Stellar SES information

And it just happens that its my birthday in July Al, perfect excuse to her indoors to treat myself to another ski!

Just re-read Wesley's review of the SEL, certainly sounds much more do-able at my current skill level. Thanks for the tip.

I have no experience on the V10L but I’ll weigh in on the Stellar SES. I am 140 lb (63 kg) and have found the SES to be an excellent ski, especially as the seas get rougher. It is marketed for the smaller paddler and I think that the size matches me perfectly.

The initial “twitchiness” or lesser primary stability is obvious, but, as soon as you are moving forward with a decent stroke, that becomes irrelevant. In trade-off, you get that incredible secondary stability. That secondary stability really shines when you get in rough confusing seas of 5 foot waves and higher. You can get pushed over to the gunwale and still recover.

I do not think the bow buries easily, in fact, that is one of the reasons I got the boat – after having demo-ed it for a few days last year including 5-7 foot seas, I was impressed that it did not bury easily.

The steering seemed a bit "loose" at first due to the “stretchier” dyneema cord used for the rudder lines. Having replaced that with Q-power spectra and put on a 9 inch elliptical rudder (from Think), steering is now good and I can carve across the face of a wave to keep the speed up on big waves. It does not track as straight as my Think Legend, but, with the Legend's chines, I doubt any other ski could.

While everyone has a different body, for me the bucket is comfortable, not quite as comfortable as a Think ski, but so close that there is no real difference for me. The hump is just right.

Remounting is as easy as any ski I have been in, but remounting has always been easy for me. Of course, the secondary stability helps in a remount in larger seas.

The cockpit does have more volume than most so when you get a wave dumped in there it will of course take more time to drain. To compensate, I have begun adding some closed cell foam up front to take up some of that room. It drains well enough (although I doubt I will ever be truly satisfied on how a ski drains, until it gets to be "instantaneous").

I am completely satisfied with the ski. I have no relationship to Stellar.

Bill L


P.S. Having gotten a white ski, I added some custom racing stripes and now it goes at least 20% faster.

Hey SES fans!

Just for info a short video if my "homemade" steering system on my SES. I made a bigger footrest for better leg drive. The steering is different to pedalseering, but the seesaw works fine.

I´ve also added an aluminium bracket as pull bar.
Sorry for my English, No native! Hope for further SES info.
Best wishes to SA from Austria!

I own and know both the Think Evo and Stellar SEL well. The Evo has a greater ultimate stability, but the Stellar SEL is much more planted/predictable than the twitchy Evo. This is especially true on side chop. There is a stong possibility that my existing physical disabilities will increase(cancer sucks)and I suspect it will be the SEL I will be using more as it is just so predictable and if anything even easier to re-mount after a swim. To give you some idea how predictable I find the SEL, returning to the shore I can put both legs over one side and surf in with the ski at a 45 plus degree angle! After 1/2 year of paddling the SEL on average 4 times a week, I have still yet to swim unintentionally. I am the same with the Evo, but there are a lot closer near swims with it. I still love the Evo and its lively nature, but the SEL is the exact opposite....settled and predictable.

Hoping you and your SEL enjoy many more downwinds.

Dicko, interested to know if you have paddled the SEL or SES since paddling your Vault and if so what were your thoughts?

I have only paddled an SES once cos the leg length wasn't long enough and so found it an uncomfortable paddle. I thought the initial stability was quite twitchy compared to the Vault but the secondary stability was very good. There is no doubt it is a very fast boat.
I paddle every day with blokes who own Stellars and the SES is significantly faster than the Vault, but as with most things I wouldn't rate it a stable ski. Maybe compared to a carbon elite ski it is more stable but I wouldn't call it an intermediate ski. With the weedless rudder it is a handful to control in the surf but with the surf rudder, which is exactly the same shape as the weedless rudder only with the rudder post set a couple of centimetres further back, it goes prety well. Compared to the atom, flash, uno, etc it would appear very stable. Remounting is easy. Foot pedals super strong. With a small rudder on the river I doubt you would give up any speed at all to anyone else. I have a mate down here who has a light one and another mate with a glass one. I also have a mate who has a carbon (black) SE which has the same hull as the SEL. For my money the SEL would have the same speed on the flat as the SE and that seems to be about the same as the Vault. The SEL wouldn't give you the big improvement in speed you would be looking for. The SES probably would. With some rudder tweeking, on flat days you would fly with a small rudder and by using the bigger rudder you would cope with choppy days.
If you want to paddle them, let me know. You can time trial in the marina and paddle out to sea to check on stability.

I haven't paddled either the Vault or the SEL (I do have an SES) but I asked a fellow club member on advice for myself to get a more stable ski and he has had about 26 different ski's, no lie, and he had just moved from a Vault to an SEL (since moved on to a Huki) and he told me he was a heap quicker on the SEL and people that he was struggling to hang on to in the Vault he was now leaving behind on his SEL. This is in tricky conditions, not on the flat.

