Valley History

Back in 1970 when Frank Goodman founded Valley,he probably didn’t envisage quite how much it would become entwined with the sport of sea kayaking.

The Anas Acuta is the kayak which really started things off when launched in 1972.Developed from a native Greenland kayak brought back from the West Greenland village of Igdlorssuit, it is still in demand today over 35 years on from it’s inception! With the Anas, Valley became one of the first companies to produce a specialist sea kayak. Although kayaking on the sea can be traced back several thousand years through various cultures it was the fibreglass sea kayak that led to the activity gaining popularity as a pastime.

A few years pushing the limits of these new craft led the pioneers of our sport to a list of further demands from their kayaks.Their most pressing need was the accommodation of equipment for sustained and unsupported trips, but without sacrificing performance, which led to the development of the Valley Nordkapp. Designed for the British Norway expedition in 1975 the Nordkapp was more famously used for the first rounding of Cape Horn by kayak, and has since been the mode for many other ‘firsts’ around the globe. The design principles adopted in this kayak, i.e moderately V’d keel, softer chines and the distinct Greenland side profile (with increased freeboard for load carrying) became so widespread that these characteristics became known worldwide as ‘the British Style’. Such is the reputation of the Nordkapp, that it is now the benchmark by which other sea kayaks are compared.

As demands have changed and the boundaries edged further a field, so the materials used have been forced to progress from those first glass-fibre kayaks. Improvements in the reinforcements and resins have led to much tougher, lighter products. Glass fibre is now only one of several reinforcements used: E Glass cloth, polyester Diolen, Kevlar and Carbon fibre all improve the performance of the laminate when used correctly. The biggest improvements however have been in resin matrices, polyester resins are now significantly tougher and vinylesters and epoxies now offer even greater performance.

Further down the line, the 1980s brought big changes to the industry with kayaks made using roto-moulded polyethylene. First used in white water kayaks for its impact resistance properties, Valley saw its potential to make a tough, keenly priced sea kayak - the Skerray. Leading the field with features such as a moulded-in skeg box, welded bulkheads and hard rubber hatch covers, Valley are still utilising the limits of this technology to produce a wide range of plastic sea kayaks, with which many of their competitors have yet to catch up!

Valley has also been instrumental in many features now taken for granted in any sea kayak. Respect for the sea brings the need to develop a safer kayak. They were the first to develop a watertight hatch system specifically for kayaks and introduced recessed deck fittings to ensure safety lines remained in place. It is testimony to the value of these innovations that many competitors still purchase these products direct from Valley for use on their own designs.

It is hard to write about Valley’s history without seeming to boast, with such influence in modern sea kayak development. Although it can be seen as ‘just’ history, it should be considered that we are where we are, due to what has been done along the way.This is certainly true of Valley, where they strove to produce the most seaworthy kayaks, this year, like before sees yet more new developments at Valley. Tying in the past with the future, it is worth noting that the Anas Acuta is now also available with a more accessible keyhole sized cockpit as well as the original ocean version,bringing it up to date with the rest of the fleet.