Date |
Status |
Event |
1975 |
|
Nordkapp designed by Frank Goodman & used on the
1975 Nordkapp Expedition.
The boats were clearly what later became known as the HS, based
on the pictures
of the 1975 boat hanging in Rutabaga, Wisconsin. |
1977 |
|
1977
Cape Horn Expedition. The boats used seem to be HMs, based on
the line drawing on p13, so the experience of the 1975 trip was
being applied. |
(1980's?) |
Confirmation needed. |
Valley introduces the VCP hatch. |
1981/82 |
|
Circumnavigation of Australia by Paul Caffyn. Started with Nordkapp
HM, then unable to turn into gale force wind, he chopped off the
molded skeg and added a makeshift retractable one. When that broke,
he added a rudder to finish the voyage. |
(1980 ish?) |
Confirmation needed. |
"Bolt in" recessed deck fittings introduced, replacing
the earlier moulded recess with bar. |
1992 |
|
Rebecca Ridgeway becomes the first woman to round Cape Horn, using
a Nordkapp. |
(1998/9?) |
Confirmation needed. |
Nordkapp Jubilee introduced to recognise 25 years of the Nordkapp.
|
2003 |
|
Jubilee in the UK upgraded to 2 Oval hatches. Designated H20 for
the US market. Bow and stern altered slightly, more bouyancy behind
the seat, slightly less rocker than Jubilee. |
2005 |
Confirmation needed. |
Peter Orton and Jason Buxton take over at Valley |
2006 |
|
Nordkapp LV introduced. |
2006 |
|
Nordkapp RM introduced. |
(2007?) |
Confirmation needed. |
Valley offers the Nordkapp "Classic", a slightly updated
version of the original Nordkapp, in addition to the standard, LV
and RM versions. |
2008 |
|
Sean Morley circumnavigates Vancouver Island in 18 days - 6 days
faster than the previous record. He planned to do the trip in a
VCP Rapier, but changed his mind due to rough conditions and ended
up in Nordkapp H2O. |
2010 |
|
Marcus Demuth's record-breaking 2,540-mile circumnavigation
of Great Britain |
2011 |
|
Sisson Kayaks cease production as Graeme retires, so bringing
to an end the Sisson Nordkapp variant. |
2012 |
|
Valley cease production of the "Classic". |
2014 |
|
Valley announce the Nordkapp
Forti in recognition of 40 years of the Nordkapp. |
Determining the age of older Nordkapps is actually
quite hard - there is usually a "makers plate" glassed
into the cockpit and the last two numbers are quite often the
year of manufacture. From the main article, "aeden's"
boat has the serial number 7947/1/??/3 and turns out to probably
be 1985 to 1988 so the illegible numbers ("??") may
well have been the build year. Certainly that system matches with
the one on an Aleut Sea II I had. Valley seem to have used a range
of serial number systems over the years. If they have time, Valley
have been known to help track down when a particular boat was
built and are generally responsive to a phone call.
In general terms it seems that the boats were fitted with lever
cam hatches until late 70's, Henderson screw ones 80-83, then
VCP rubber as we still have. Howard Jeffs commented on a post
on Facebook in Feb 2015 that the deck fittings seem to have been
just GRP on the very early boats, however they were prone to break.
Because of this, they then put a small aluminium bar inside the
fitting when gelling up. Gordon Brown commented on the same post
that the the HM which he bought in 1980 has the more modern bolt-in
RDF. |