Eating Crow

The English make great kayaks. Flat out great. Period, end of story, over and out. I own two, have probably owned a half dozen and have a broad base of comparison. They know how to make a boat. No question about it.

This probably has little significance to you but it’s a crow eating admission for me. I worked on cars as a teenager. Not tinkered with, worked on. It was my job.

The English ones were a major pain in the butt. Yeah, many of the designs imported here were cool for the times and the interiors were pretty snazzy by our standards, but that was window dressing. They were the fussiest, crappiest and most cantankerous vehicles to work on and keep on the road. The mechanical aspects were horrible but didn’t even approach the depths of the electrical systems.

I flinched every time one rolled (or was pushed) into the shop. I just knew it would break down again soon and the owner might well blame us.

This created an indelible stain on my mind. I don’t think I could conceive ever owning anything made in England.

I didn’t violate that intentionally. I backed into it, acquiring some used kayaks without being aware that they were English-made. I couldn’t believe how well they were manufactured and performed.

The latest purchase was serendipitous. I was approaching a kayak expedition and had some qualms about using a fiberglass boat in an area that was largely granite, high winds and powerful waves. Not an ideal combination for the health of an expensive composite boat.

Days before the trip, a member of our paddling group posted a plastic sea kayak for sale at a very low price. Weighing the low cost of that against the potential damage to the fiberglass kayak would seem to make it a no-brainer, especially when I could easily sell the boat upon my return and recover the investment. But, do you really want to take a strange boat into those conditions, and one that was an older model?

The brand was Valley, one that I had never owned or even paddled. It’s English. I took a chance.

I arrived at the destination a day early to confer with an outfitter in the area. He was having a kayak sale and suggested I test paddle some, especially the Valley brand. He noted they did take some kinds of boats in trade, especially the Valley brand. I tried out a few and was absolutely hooked. They handled with absolute precision. The question wasn’t which one to buy. It was how many. I restrained myself to one.

So now I was in the situation of taking on Lake Huron with a kayak I had owned less than a day. Squalls, high winds and worse were forecast for the week. No sweat. I countered every challenge with a move and the kayak responded perfectly. Not even a close call.

That was the tipping point. I am now ready to surrender my bias against English goods. Prepare the black bird for the table.

I still wonder how they manage it. Perhaps being surrounded by water has something to do with it.