Norse Embla - A Year In (3 December 2024) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death

It’s been a little over a year since I drove up to Courtney BC and purchased my Norse Embla Carbon from Comox Valley Kayak and Canoe. And although, as I clearly stated in my footer disclaimer, I’m new to kayaking and this is my first kayak. So, yeah, I’m an idiot all this is probably all wrong. That said, I’ve paddle the Norse Embla a fair bit this past year and I do have some thoughts. And a few ignorant pros & cons.

But first, probably best to review my wishes and wants that prompted me to select the Embla.

The Marketing Spiel

The Norse Embla kayak represents the new generation of sea kayak design. Tested on the Scandinavian coasts where the mountains meet the Atlantic ocean, this kayak will excel anywhere in the world.

The Embla is all about performance, handling and seaworthiness. The hull is optimized for speed while being highly maneuverable due to its double hard chine. The crisp handling characteristics will help beginners unlock more advanced technique while providing performance for the experienced paddler who wants a responsive and agile sea kayak.

Embla is designed to be an extension of the body, the interface between the human body and the ever changing sea. For this reason larger paddlers will want to consider the Norse Ask featuring the same design characteristics in larger package.

Ask and Embla are designed by Danish kayak designer, Jesper Kromann-Andersen, known in Scandinavia for the design of the original Arrow Play, Nuka and Empower kayaks. Jesper has also made several successful designs for U.S. based Current Designs.

Pros

Weight: At, an advertised, weight of 42 lbs the Embla is amazingly easy to get on and off my Fiat 500 and to and from the beach. I learned my lesson about bigger boats during my sailing stint. The larger, and heavier, a boat is, the less often it goes out. And this little boat is easy to take out.
Aesthetics: High on my list was a minimalist visual and functional aesthetic. But more than that I’m drawn to the Scandinavian design ethos and I favor designs that require, or nudge, me towards minimalism. The Norse Embla, for good or bad, does this well.
A Minimalist’s Dream: This kayak is absolutely perfect for my minimalist needs. There is plenty of room for a 2-3 night camping trip when hauling water. And maybe 4-5 nights when water is available at the destination. It’s large enough to carry what I need but not quite large enough for me to get carried away.

Cons

Skeg Mechanism: Since the very first day the skeg has been a pain in the ass. The friction in the cable system is terrible. I had thought it would loosen up over time, and maybe it has a little. But overall it’s the one big downside to this, otherwise, wonderful kayak. And this one issue directly effect the next con.
Tracking: One of my goals was a “playful” kayak that could also be used for touring. And although my playing experience and skills are limited, the Embla seems happy to play in eddies. But this leads to the flip side, not great tracking in the wind. But the Embla is perfectly happy in the wind with a proper amount of skeg. And there in lies the problem. It’s not too problematic to have no skeg or full skeg, but dialing in intermediate amounts is a lesson in frustration. I can usually get what I want, but it’s a pain and in gusty conditions, quick changes of the skeg aren’t really practical.
Deck Profile: One result of the minimalist Scandanevian design aethetic is a very low front deck. This result in a very tight cockpit without much opportunity to “stretch out” during longer paddles. And my shoe size is a 10 1/2 to an 11 and I’m not sure how much more one could fit.

Would I Recommend This Kayak?

This is a tough question for me to answer. The short answer would probably be “NO”. But not based on the quality or characteristics of the Norse Embla. On the quality front, I haven’t owned it long enough. And as far as its handling characteristics go, I’m too novice a kayaker to comment intelligently on that topic.

The “NO” comes from the design and intended use ethos. I read a ton before purchasing a sea kayak. And far and away the common theme, was speed, aka length, and hauling capacity. Very rarely were modest sea kayaks mentioned as a preferred choice. I’ve run into this exact situation a bunch in my past life. Whether with my sleek engineless sailboat, or my tiny Fiat 500 car. Folks often complement my choice while describing the shortcomings for them. So while the Norse Embla Carbon is a pretty perfect fit for me, likely not so much for others.

Final Thoughts

My goal when purchasing anything is to research the best I can in order and buy quality with the hope that I end up with a product that isn’t soon in need of replacement. Either due to me outgrowing it, or the quality being poor. Basically I like to set a high bar for the item that might try to replace the current one. In that sense, the Norse Embla is holding up pretty well. Will there be another kayak after this one? Well, let’s not fool ourselves, probably. But it will have to significantly better the Embla and offer something compelling.