{"id":2694,"date":"2026-06-18T14:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/?p=2694"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:04:15","slug":"which-polyethylene-ph-sea-kayak-does-dimitri-love-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/which-polyethylene-ph-sea-kayak-does-dimitri-love-most\/","title":{"rendered":"Which polyethylene P&H Sea Kayak does Dimitri love most?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With so much going on with new models and different designs entering the market in the past few years, I felt the urge to write something about my personal experience with polyethylene boats and their use for surfing and playing. I remember the days when a PE boat was considered less \u201ctrue sea kayak\u201d than a composite model. These days are long, long gone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first steps into sea kayaking were with a DAG Midway (still our official radio callsign: Midway 1), which was a single-layer, sit-on-top sea kayak. Just five years later, I chased my dream of having a P&H Sea Kayak, and the Scorpio<\/a> was exactly what I was looking for!<\/p>\n\n\n

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We all have to start somewhere…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After paddling thousands of kilometres in the Scorpio, even my first North Sea crossing, I was on the lookout for something shorter and more playful, as I really love surfing.  Sylvie also wanted to switch to a closed-cockpit kayak, so we shared a Delphin<\/a> (one of the early models).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few years, when CoreLite X entered the market, we upgraded. Anyone who knows the North Sea knows that surfing here is considered, well, demanding to say the least. The Delphin in CoreLite X was my favourite boat when it came down to taming the powerful, irregular North Sea waves with their way-too-short, 3-4 second intervals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dimitri in aforementioned Delphin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We were using the Delphin 150, the smaller of the two sizes, and although we loved its neat characteristics and handling, we missed a day hatch to stow our safety equipment and found it front-heavy. The day hatch was not possible for P&H to add due to a lack of space (shorter aft deck), and the high bow was needed to prevent purling. So, we adapted!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

… then P&H launched the Leo<\/a>! The Leo feels like the underdog of the range, so it attracted our attention. Where a lot of paddlers moved from the Delphin to the recently launched Virgo<\/a>, I wanted to try the Leo out.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sylvie on the water in her rare Sunset Pink Virgo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To be brief, the Leo MV replaced my trusty Delphin 150. Why? Well, I did not expect the Leo to have almost the same amount of rocker as the Delphin, so when I tried it out for the first time in the surf, I was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leo doesn’t have the distinctive bow of the Delphin, but purling stayed to a minimum. It’s also a little more forgiving, as the hull is a bit more rounded when putting it on edge, and there’s no extra weight in the bow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, my problem of not having a day hatch was immediately solved. The Leo is sold as a multi-day tourer, and it is… but we aim to surf, play, and coach, and this is where we discovered a hidden side of this underdog.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Dimitri proving the Leo is just as much fun in the surf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

To us, the Leo is more than just a touring boat. By now, it is my boat of choice when I coach or train on rescue scenarios with the Coast Guard and professional shipping (check our videos on YouTube<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Leo is a tad slower than the Scorpio, but it is slightly faster than the Delphin. It can take a beating, one of the main advantages of PE, and by now, people know that CoreLite X closes the gap between composite and PE even more; the 3-layered plastic makes it lighter, more abrasion-resistant, and noticeably stiffer!<\/p>\n\n\n

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A bonus photo of Dimitri in another P&H PE model he loves, the Valkyrie<\/a>… kayaking is fun in all weathers, although we’re not sure we’ve ever seen Dimitri without a smile!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

So, I absolutely love my composite P&H Sea Kayaks, but I would never abandon PE. If storage and budget allow, we advise having 2 boats: a PE and a composite! Best of both worlds? Or is it just the smell of a new boat speaking?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember the days when a PE boat was considered less \u201ctrue sea kayak\u201d than a composite model. These days are long, long gone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8898,"featured_media":2716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[134,255,360,201,10],"class_list":["post-2694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-ph-delphin","tag-ph-leo","tag-ph-scorpio","tag-ph-virgo","tag-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DSCF2654-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2694"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2717,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2694\/revisions\/2717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.phseakayaks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}