Training wheel floats for a Stellar SES Surfski? Or buy?

[mitchgrunes]

I just bought a Stellar SES racing Surfski. I'm not good enough to stabilize it when it isn't moving, nor can I re-enter it from deep water. (I could try using a paddle float for re-entry - but I often paddle with people who sometimes stop in the middle of the water.)

I'm thinking about sliding a board under the back deck bungees, and duct taping a couple floats (I'm thinking of the 1/2 gallon bottles of juice, that are in dollar stores, or maybe flotation foam) under or over it, to create secondary stability. In effect, training wheels for a surf ski.

Can you think of why that wouldn't work? I worry that it will be unstable in beam waves. Or that under some conditions, the floats would interact with waves to slow it down, defeating the point of buying a fast surf ski. Or are there commercially available products that do the same thing, better?

There is a story behind my foolishness. I need a fast boat to keep up with stronger paddlers. A store in Upstate NY (I am visiting relatives there) will close soon, and is selling their boats at a discount, including this boat, a few years old but unused. I hoped it would be somewhat like an Epic V8, which I've tried and liked (though only in flatwater, and didn't try to re-enter it from the water). It isn't.

Alternately, would anyone in upstate NY want an SES? I put a few minor scratches in it while playing and loading it, but otherwise it's in excellent condition. $2000, firm. I think in the carbon/kevlar layup, based on appearance, which they call the multi-sport layup. Stellar's description is at www.stellarkayaksusa.com/SES-surf-ski, though mine is green, and has an over-deck rudder. Try it at Cass park, Ithaca, NY. It is NOT for beginners, and is for short light people. If I don't find a suitable solution and no one buys it here, I will return to Maryland in about a month, and you can try it there.

 

[Skip Johnson]

Back some decades ago when I was discovering the importance of how low you sit in a narrow kayak my resting position was with my legs in the water. The other technique for staying upright while not moving is to arc your paddle back and forth on top of the water.
FWIW a half inch thick piece of foam could be the difference in swimming or not back then. Now on much larger boats I manage to put enough handholds around that I never have to let go ;-)

 

[HelmutSheina]

Not had much to do with surf skis. Would something like this in a pool noodle (for example) help? https://boatcollar.com.au/

 

[portacruise]

Consider a search for "minimal drag floats" on this list, for recently discussed options, as an example

Gull Wing :: HUKI Outriggers, Surfskis and Surfboards

HUKI Outrigger Canoes, Surf Skis and Surfboards specializing in the manufacture of competitive racing and touring boats.

www.huki.com

Allows the boat to tilt, might make it easier to get back in?

 

[mitchgrunes]

Fascinating ideas. Regretfully, in upstate NY today and probably tomorrow, the air quality is "dangerous" due to Canadian wildfires, and I can see smoke in the air, so I won't try anything.

I also finally started looking at online videos, which I should have done before...

I thought I knew how to balance kayaks. It was sufficient, for the boats I used before, to keep my hips loose, so my weight would naturally stay centered over my boat, without effort on my part. I was so proud I had figured out this method, so I don't need support strokes. The idea of using hip rotations to balance the boat hadn't occurred to me, but maybe that works better for tippier boats - using active angular momentum instead of just passive weight distribution. I will try that in real kayaks too. And of course, being inside a kayak, with a connection between my knees or hips and the boat helped - I wonder if I could improvise a short lip over my legs on a surf ski - though of course that would reduce my ability to pump my legs.

I should have guessed that techniques learned on wide planing hull whitewater boats and my Current Designs Caribou sea kayak (and to some extent other sea kayaks) - a much more stable boat, especially since I am too light for it, wouldn't always work well on a super-tippy boat. And I guess the Epic boats, like the V8, designed for heavier people than me, might be a fair bit more stable than the low volume more-rounded hull Stellar SES. And looking on line, relatively lightweight boats are often less stable. The skin-on-frame 19"x19' 30 lb kayak I used until the skin shrunk too much for me to feel safe inside (I fear I might have trouble doing a wet exit) was also stable and controllable - and fun - for me - maybe because I wasn't heavy enough to put the ends in the water, so my weight was fully supported by the widest and flattest part of the boat. But with the SES, almost the full length is in the water, and its hull is much more rounded in the middle, which makes sense for a racing boat.

