Stellar SR 2g vs Stellar SEI 1g

I'm an avid but relatively new paddler currently paddling a 2nd generation Stellar SR. I'm comfortable on it in all conditions including ugly chop and downwinder conditions. I have my eye out for something a little faster but without going all the way to an elite ski. (I learned on flat water in an Epic v12 but found it too tippy to be practical for me in rough water.) I'm 39 years old, 75 kg, 178 cm.

Anyway, my buddy is selling a Stellar SEI, which I tried today in light wind chop. It felt a little quicker than the SR and almost as stable, but it's hard to know for sure. I think it's the first generation because it only has one venturi bailer and it doesn't have any carry handles. Is anyone familiar with this boat? It it a good bet for all around racing and downwinding, or does it have some achilles heel that I should beware of and I should just hang on to my SR?

I had a mate who owned an SEI gen 1 for a while. Was never that impressed with it. Remounting was difficult. Speed wasn't that great. He sold it after 6 months. In my opinion I would keep the SR. Maybe look at a gen 1 SEL. Much better boat. Cheap to buy. Have 2 boats. There are better options out there in my opinion



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I own a 1. Gen. SR and a 1. Gen. SEI for many years now. On flat water and even when it´s choppy on the lake I feel very comfortable on the SEI and it´s about 0,5 km/h faster on long distance compared to the old SR  However on the  ocean when it get´s messy I´am still faster in my SR because it´s much more stable for me. Check out Wesley Echols Website
According to him and his reviews the difference in speed between the new SR and the old SEI is not so big.
That´s exactly the reason why I will probably get a 2. Gen. SR It seems to be the best compromise between speed and stability at least for my  abilities.

Hi Douglas,

My first surfski was a SEI gen 1. It always struck me as a good all-round boat: reassuringly stable, good glide, OK speed on flatwater (for me anyway...), easy to handle on the North Sea.
It didn't seem to have any glaring problems.
It is a bit of a master-of-all-trades, master-of none: after a year I "upgraded" to a Nelo 550 that was faster on the flats, but more lively in the rough...
If you want/can have just one boat, you can't really go wrong with it.
If you can afford more specialized ski's for different conditions, I agree that there are better crafts...

Thank you both. Sounds like the SEI 1g would be faster than the SR 2g, but not by very much. Wouldn't be worth spending a lot of money on, but I think it's going to work out where I can just trade my boat for his without any money changing hands, so in that case I might as well go for it. 

I have never paddled a 1g but have an SEI 2g that I love.  Even though this is my first surfski, I easily handle it in 3' white caps and I am competitive on flat water.  I think the trade in a no-brainer.   IIRC, you are in Florida?  If so, why not join us for the prettiest race in the state on Dec 8?  paddleguru.com/races/FCPASilverRiverRace2018

I doubt you'll see much improvement over your 2nd Gen SR with a 1st Gen SEI.  Cockpit fit is generally much better in the 2nd Gen boats, and the hulls have been refined, cockpits moved forward, etc. to notably improve performance.  As someone earlier noted, if you want to trade for a 1st gen boat, look for the SEL; it's a really nice combination of speed and stability for the class.  Otherwise, I would look at moving up to a 2nd gen SEI (which is actually more stable and slightly faster than the 1st gen SEL).

Ok, I did do the trade, for better or worse. I'll report on my findings when I've had a chance to get acquainted with the SEI. 

So far I have done a 6.4 km flatwater time trial and a 10 km downwinder on the SEI 1g. 

The flatwater time trial was a bit disappointing because I was slower than my best time on the SR 2g; 11.1 kph vs. 11.3 kph. However, the conditions might have had something to do with that, since the trial was in a shallow, tidally-influenced river and the water level was low during the SEI trial and high during the SR trial.

www.strava.com/activities/1993380015

The downwinder was great, and I got my fastest downwinder average ever of 13.36 kph. The SEI seemed to hold a fast glide between bumps and leapfrog bumps better than the SR. Conditions were relatively tame, starting out with about 15 kts wind and fading to 10 kts.

www.strava.com/activities/1995066575  

I'm satisfied with the switch I made. 

SEI 1g faster than Sr2G in all conditions as long as you can maintain you stability in the big stuff and not lose power due to instability.  Downwind it was as fast as V10 2G. I found SEI 1G great for big guys who needed the extra width in the seat since it is a big bucket. I padded all mine out considerably that worked.  SEI 2G very different in volume, seating with similar speed.  My 2019 comparison chart will be out in next few weeks with 11 skis added to it. 

Wesley, would just like to say always appreciate your input and think you are spot on.