happy banter to be had debating the actual designations of
the letter H on an original Nordkapp and it had been widely accepted
that the H actually referred to "Hull".
The earliest boats usually had screw on Henderson
hatchs. Not ideally suited to use on a kayak, these were prone
to losing the centre section, fouling with sand or jamming because
of pressure decrease or increase. In the '80's Valley developed
the VCP rubber hatch, themselves ground breaking in their own
way. Valley hatches
were a very significant improvement on the standards of the time
and although the concept has been followed by others like Kajak
Sport, even today some manufacturers still haven't caught
up. There is even a suggestion that Valley originally designed
the hatch size to take a small Trangia.
There are a few HS's around with retractable skegs,
usually rope operated. Quite a few had "Chimp"
rear-deck mounted pumps, many of which will have been removed
and the resultant hole converted to a day
hatch, usually by using a dinghy bouyancy tank inspection
hatch and glassing a new bulhead in behind the seat. If the job
has been well done, it can be an elegant solution.
In an era when boat design was in its infancy, Valley
were producing innovations such as recessed deck fittings. On
the early boats these were formed with a bar moulded into the
recess. Later boats used the now commonplace bolt-in fitting.
Towards the end of the 90's, Valley produced the
Nordkapp Jubilee, and it is debatable whether there is really
much in common between it and the original other than a shared
name. The Jubilee is much larger than the original version, has
a cable operated skeg, a keyhole cockpit and (latterly) oval bow
and stern hatches as well as a round day hatch. The moulded recess
for a Silva 70 is positioned for'ard of the front hatch on these
boats, and a range of options including keel strips, a choice
of lay up (diolene, kevlar etc) and Compac 50 deck mounted pumps
were offered. You can even get a "two-part" version
of the boat to ease storage and transport.
The early ones had a round front hatch, but in 2003,
in line with general product development, Valley decided to fit
an oval cover to the front hatch on the Jubilee. As US dealers
had existing stock with the round front hatch they decided to
"re-name" the boat Nordkapp H2O, which denotes Nordkapp
'hatch 2 x oval'.
At the same time they fined down the nose, lowered
the front of the cockpit area and reduced the rocker at the stern
slightly. The stern shape appears to be slightly different as
well. Valley introduced a vacuum
infusion moulding process at about the same time.
There seems to be some lack of clarity as to whether
the UK market ever used the H2O name, although it appears to have
been used in the US. This is probably due to the US dealers holding
stock as mentioned earlier, whereas the UK market is generally
"built to order". Tim Pickering compared the original
"round front hatch" N/kapp Jubilee to the later "oval
front hatch" version in a post in 2005 as follows - "I
am paddling an H2O and I put it next to a Jubilee and it is fatter,
that is to say it has more volume round the a*** and more of a
u shape. We suspected this was for the American market to make
the boat more forgiving".
I recall looking at a Nordkapp with the new oval
front hatch in Knoydart's
shop in about 2004 and it certainly carried the familiar Nordkapp
decal on the foredeck, with no mention of H2O on the boat.
Current models
At the time of writing (March 2008) there are 4
variants all using the same name. 3 are composite, 1 plastic.
The composites are all offered in a variety of layups ranging
from diolen to kevlar. The links in this section will take you
to the Valley website and I've used Valley's names and model designation
for clarity.
•
Nordkapp is now used to designate the main design offering
as the Jubilee name was quietly dropped. So too it seems, was
the H20 name.
It comes with a keyhole cockpit, oval front and
rear hatches and a round day hatch and is fitted with a retractable
skeg.
LENGTH 18' (548cm) WIDTH 21" (53cm) DEPTH 14"
(36cm) WEIGHT 50lbs (23kg)
~~~
• Nordkapp
LV - the low-volumn version of the Nordkapp.
It comes with a keyhole cockpit, oval front and
rear hatches and a round day hatch and is fitted with a retractable
skeg.
LENGTH 17'6" (533cm) WIDTH 21" (53cm)
DEPTH 13" (33cm) WEIGHT 49lbs (22.5kg)
~~~
• Nordkapp
Enthusiast - the poly (roto-moulded) version.
