Norse Bylgja Kayak Carbon

I bought in October from Trailhead Paddleshack and had a very positive buying experience. I've only had it on the water once this season, so it's an early review. Very well put-together boat and seems to be very high quality. Light and stiff. Fits well with comfortable seat. I may be on the smaller end of sizing (male, 5'8" 160 lbs) but works for me - glad I didn't go for the smaller Idun. Fast. Tracks well on the water and turns easily on edge. Cuts through stiff chop like a breeze. Fun boat and no regrets.

I have owned the Bylgja carbon for 4 years now and I love it for many reasons. It packs great for multi day trips, it's light (I always handle it myself on and off the car. Tracks really well in waves and wind, the skeg is super sensitive and I will only have it at most 1/3 down. It really turns on a dime and the hard chine has a learning curve but you get used to it like anything else. The seat is comfortable, I always paddle bare feet and after 6 hours on the water I'm still good for a couple more. I'm 6'2, 180 lbs and it fit me well but I think it would fit someone taller and much heavier.

This boat is beautiful to look at and awesome to paddle.

Our longest trip was 9 days and we're ready to push it to more once we get up to Lake Superior.

My wife has the Freyja carbon, it's perfect for the small paddler, she is 5'1, 100 lbs.

I bought this boat to replace my old Valley Canoe Products Skerray, and it is similar in many ways, but better, and for a more reasonable price. It’s a bargain - get it while you can at this price. The carbon version is very light and stiff, and in a choppy sea it is almost bouncy, but not in an unpleasant way. It tracks and turns well, and secondary stability is good. The rocker and the bow and stern heights are a good compromise between too much windage (bad) and too much diving (bad), and the boat handles well even into the wind and sea. Speed is excellent, thanks to the chine hull, and there is a feeling that almost all of the paddle stroke goes into forward motion, regardless of the state of the sea. I have not yet packed it for overnights but there appears to be adequate room in the fore and aft hatches for a reasonable amount of gear. The day hatch forward of the cockpit is a bit of a stretch to reach on the water. Finishes seem good and so far the hull has survived numerous beach and stone landings without visible distress. My only complaints are i) that the foot rests are very difficult (as in, impossible) to adjust, and given that this was an issue when I started kayaking 50 years ago one would have thought that a better solution would have appeared by now, and ii) the skeg (like all skegs) is prone to getting jammed by little stones when you launch it from a less than perfect beach. I don’t care because I never use it anyway, but it may make other purchasers cranky. The solution (other than a long overdue redesign of the, ahem, skeg anus) is to launch with the stern out, after having first run a kitchen knife on both sides of the skeg to dislodge the pebbles. All in all, a good solid boat and a serious contender - I look forward to many years of paddling contentment.