Umingmaq Paddle Touring Center is excited to announce that we are the newest Valley Sea Kayaks dealer in the United States. We are looking forward to offering Valley Sea Kayaks to the Western Great Lakes paddling community. We are starting small with three boats in the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020.
It is special for me to offer Valley Sea Kayaks here at our shop in large part due to the fact that I feel like this brings me full circle to where my sea kayaking Odyssey began. The summer after my senior year of high school (1992), I ordered my first kayak from Life Tools Adventure Outfitters in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I knew that I wanted to go to Hudson Bay in the Canadian Arctic and complete a sea kayak expedition, so I ordered a big expedition boat.
My first kayak was a Valley Skerray Xcel. Seventeen feet eight inches long and 24 inches wide. To say that Xcel was a high volume kayak is an understatement. I got a double lay-up in the hull and deck, a foot operated bilge pump and custom front bulkhead placement for even more volume in the bow hatch. I took out a loan from the local Credit Union to pay for the Diolene composite kayak. That boat helped me complete an expedition on the East Coast of Hudson Bay in 1998 after living with the Inuit of Inukjuak, Quebec for a year.
That Xcel is likely the reason why I still love big volume boats, even though I’m not the biggest guy in the world. My Xcel was fantastic and I had many adventures and misadventures in that kayak. Unfortunately, I did end up selling it when I was hard up for cash a couple of years after I returned from my Arctic sojourn. But, I digress.
Umingmaq is pleased to offer Valley Sea Kayaks. As we continue to grow we will try to offer more models in the Valley range. If you’re interested in trying out a particular model, let us know. Valley offers a lot of great boats in their modern family of kayaks; The Gemini Twins, The Sirona series and the expedition worthy Etain. Plus, the classic line of boats which is an amazing list of legendary models like the Anas Acuta, the venerable Nordkapp and the quintessential expedition tandem; the Aleut Sea II.
As always, we look forward to working with you in the future. Come over and try out the new Valley Sea Kayaks alongside the Tiderace Sea Kayaks we offer. We are an enthusiasts shop, come check out what we have to offer.
Paddle well my friends!