It comes with a keyhole cockpit, oval front and
rear hatches and a round day hatch and is fitted with a retractable
skeg. It's dimensions suggest that it is closer to the LV in size,
albeit 3" longer. It's sometimes referred to as a Nordkapp
RM, so no doubt future generations will have the same opportunity
to be confused as we have.
LENGTH 17'9" (541cm) WIDTH 21" (53cm)
DEPTH 13" (33cm) WEIGHT 56lbs (25.5kg)
~~~
• Nordkapp
Classic - just to add to the confusion, Valley started producing
a slightly updated version of the original design again in 2007
(or slightly earlier?) Like it's now elderly parent, it is available
either as HS or HM - it's smaller even than the Nordkapp LV.
It comes with an ocean cockpit, a modern oval rear
hatch, a round day hatch and a round front hatch and the Valley
website says it has a retractable skeg although that is presumably
not the case in the HM version.
LENGTH 17'2" (523cm) WIDTH 21" (53cm)
DEPTH 12" (30cm) WEIGHT 49lbs (22.53kg)
Paddlers' comments
All Nordkapps are renowned for being good boats
for those with the ability to master them. They tend to have low
primary stability and reasonably good secondary stability and
that in turn makes them a little "tippy" in the opinion
of those unused to them. It's a bit like riding a bike - fine
when moving, but a bit wobbly when stationary! That said, a sea
kayak that feels totally secure on flat water is almost certainly
going to have you in the water when it's used in bumpy conditions
so the apparent initial instability engendered by these designs
is actually a good thing.
Nordkapps are recognized as being fast craft and
capable of handling big seas with ease, as long as the paddler
is himself able to cope with big seas!
Ian Miller, by his own admission one of the "bearded
paddler" brigade and a long term Nordkapp paddler active
on the Scottish scene provides some interesting insights into
Nordkapps - it seems there were some significant design changes
during the life of the original Nordkapps (pre the Jubilee version).
He comments as follows: " I bought my first Nordkapp,
an old HM with Henderson hatches - probably a 1976 model. At that
time in our club no one paddled them because strangely the east
coast was largely P&H territory and the west coast had the
Valleys. According to most people you needed to be a bare chested
seagull eater to handle one and I was delighted when I discovered
I actually had a fast stable boat that even improved when the
weather worsened.
I (now) have two Nordkapps, the old
HM is very stable and more to the point predictable and also very
comfortable with a legs straight out position and good knee grips.
The 'newer' HS (mid to late '90's) is an unstable pig and is unpredictable.
A factor which may be attributed to the fact that somewhere along
the way Valley altered the mould significantly adding a couple
of inches height to the deck and also added a bigger cockpit coaming
with no obvious way to control the boat.
It is also significantly less comfortable with
knees forced out to the side to give any form of control. I did
recently consider a newer (early '90's) ocean cockpit HM but it
had the raised rear deck which made entry to the cockpit a bit
of a time consuming wriggle to say the least and certainly not
something I would want in a launch into a big sea".
Another contributor, Phil, writing about his original
N/kapp, comments that "I also still consider it the best
rough water boat I have ever paddled".
Paddler size is a factor with these boats, as with
all kayaks. The first sea kayak I ever tried was an original N/kapp
- it was way too small for me and was clearly not designed for
a 6'2" "larger" paddler as I could barely even
get into it, and even seated felt I was sitting "on"
rather than "in". Being used to modern keyhole cockpits
on river boats I found the ocean cockpit a tad claustrophobic,
but some people love them. The original ocean cockpit Nordkapps
provided paddlers with a "straight legs" paddling position
long before Rockpool re-invented the concept.
Stories of imploding spraydecks on large cockpits
are probably best heard in the context of 1970's materials, not
early 21st century technology. The same is true of hatch covers.
I found it incredibly twitchy but it was empty and
it needs to be remembered that most sea kayaks are designed to
carry a load, so paddling one empty is bound to feel a bit lively.
Adding some ballast is worth considering.
Some years later I bought a N/kapp Jubilee which
was enormous fun to paddle, but eventually had to admit I was
too big for it too and sold it on, and the chap who bought it
absolutely loved it. Two friends of mine who are somewhat slimmer
in stature and about 6'0" both love their Jubilees.
