The New Stellar SEI

I took delivery of the new Stellar SEI about a week and a half ago. I have now had the opportunity to paddle it in a variety of conditions and I'm really happy with it.

At 6.1m and 46cm wide it is designed to fill the gap between the SE and the SR which it seems to do nicely. I have come to it from paddling a similar layup SE and I find this boat more stable, more manoeverable and not a great deal slower - it seems to catch runs reaaly well.

I bought it because I found that while I was comfortable on my SE most days there were times when the wind got above 25 knots or the chop was coming across you that I wasnt 100% confident. I am hoping that those conditions wont worry me on the new one.

The finish is great with some noticeable changes from the SE. The seat is more rounded which my paddling mates who have tried it seem to find more comfortable - I must have a square backside though because I quite like the old one. The paddling position feels higher, the catch has been narrowed and surprisingly to all those that have owned Stellar SE's the venturi works well.

Its early days yet but at this stage I certainly dont regret my choice and would recommend that anyone considering an intermediate boat give it a test paddle.

I had the opportunity to try an SEI in the Advantage construction for an hour on a river last week.

Enjoyed it but ended up with 'dead leg', something I've never really experienced before with my V10S, new V10 or Carbonology Vault - the extent of my paddling experience! It wasn't padded in any way and I had way too much room in the bucket. It certainly felt faster than my V10S in the Club construction, but without paddling the new V10 in the same flat water conditions didn't have any sense of which was faster.

Felt like it had marginally less primary stability than the new V10 I demoed recently, couldn't really get a sense of secondary on the river but crossing some boat wakes it felt very stable.

Really like the divided foot straps and the very rigid foot plate. Combination of low hump and the secure foot straps meant I could get some effective leg drive...well, effective for me anyway! Find that feeling of being able to pull up against the strap really helped my rotation.

The SEI was on the short list for my new Intermediate boat. A friend has bought one and she is more than happy with her choice for all the reasons as Drapes has discussed.

However, it was a close run thing as I was swayed towards the new V10 Sport in the performance lay up for a couple of the reasons raised by JonathanC. Therefore, took delivery of one last Tuesday. To say I am happy with it is an understatement.

Anyway, Stellar make some great boats and I believe the SEI will put them right up there. The one thing I have learned in the last couple of years since transiting from a sea kayak is that each paddler is different. What is the duck's guts for one, is the biggest lemon for another.

Irrespective, enjoy your new SEI Drapes as I am enjoying my new V10S (love the bailer - awesome!).