I also had completely the wrong idea of how to re-enter a surf ski. I had seen people do a "cowboy re-entry", sliding on from the back deck - but I'm not that flexible, because I can't do anything even vaguely close to a split, so as I get close to the center, my legs force the ski into a tilt. The videos show a method that looks a lot easier for less flexible people like placing the paddle across the other side of the boat, using a leg kick to put the rear end first, then paddle and legs to put one leg in at a time. I will try that.

Pool noodles sound like a great idea, since they would be more streamlined than water bottles. I know they aren't permanent in the sun - from experience, they fall apart if left on roof rack (round) bars within a year or two, which would spread microplastics into the water, but as a learning tool, maybe they would do. Maybe as a first cut, I could skip the bungy cords, and slip part of them directly under the bungees. Obviously, I would need to put something like a dowel rod inside the level part to keep them stiff, and cut the lengths down. I could tie a thin line around the boat to keep them flat against the sides. Maybe another thin line instead of the bungees, so they don't have to bend. A very cheap simple solution to start with.

So for now, I don't want to sell. Maybe some of these tricks will make this boat doable. Or maybe not. It is hard to learn what you can get used to at extremes without extended trials. 1 short day wasn't enough.

But thanks guys, for your wonderful ideas.

 

[mitchgrunes]

In fact, I wonder if hip rotation stabilization would have helped with stand up boards (windsurfers, surfboards, SUPs) too, which I gave up on long ago. If it works on this boat, I might try them again. And maybe I can find some videos about stabilization techniques for stand up boards.

 

[HelmutSheina]

If the pool noodles work you could hit them with something like house paint to slow UV. I don't have much left in the ankles & one knee, so standing up on paddle boards is out, but it looks relaxing.

 

[portacruise]

If the pool noodles will be in frequent or continuous contact with water, it might might mean a considerable loss of hull efficiency has been my experience. My guess is that it introduces water turbulence losses to the water flow for a specially shaped hull, plus some additional water friction from the additional surface area from the edge surface projection, rougher than the hull noodle surface, and possible water flow between the loose contact points. But the only way to know about the slower speed and possible detrimental control effects is by experimenting with it, to see if it is still acceptable for your use. Go for it!

An alternative might be using pool noodle pieces to make a "gull wing" arrangement. That arrangement would keep the contact with water at a minimum, and reduce the detrimental effects to the rare instances where the noodles touch the water. JMHO, I haven't tried this one..

 

[HelmutSheina]

Agreed, it will be like rowing an inflatable if they drag in water. There might be some absorption too, impacting weight.

I think you're on the right track now Mitch; adapting you to the boat, rather than vice versa. Cheaper, lighter, faster in a number of aspects, better aesthetics, and a huge sense of satisfaction when you are master of what you had once thought beyond you. Best wishes, and a request for a followup story when you are one with your magic boat.

 

[mitchgrunes]

What material would you use to turn the pool noodle into a gull wing, that would be stiff and durable enough to mostly hold that shape when it came in contact with the water, but not too heavy?

A metal coat hanger would be fairly easy to shape, but I think it would bend too easily under the stress of supporting the boat. And a lot of coat hangers in parallel might be heavy...

 

[Skip Johnson]

1/2" aluminum tubing.

 

[portacruise]

If a wave hits the floats above water, the construction and materials will be shock tested at high stress. It has to be sturdy, lightweight and easy to remove. If you have free access (@ salvage?) to the right kind (more than a hundred different kinds exist) of strong and non- splitting bamboo it might work. Otherwise it's low cost sturdy aluminum. Here's some designs that might give you ideas about how to build it, some can be adjusted upward to gull wing heights, most can't,

Best Kayak Outriggers Stabilizers 2026: Expert Reviews of 15 Systems

Expert reviews of the top 15 kayak outrigger stabilizer systems tested over 120+ hours. Find the perfect stabilizer for fishing, standing, and enhanced safety on the water.

www.paddleroundthepier.com