Nick Crowhurst wrote about the first time he used
his newly renovated HM as follows "Last Sunday morning
in the Tamar estuary the Nordkapp was in her element. There was
a good strong ebb knocking up against a SSE wind gusting to 25
knots. The short steep chop was up to 4 feet high, and ploughing
into this was excellent. The Nordkapp just seems to get better
as the seas get rougher. I was with a friend who was paddling
a long fat poly sea kayak, and I needed to keep station with him,
to keep an eye on him and give him moral support. However, he
was traveling very slowly in the conditions.
The wind was from the port side at about 40
degrees off the bow. As I tried to travel at that slow speed,
the bow of the HM blew downwind. I corrected this by edging, lengthening
the paddle on the downwind side, and doing long sweep strokes
to keep the bow up. There was a lee shore about 40 metres away,
so I couldn't afford to drift. The Nordkapp responded by going
far too fast. I ended up by doing a series of looping runs into
and away from the wind, and it was difficult to keep close to
my friend. If I'd had a lifting skeg I could have got rid of the
lee helm, but the HM has the large fixed fin".
Lee cocking (or lee helm) isn't an especially desirable
trait - what Nick is describing required him to edge away from
the oncoming waves and wind, which is inherently unstable, and
a lee cocking boat in an on-shore wind can be a bit of a handful.
The big Aleut II does it as well unless it has steerage way to
get the rudder to bite, and I can say it's not especially nice
having experienced it.
Colin, another experienced Scottish paddler, also
comments on the tendency for the HM to lee-cock and wrote "The
people I paddle with all have old Nordkapps. My wifes old boat
had a rudder, built early 1980's, as were the two other HM boats.
This was a boat you loved or hated, a gent called Bill Reoch who
was paddling expeds till he was 69 owned one, I remember having
to push the stern round because it just was not for turning, in
a big sea, off Toe Head. I think the boat I disliked the least
was the one with the rudder, so I suppose that I am in the hate
camp.
They are still fast boats, and if you are the
only one in the group without one, you are always at the back.
The others I paddle with swear by them, me, just at them".
Of the later versions, Charles Scott writes about
his new poly Nordkapp and says "seems just as fast as
the "proper" Nordkapp and handles the same. I think
it's very slightly more stable than the Jubilee, but this might
be because I've been paddling it every Wednesday night and I'm
comfortable with it. The level of finish is good, the bulkheads
are neatly sealed and the seat is comfortable and well fitting.
The footrests use a decent aluminium rail system, although the
thigh grips aren't in a great place, but I get a comfortable knee
grip on the inside of the coaming.
Decklines are good, if slightly mimimalistic,
especially on the back deck where I have a couple more elastics
on my Jubilee.
Do I have a gripe about it? Yes - but it's a
small one. The cockpit is too long. Now I'm only 5' 7'' but there
is fully 18" in front of the footrests from my feet to the
front bulkhead. So if you are a 7' 1" paddler with the same
body length as me then this is good, but one of my paddling partners
is 6' 2" and he has 14" between the bulkhead and his
feet. Maybe this is a fabrication necessity, but this is bad as
it's not usable space, unless you fit some kind of false bulkhead
or cargo net and you're still going to take on more water than
you'd like in the event of a wet exit".
Interestingly, finding comments about Jubilees from
paddlers on the Forum is actually quite difficult and one is left
to wonder how many are actually out there, certainly in comparison
to the old HS and HMs. The "Enthusiast" or RM boat is
clearly well thought of.
They are undoubtedly probably the nicest looking
kayaks on the market today and the original versions just look
"right" as well. There must be hundreds of original
Nordkapps afloat (or not - one has lain undisturbed on Easdale
for years) - is that because they are superb craft? Or because
they were one of the few decent sea kayaks available in the 1970's?
Or just because they were the nicest looking?
The original versions will still command premium
prices on the second hand market. A friend of mine bought an HS
as her first ever sea boat - she never really enjoyed paddling
it though. She paid less than £100 and sold it for well
over £500 a year or so later, which is astonishing. She
replaced it with a poly Mk2 Capella and reports that she is far
happier in it than she ever was in the HS. She is a relatively
tall person, so that could have a bearing of course.
Ian Miller provided an interesting thought when
he told me that he remembered Jim Weir (another well kent Scottish
paddler) pointing out that Valley had been continually changing
the (original) Nordkapp plug over the years and that some dimensions
such as the rear deck height had risen considerably. He thinks
this is why there are so many differing views on what is apparently
the same boat and certainly my experience (and his) seems to confirm
this.
