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March 26, 2012Posted in: Featured, Reviews
Check out the Comparison Chart with the numbers assigned to each ski along with the comparison Grid to get an overall visual on the relative speed vs stability. For example you can see that I rated the SR as the most stable since it at the top of the chart in terms of stability. If you look at the SEL, I rated it the most stable of the High Performance Skis while being only slightly slower than the SES Ultra and others that rated a maximum 6 on the speed axis.
Click to Visit Surfski Review Page with Full Size Charts and Tables:
Reduced Version of Chart - Visit Surfski Review Page for Full Size
About Wesley
Top 10 finisher Blackburn Challenge(20 miles) 2009-2011;Participated since 2003; SurfskiRacing.com Race Series-2nd place finisher 2010,2011; 2009 SurfskiRacing.com Website orginated;
1st person to produce Surf ski informational DVD;
1st person to produce comprehensive Surf ski Comparison Chart;
BCU/ACA Certified Level 3 w/4star training,Open Ocean(both expired);
Participated World Indoor Rowing Championships(Crash B's) since 2004;
2012 Indoor Rowing Foundations 8 Hour Certification Course; Circumnavigated Aquidneck Island 5 times (37 Miles) in 6-8hrs; 2003 (8hour)Adventure Race(bike,run,paddle);1998 Boston Marathon,1997 Baystate,Vermont City Marathons,1996 Newport Marathon.1983-1991 U.S. Navy- 1st place in in Squadron and Command Physical Fitness Test(sit-ups, pushups, run).1969-1991played countless hours of basketball.
Stellar sent a sponsored paddler to the US Surfski Champs, but her rudder cable broke before the race so she couldn’t start. Would have been nice to see how a Stellar did in International competition against the other brands. Too bad Stellar didn’t have any support for her there.
Bob,
Stellar had 2 sponsored paddlers at the Surfski Champs, Reid Hyle and Nikki. Reid placed 18th in his SES Ultra, 2nd at Blackburn. Reid has trained hard this season and was on the USA Marathon team for years. Last year Reid was only 5 seconds behind Borys Markin at the East Coast Surfski Championships that had to be moved to a flat water venue due to impending hurricane. So on flatwater or conditions the SES is as fast as boat and has phenomenal secondary stabilty and has one of the most narrow beams of any surfski. Go to Surfski.info forum threads to hear what other paddlers think about the Stellar boats. Stellars are all over the world, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, New Zealand, Hawaii just to name a few.
In the Molokai a few months ago Tim Altman(SEL) placed 10th, and Matt OGarey placed 16th in SES Ultra. Matt would have placed even higher but had massive blister on his hands, and landed on the reef. In Australia Matt has done exceedingly well in all competition in Australia. Canadian Richard Germain, paddled an SEL also and for the first time, had no capsizes after 3 previous Molokai’s and had his fastest time ever.
Brandon Van Der Walt in Durban, South Africa, another Stellar paddler came in second in one of the local races behind Hank McGregor. Go to Stellar Facebook page, to see what is happening worldwide with Stellar.
I too was disappointed that the rudder line broke. I feel bad Nikki traveled all that way for that to happen. Next year, Stellar will be better prepared if something like this happens again.
Thanks for tuning in. Wesley