SEL+Training+Technique=PR

Phil Capel in his SEL at 2011 Phatwater Challenge on Mississippi River.

On Tuesday, November 22, I had an all time PR for my 11 mile course from Mccorrie Point to 3^rd Rock in my Stellar SEL Excel. This is the Sakonnet River Race Course that I host, just a mile shorter. I have done this course 82 times since 2002. My previous record was in my SES Excel February 5, 2011. Today I broke that record by a minute. My average pace was 9.11(minutes per mile) with a HR avg of 140. I have only used the 4 inch rudder with the SEL since I have had it. This PR is significant for several reasons:

1. Winter paddling requires extra gear so I have an extra 10 lbs of stuff: drysuit, pogies, extra hat, phone, epirb, muckluk boots.

2. Cold water is more sticky than warm summer water so times could be slower though not today.

3. Today was very flat. Previously I would have said my SES’s were faster on a day like today but my times(races, PR’s) have not supported this over the past six months. The SEL’s stability lets me lengthen my paddle by a centimeter getting a longer catch and I can solely focus paddling technique,leg drive and not stability.

4. One notable obvious difference between the SES and the SEL is the longer length of the SEL allows it to track like a rail, so not much correction in the steering to counter stability. Just point it and go. Go Fast!!

5. Training: Nothing happens without training! Last week, I just started my erg training(concept 2) in preps for the World Indoor Championships in Boston in February. I believe this training is already paying dividends. My previous PR for this course was in February 2011 as mentioned, was just 2 weeks before the World Championships a year ago. On another training note, I ran a 5 mile road race on Thanksgiving Day with virtually no running training time and did well. So the paddling/erg training is paying dividends when I want to cross train.

6. Lastly, I have been working on my technique during the off season as Ben Lawry has suggested to me for the past few years: My catch on my right side was slightly shorter than my left and on my left side I have been working on a cleaner exit.

So this confirms for me again that the SEL has the top end speed over distance of the any other high performance ski on the market due to its perfect combination of stability and speed. Looking forward to my Ultra SEL in a few months!!!

SES Looks at Newport Bridge

Robin Francis just bought this SES Advantage. She upgraded from a V10 Sport Ultra since the SES fits her small frame, 5ft 3, perfectly. Another happy Stellar Customer.

SEL Full Review

See my full review of SEL on SurfskiRacing.com

Stellar Ski Performances on East Coast

1st in Snow Row, Wesley Echols, SES Excel

6th in Snow Row, Chris Chappell, SE

4th in Essex, Wesley Echols, SES Ultra

2nd in Sakonnet, Wesley Echols, SES Ultra

5th in Sakonnet, Chris Chappell, SE Ultra

1st inBlackburn, Mike Tracy/Tim Dwyer, SE2 Course Record, 2:38:00

3rd in Blackburn,Barend Spies, SES Excel, 2:43:03

7th in Blackburn, Wesley Echols, SES Ultra, 2:49:55

8th in Blackburn, Francisco Urena, SE Excel

10th in Blackburn, Chris Chappell, SE Ultra

2nd in Double Beaver,Wesley Echols, SES Excel

11th in Double Beaver, Chris Chappell, SR Excel

3rd in Nahant, Francisco Urena, SE Excel

5th in Nahant, Wesley Echols, SES Ultra

10th in Nahant, Chris Chappell, SE Ultra

2nd in East Coast Surfski Champs, Reid Hyle, SES Ultra

7th in East Coast Surfski champs, Francisco Urena, SE Excel

8th in East Coast Surski Champs, Rob Mirlenbrink, SES excel

11th in East Coast Surfski champs, Wesley Echols, SES ultra

5th in LightHouse to lighthouse, Wesley Echols, SEL Excel

1st in Marblehead Rotary Race, Francisco Urena, SE Excel

This is a tabulation of most of the performances in the North East. As you can see both the SES, SE2, and SE are as competitive as any other ski as far as speed but what sets them apart is they are the most stable. The ability to have great speed with amazing stability is what Stellar skis are all about. They also have some of the best built quality in the world. The Ultra Carbon is the best construction of a ski in the world using a high grade pre preg unidirectional carbon that Wintech Rowing Shells has been using since 2000. Both Stellar and Wintech are built at the Flying Eagle Factory.