As I said at the start - you need to know which
version you are talking about - a Nordkapp Jubilee isn't the same
as an "original" Nordkapp in any way, and even those
vary enormously. Since its inception the Jubilee has been modified
as well.
Pictures
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Nick Crowhurst's nicely
renovated HM (age unknown) - the pic clearly shows the
extended keel added to the original design, so differentiating
it from the HS.
Spec: round front and rear Henderson hatches, ocean c/pit.
The day hatch on this one replaced the oft-fitted and
relatively useless "Chimp
type" rear-deck mounted pumps. There is a knee
tube just visible in the c/pit.
Pic: Nick Crowhurst |
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| Mair in an "original"
Nordkapp HM - this one thought to be built about 1986
or 1988. Picture taken in the Dorus Mor, with the Corryvreckan
in the background.
Spec: Two small round hatches, ocean c/pit, extended (HM)
keel.
Pic: Douglas Wilcox |
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"Spinning Plates" posted
this pic of his HM - it clearly shows the round VCP hatches,
ocean c/pit and a Chimp pump mounted on the port side.
Just visible above the grey stirrup pump sitting on the
front deck is the recess for a deck compass (probably
the Silva58) although this boat also seems to have the
mounting bracket for a removable Silva 70UN or possibly
a Silva73R. The early type integral recessed deck fittings
are clearly visible.
This boat has the "Cape Horn" layout which echos
the deck layout used on the Cape Horn expedition.
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A brace of Nordkapps - The one on the left is Kevin
Mansell's HM; on the right is a later HS owned by Chris
Jones, with a retractable skeg (this being just visible)
and the later screw-in recessed deck fittings. It also
has a moulded recess to take a Compac 50 pump and the
compass recess is also different, being filled with
a Silva 70P. This picture also nicely illustrates the
lines of these boats - very pretty. Click the image
for the (much larger) original image.
Pic: "Captain Sensible" / Matt Pope
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Tim Dawson's late 1990's kevlar Nordkapp
Jubilee on Loch Teacuis in 2006. (It was very wet!)
Spec: Round front hatch, oval rear hatch, round day hatch,
keyhole c/pit, skeg.
Note the subtle difference in the shape of the upsweep
in the stern compared to the photo of the yellow 2004
version below. |
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Mair in her 2004 Nordkapp.
Spec: Two oval hatches, round day hatch, keyhole c/pit,
skeg.
Pic: Douglas Wilcox |
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2006 Nordkapp LV.
Spec: Two oval hatches, round day hatch, keyhole c/pit,
skeg. Pic: Douglas Wilcox |
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Discussions
Various versions of the Nordkapp are mentioned in
this discussion
and also here.
See this discussion
for comparison between the Jubilee and a NDK Romany Explorer.
This discussion
has a detailed write up by Jim Wallis of his impressions of paddling
an HM, and some history of the boats, as well as some interesting
comments by experienced N/kapp paddlers.
This discussion
also has some Nordkapp history.
This discussion
has pics and first impressions by Douglas Wilcox and others of
the Nordkapp LV.
This discussion
references the poly "Enthusiast" version, as does
this
one.
This discussion started by Nick Crowhurst is about
renovating
an original Nordkapp, but also has a wide range of discussion
ranging from paddling technique to HM / Jubilee comparisons.
Other references & Bibliography
Technical comparison data can be found in the DKV
Buyers Directory
From Sea Kayaker magazine - tech specs for the Nordkapp
LV and H2O
From Paddling.net - reviews
of Valley boats
Greenland
Kayaks - a .pdf with some history of Greenland Kayaks.
Sue
Ellcome's Greenland Kayak is worth looking at to get an idea
of how these craft were originally constructed.
The
Nordkapp page of the 1985 Valley brochure.
BCU (1991) - Canoeing Handbook - The Tickle
Group
Brown, G (2007) - Sea Kayak - Pesda Press
Hutchinson, D (1997) - The Complete Book of
Sea Kayaking - A&C Black Ltd
© Mike Buckley - March, 2008
Can you add to this article? Contact
me.
(Updated
29-Jun-2008
)
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