The UK Rivers Guidebook

The “Specific Boats” part of the Sea Kayaks section of the Almanac (http://www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk/al ... ks.htm#sk1 )
refers only to three Valley boats (Aquanaut, Qajariaq and Nordkapp) while there has been many very interesting threads on other Valley boats. The same applies to NDK.

I do not know all the “good threads”, but if you know any why not suggest them to the page administrator for an update of that section (click on “Broken links? Please email me with details.” in page referred to above)?

Independent manufacturers like Valley, NDK, Rockpool, Tiderace do not have the marketing fire power of larger, consolidated manufacturers, nor their ability to buy exposure by retaining pro paddlers and even giving boats away.

While I do not belong to the paddling industry, I have seen in my own sector what consolidation does to choice and quality. I just fear that the market is becoming saturated by the bigger boys with very similar, average and in the end uninteresting products meant to do everything moderately well (but in fact doing nothing really well) in a battle for market share. Over capacity could lead to a shake-up. Trying to help preserve the entrepreneurial craftsmanship and interesting hulls that translate into superior products for us paddlers should be a worthwhile endeavour.

I just fear that the market is becoming saturated by the bigger boys with very similar, average and in the end uninteresting products meant to do everything moderately well (but in fact doing nothing really well)

That's why real paddlers build their own one-off boats and don't buy the mass-produced stuff :-) No matter how much consolidation there might be, and how much the market comes to be dominated by manufacturers building boats that feel stable for beginners on first encounter, there will remain a market, and a growing one, for performance boats (like the Anas Acuta:-) and an even smaller but still important, market for plans for strip-built and stitch-and-glue boats.

Andy

DominiqueS wrote:The “Specific Boats” part of the Sea Kayaks section of the Almanac (http://www.ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk/al ... ks.htm#sk1 )
refers only to three Valley boats (Aquanaut, Qajariaq and Nordkapp) while there has been many very interesting threads on other Valley boats. The same applies to NDK.

I do not know all the “good threads”, but if you know any why not suggest them to the page administrator for an update of that section (click on “Broken links? Please email me with details.” in page referred to above)? .

Indeed - as I see a thread developing then I'll usually remember to add it to the Almanac if it looks like it's got good content - as I've just done for the thread on the XP18 here.

I'd also like to have more specific reviews for the Reviews page in the Almanac - for boats and kit.

Suggestions and material to editor@ukseakayakguidebook.co.uk

Mike