Stellar SES information

Thanks for everyones' comments. Had my SES Excel for a few weeks now and i'm really pleased, it's everything people said it would be. Build quality and fittings are excellent and I've found it to be pretty much as Watto described in his first post. Not the prettiest ski ever made but if you're nearer to 70kg than 100kg you should give it a try. Never having had such a light ski before though, I think it's going to take some time to get over the fear of knocking it.

I found for me being close to 90kg the SES feels like a better fit on water and definately easier to handle in the bump then the other bigger volume skis out there.

People's thoughts!!

I know a couple of guys in the 92-95 kg weight that race the SES excel model and
Paddle great !
I'm guessing they are at limit and experienced paddlers?????

Sounds a bit like what happened when the Carbonology Atom and Vault were released. Some bigger framed guys were able to make them work for them.

I had a good long look at the SES a couple of years ago and in the end it was only the asking price on the lay-up I wanted that swayed me away. (cash strapped student at the time)

I couldn't fault the SES and another paddler in Sydney (Wesley) who along with myself was looking to move from a Epic V10L bought one and was really impressed with it.

I am hoping to do a few ski reviews on various ski's this summer and amongst them I hope to include the SEL and SES.

Welcome to jump into mine anytime mate. John Watson 0420 998 166.

Any feedback from those who have paddled the new (2015) version of the SES? Thanks.

paddled the 2G for about 3 months:
- don't believe there was any speed change (hull unchanged)
- less stability than 1G d/t seat position change & narrowing of catch?
- handles are polarising: personally like them but australian fleet of 2G SES's have no handles
- don't like 3 point footplate adjustment: top 2 rails more sticky than 1G & hard to move, bottom lever clamp difficult to fix in place (mine kept coming loose) / cumbersome (cut foot on it in the surf) so much so I removed lower clamp as I felt it didn't add any structural support. Footplate angle too flat for me (surprised no ski manufacturer has an adjustable footplate as an accessory - would be a good money spinner)
- it's strengths remain: elite ski for smaller paddler (I like ski's 6.1-6.3m long), great build quality, finish, weight & prices

evidently one sponsored paddler prefers 1G?

as an intermediate paddler I want 2 ski's (fast flat water ski & more stable ocean ski) & found this 2G SES fell in between my requirements. Currently have swordfish & v10 sport for ocean & am looking out for a fast light flat water ski.........

The seat and the rudder are moved forward slightly from the previous version. There were some skis in the initial run that were sent to Australia where the rudder was not moved forward like it should have been. That was corrected and subsequently all the boats now have the correct rudder position. It sounds like Tony has one of the first run SES's.

With the rudder and bucket moved forward, the SES has much better turning radius and steering is greatly improved. With the bucket forward it allows it to jump on a wave more easily than the 1G that does this well also. The bucket is now nicely rounded and a much different shape than before. I like it much better as do other paddlers I have talked too.

Footplate cam locks on the track need to be pushed down, then moved. If you don't do this, you will become frustrated pushing, pulling, wringling them, etc. I experienced this too until I took a moment, pushed down on the cam lock to adjust.

The bottom cam needs to be tightened occassionly or it does become loose. These are simple things. Most guys I paddled with wear some type of water shoe, so we rarely go barefoot but I can see if you did, you could get cut.

Tony and others like a more of angle on the footplate. The Fenns are the most angled with the Stellars are the most relaxed. The Thinks boats are in between as are the Huki's. My Mohican you can change the angle as you can on the Nelo(at least the 2 I owned though it took a few minutes to make all the adjustments. I can easily jump in any ski and feel comfortable with any footplate. The relaxed angle we used is a more natural position for the foot. If not use to it, you may not feel you are getting the leg drive you can on other skis.

The catch is significantly more narrow and that "extra" space in front of footwell is gone so draining is much better along with 2 venturis now.

Speed: I had my fastest time ever in any of the 45 plus boats I have reviewed, in my new SES w/8inch rudder a month ago on my 3.2 mile time trial course in very small down wind conditions. I predicted this when I wrote my review. Since the stability is less in the new SES, it took me some bucket time to adjust to this. The new SES is faster in this conditions than the 1G. In pure flat water, with the bucket moved forward and the rudder moved forward, I don't believe the new SES has the edge. It is a compromise moving the rudder forward and cockpit since we wanted to increase the speed in downwind first and far most.

We have 3 USA sponsored paddlers to date, 2 of which will be in the USA surfski Champs with there new SES's this weekend. Another superb paddler placed 9th at this past Saturdays 20 mile Blackburn Challenge, our biggest race with over 300 paddlers in various craft. Seas were 4-6 ft. I placed 12th in my new designed SR.

I do prefer the 1G if conditions are rough, it is significantly more stable. However on flat water, small bay condition, I prefer the 2G due to ergonomics, narrow catch, handling, and speed. Unlike Tony I use my Van Dusen Mohican for pure flat water races along with my 2G, but prefer my SES 2G small conditions and then switch to one of my other Stellars for bigger conditions.

The 2G is an advanced level ski for the small to mid size paddler in the ocean and for the intermediated flat water paddler. Our leading edge construction has been consistently superb being built in an ISO 9001 certified plant along with Wintech Rowing Shells.

See my review (SurfskiRacing.com) that I did a few months ago. If you are sized for the SES, then I encourage you to try all the boats in this category and form your own opinion. By the way I need to add 8 skis to my chart including the new SR and SES so hopefully I will get to that in September. Those include the Evo 2 Ultimate, Fenn Glide, Fenn Spark, Ion, Stellar SR, Stellar SES, Huki Special, Huki S1XL.

More to come from Stellar in the next few weeks. So stay tuned.

Wesley Echols
Stellar Performance Director, Stellar Kayaks and Surfskis, USA
SurfskiRacing.com, 45 boats reviewed and counting.
Newport, Rhode Island, USA

Very easy to adjust the angle of the footplate on the Stellars, my original SES had the same angle as my Fenn, my SEL had the slack angle is did my friends Stellar, simply removing the bottom bracket, drilling a couple of holes in slightly different places and placing the bracket on the other side of the footplate and now the angle is again exactly the same as my Fenn. Might have had to bend the bracket slightly too, can't remember but set it up using a bevel square to match my other skis.

Tony H. - given your interest in an elite ski 6.1-6.3m long, have you considered a Carbonology Pulse?

Still have my SES, still love it and its stability is so good is the only ski I need whatever the conditions.
But, its not the most exciting ski I've paddled; that would be the Fenn Spark but at the cost of being considerably less stable. If the 2G SES has lost that stability advantage then the Spark would be my weapon of choice.

JC wrote: Tony H. - given your interest in an elite ski 6.1-6.3m long, have you considered a Carbonology Pulse?

Yep, another vote for the Pulse as a great flatwater boat. Seems to accelerate really well and I find it great for flatwater training and races against K1s.

Comprehensive reply there Wesley. Having paddled and owned a few Stellars over the past couple of years from an S18S, SR x2 (1G and now 2G - Excel) and SEI, I found out that my 2015 SR with the lower volume, seat moved forward and narrower catch is the perfect boat... for me. So much so that I got rid of my older SEI as I no longer had any need for it.

Interesting to read that these design changes have been made to a number of different model Stellars. Do the 2015 SEIs have the same design changes?

Cheers,
Mick