Why did he move onto the Huki? (Apart from being an even worse case of wannanewski than most of us)

He loved the SEL but he did tell me some months ago that he gets bored easily if he stays on one ski too long. I have not spoken to him since he bought the Huki (have not been paddling from the club myself much recently) he does visit here at times so who knows he might make comment.

I paddle Huki's new re-designed S1X Special and love it. Its my 4th Huki and this new Special is incredible, jumps on the waves quicker than the original version, has a narrower catch, lower hump, is fast and stable much like the SEL, but with a slightly more lively feel. I also own a Think UNO which has almost no secondary stability and the new Huki jumps on waves much like it and for me, much better open water speed due to stability. On the flats the UNO is a rocket.

See previous input on SES post #11934. Minor update - out Weds this week in NW 40k gusts from protected waters south wall of Hillary's marina into shortish choppy swells maybe 800 metres offshore. Hmm, not Swan River sea breezing this, definitely more time in bucket to adapt, however the only swim I took is worth noting.

I have a buggered shoulder at the moment (infraspinatus tear) and remounting is hard work. What a joke is the SES - first turn to catch runs in back in and wind/swell twists boat and I'm over - learning experience because didn't happen again - struggling into boat in very bumpy blowy metre and half chop hanging as Kayaker Greg has said, sidesaddle. A joke because even in blowy bumpy stuff in a tippy boat (SES is not a PRS in swells) man I'm puffing, blowing and kinda-sorta laughing with both legs over the side waiting for moment to swing in. I was not hanging momentarily either, a fair wait until I was stable enough to get going.

This adds no more to the debate at this point other than (a) I need more time in this stuff and it will make a diff and (b) no need to fear falling out in the rough. Who coined that classic term "human rotisserie"? Been there done that in other boats (Honcho Rookie, Finn Mach 1 plastic, V10, Millenium, Mako 6) but in the SES that godawful "fall out again and will die of fatigue " fear in decent seas disappears.

I have been thinking about when to upgrade from my v10 sport for a month or so and decided to take an SES out for a demo today. I was getting a little bored with the v10 sport out of action at the moment.

Probably not the best day for a trial run given the wind, but a good test. I normally paddle in the ocean but was paddling the SES on the more protected waters of Pittwater in Sydney. So no waves other than the wind swell.

I will mention that I am a small paddler at 5'10" and around 73kg and the v10 sport feels quite a big boat.

Started out a little tentative given the wind but it soon felt more comfortable. Didn't take long to get moving along quite well. As per a number of other posts, while it felt initially a little twitchy, the secondary stability was great. Really feels like you can lean it right over quite safely. Someone had mentioned spreading the legs wider for stability and it seemed to work well. I also headed out without a leg leash which I always use (but had left in the car) and soon headed back in to get it. Amazing how much more stable it felt knowing I wouldn't be chasing a ski across the water if I took a swim.

I was keen to see just how tight the ski was and I was surprised that it wasn't tight at all. In fact it felt a little bigger than I had hoped. I have quite a lot of room in the v10 sport and was hoping for a really snug fit with no padding. The 31" waist and narrow hips will probably make anything see big though.

I had seen mention of the previous model having a narrower seat. Does anyone know if you can still buy an SES with the narrower seat ? I have asked the dealer and they are going to get back to me but I thought someone here might know.

Might be a case of finding someone with old stock because yes the first model had the smaller bucket which I have and its perfect for me, in fact just slightly tight on the hips but once I put my seat pad in it just lifted me slightly to make the fit perfect.

I am trying to track one down in Sydney so I can give it a try. Waiting to hear back from the dealer to see what is around. They didnt have one in stock but are enquiring.

Do you have the measurements for the narrow bucket or a comparison between the narrow and wide ? It will give me an idea of the fit and I'll know if it's worth a long drive (or flight) to try one out.

390mm at the top where the hips are and 100mm deeper down 360mm. I expect the newer bucket would be the same at the top, wider at the 360mm.

Bucket measurements latest SES model attached.
[attachment=418]SESbucket.jpg[/attachmen

My reference point(measurement)is have the paddler measure his/her hips, not waist, actually hips. My hips are 39inches around(99 cm) The slim seat SES fits me fine with no padding. The current SES model, I have a 1/4 inch padding on each side of the bucket. So I tell paddlers if your hips are more than 39inches than the slim seat SES bucket probably will be too tight for you. the caveat is some guys like a very tight bucket but I do not. I know some guys pad up the seat slightly for added width also. While I can fit comfortably in both cockpits, I prefer the now standard(slightly wider bucket) and pad it out perfectly. Wesley

Thanks for all of the info guys. Appreciate the help.

My hip measurement is around 36 inches so I expect that the narrow bucket is going to be the one for me. I may still need to pad it. I currently have around 4/5 inch (20 cm) of padding on each hip for my v10 sport which has the narrow bucket.

The challenge is finding a narrow bucket SES to try. The dealer can order one but is having trouble organizing a demo. I guess there isn't a lot of call for the narrow bucket (and they can't keep every combination).