Stellar's Excellent Showing at Blackburn 2011

Tim Dwyer and Mike Tracy shattered the doubles record in an SE2 excel in a time of 2hours and 38 minutes on a day that was tailored made for records: flat, overcast, favorable tides. The previous record was 2:46. These guys I know well and are excellent paddlers and made sure they got the boat set up properly and trained in it. To be successful in a double you have to be in synch with each other in balance,stroke, and mentality. Both are incredible rough water padders and are in the top 7 of almost every race they do here in the Northeast. The SE2 is a wonderful double with the combination of speed, lightness, low gunwales, and stability that almost any paddler can benefit from, certainly two skilled paddlers like Mike and Tim.

Of the top 10 finishers, 4 boats were Stellars including the SES and SE. Not bad for Stellar only being out for 18 months. Also if you look further down in the standings 2 SR's were finishers also. Because I know all these paddlers well, I know what they have in common and why the Stellar boats worked for them. Francisco and Chris both big guys who have only been paddling a few short years so the combination of fit and stability of the SE allowed them to make transition to surfskis more easily than some other brands. Chris Sherwood was able to transition from a sea kayak to the ultra stable SR in just a 2 months because of the same reason, stability. The stability runs throughout the line of the Stellar Brand. Barend Spies a top paddler in any boat confirmed what we have known for a year now, that the SES has great speed with stability for the shorter, lighter paddler. So within the Stellar brand there is a ski for all sizes and skill level. The only model not represented was the SEL(low volume SE).

Tim/Mike SE2 Remounts for Blackburn

Mike Tracy and Tim Dwyer who will paddle the SE2 in 3 three weeks at the Blackburn practice there remounts after a Blackburn training paddle. The conditions were very confused coming out of Gloucester Harbor and 2 miles beyond that. It was the biggest conditions for all of us this year. They handled the SE2 with only one or two braces. While the ride is wet, it drained fine if you keep it moving and will drain even better once I put the larger bullets on it. Mike and Tim are looking forward to an excellent race for the Blackburn.

Stellar Wing Paddles

I have been using one of the first Stellar Wing paddles that I received about a month ago. Construction is superb. The shaft is carbon with an oval shape. The blades have almost no twist therefore making it an extremely forgiving paddle in the ocean. The ferrule is unique to Stellar. The design team came up with a cam locking system that is super secure with NO twisting and can be adjusted in seconds on the fly. The size of the blades is similar to the Onno small mid, Epic Mid, or Jantex Gamma mid.

New Bullets for Increase Draining

All the Stellar skis now come with the new bullet that increase the draining by 35% especially when decelerating.

Stellar Sponsors East Coast Surfski Championships

Stellar is the premier sponsor of the 1st ever East Coast Surfski Championships to be held in Jamestown, RI. Total cash prizes will be $1500.00 donated by Stellar. This is on top of the $1200.00 Stellar donated for the SurfskiRacing.com Series. See SurfskiRacing.com for all the details of the race.

Surfskis for Blackburn and East Coast Surfski Championships

We will have surfskis for rent for the Blackburn Challenge and the East Coast Surfski Championships. 2 skis are already rented for the Blackburn and one for the ECSC. Contact me if you are interested.

Ben Lawry Joins Stellar

Ben Lawry has joined Stellar as the Southeast Sales Rep for Surfskis. Ben is know world wide for his expertise as a kayak coach in many different disciplines of paddling.

Cool Video of Stellars on Wave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90lHk7c_Hs&feature=player_profilepage

SR on Choppy Day

Today's 10 mile paddle was confused, windy, and choppy with winds out of the east at 15-20 which made it a beam ride down and back to the North end of Jamestown with Tim. I chose the SR today because I wanted to paddle hard but not worry at all about the conditions still feeling relaxed from my vacation. I added a 1/2 inch pad to the bucket to get a better paddling angle and take up some space in the seat. The SR is fun/stable/fast. It absorb all the confused seas and tracking was excellent. We only had .25 miles of downwind but I got it up to 7:15 min/mile.

Stellar SR Review

This review can be found on www.SurfskiRacing.com

Narrow River Race

In today's race, we had a shoot out on 10 miles of flat water, Mohican, V12, SES Ultra. It is nice to have a 22lb Ultra especially on flat water. What also helps is the weedless 4 inch rudder. Only a minute separated me, Chris(Mohican), Tim(v12) in that order over the 90 minute race. I added a bullet to all my Stellars that increase the drainage by roughly 30%. Next race is the Rotc where I will be paddling Jet! It is light, ultra stable, and very fast for what it is. 19 miles and 6 portages and never a dull moment. Why a Jet? There is alway a liklihood of boat damage on this course and I can just hop in the Jet and go with spending anytime in it. I don't have to take time from paddling the ski on the ocean.

Snow Row 2011

The Snow Row kicks off the racing season for some of us in the New England. This is a short 3.5 miles race run on a triangular course filled with all shapes and sizes of rowing boats from shells to dories. This year I was able to get the race director agree for the surfskis go last so we could stay out of the way of most of these boats. With the wind blowing about 15 on the right quarter, I lined up behind my training partner, Tim Dwyer in his V12. I barely made it to within one boat length to Tim before the gun went off. We both took a much different line than the other boats trying to keep out of their wash and hopefully be in the lee of the island for a short distance which should help. Turned out our line was excellent. I was able to pass Tim in the first half mile while heading toward the island we would be rounding. Fortunately, I was able to cut the island turn very close while avoiding any row boats and coming around the island unscathed. After the island we headed toward the day marker which was the last leg and a downwind. At this point I looked at my GPS and was doing an 8:30 pace with my HR at 161 and stilling feeling good. I did not feel any other skis close to me but I did not dare look back until the finish line. Tim said he was very close to me until his bailer closed and he flooded his cockpit and he said i increased my time over him at this point.

To my surprise i came in 1st overall and in the ski division. It was a windy day so most of the single shells had trouble. I raced the SES Excel with the .5 inch wider seat. While either seat is comfortable for me, the wider seat allows me to feel like I am sitting on the bottom of the bucket so it feels more stable than even the narrow seat SES. The SES now only comes with the slightly wider seat and should fit more paddlers though you still have to have narrow hips to fit comfortably. I also added bullets to improve the draining. This increases the draining by 30% especially when decelerating.

See www.surfskiracing.com for pics and Mark's write up. This was the 1st of the SurfskiRacing.com series generously sponsored by Stellar where the winner of each race gets $100.00 and a more money for winning the series.

New Boats Arrived!!

Betsy and picked up a few boats yesterday from the Stellar Warehouse. I got the New Double, New SR, New Wider seat Ses. I am looking forward to reviewing the SR and SE2, and updating my reveiw of the SES.

Personal Record SES Advantage

I have four major time courses that I paddle have paddled often on the past ten years in all the sea kayaks and surfskis I have owned. All my times, courses, boats, miles, and notes have been recorded in my computer training log. This has been the basis of my Surfski reviews posted on SurfskiRacing.com.

Last Saturday after a four day rest period, followed by a long Erg session the day before, I was on the water in my Ses Advantage(30lbs). Intending just to paddled hard to Black Point, I found myself at a record setting pace so I pushed hard to Black Point, caught my breath for a few seconds and continued on at to finish my 1st leg of my 3Rd Rock course. The conditions were typical for winter paddling, light winds at my back, outgoing tide and air temperatures of 34 degrees and water temps in the thirties as well. I have done this course in part or fully 69 times. The first leg is 5.5, then I turn at 3rd Rock go back the same way. This is an out and back course down the Sakonnet River that is 3 miles wide and 12 miles long one way and leads to the Rhode Island Sound. This is the same course of my Sakonnet River Race.

I pushed hard to 3rd Rock peaking at 164 heart rate and averaging 144 which is low for me, but in this case indicates my fitness level. So when I stopped at 3rd Rock I had averaged an 8.17 minutes per mile or 7.34 mph. So I had beat my old time in September 2008 in my Huki S1X by 55 seconds. On that day I had drafted my training partner for 2 of the 5.5 mile course. This significance for me is that the Advantage even at 30lbs is an extremely fast ski. I almost paddled my Excel SES at 25lbs and probably shattered the record by another minute. I tend to paddled the Advantage during the winter due to it is more stable.