Let’s talk about wakesurf waves and answer the question “What is the best wakesurf wave in the world?”
If you take a look at the websites and marketing materials from all of the various surf boat manufacturers, you may notice that all of them say in one way, shape, or form that their boats produce the “best wakesurf wave in the world.” Really? Obviously that’s not true… or is it?
What makes a wakesurf wave “best?” Does best mean biggest? Does it mean longest? Is “best” an ideal shape? Most importantly, is “best” the same for everyone, or is your best wave different than my best wave?
If you spend much time wakesurfing with multiple people and riding on different boards, you will quickly discover that the ideal or “best” surf wave for one person is not necessarily the ideal wave for another. A 300-pound guy and a 90-pound girl are not going to have the best possible surfing experience on the same wave. Going beyond that, one person may choose to change the wave considerably, depending on what board they are riding on and how deep the fins are.
“The best wakesurf wave” is an easy thing to claim – it’s objective, and you could make an argument that any surf wave could be considered the “best” under the right circumstances. A 1999 Mastercraft ProStar could produce the “best” wakesurf wave for a 5-year-old on a longboard, though chances are it wouldn’t be the best for you.
In reality, the topic that we are talking about is creating the best WAVES (plural) since one wave certainly doesn’t fit everyone. There are some boats that can create a great surf wave if the wave you like is steep, relatively short, and has a hard lip on the top, and others that do a fantastic job of creating a long, smooth wave with a rounded face, but the real key is finding a boat that can create these and every other possible wave shape – and do it easily.
Centurion and Supreme boats are pretty well known for being the “best” surf boats out there. They are the boat of choice for more professional and semi-professional surfers than any other brand, tow the World Wakesurfing Championships, and headline the majority of competitive wakesurf tournaments. The reason for this is because the engineers at Centurion chose to focus on two things: 1) Displace the most amount of water possible to create the most mass of water behind the boat (the why behind the 5,500 lbs. of ballast), and 2) Design systems that will allow that mass of water to be directed and controlled, not just delaying the convergence of water but allowing you to manipulate it. The hull design, surf system, stinger plate, ballast placement, drive system, engine selection and everything else that has to deal with wakesurfing performance on Centurion and Supreme boats are derived from these two goals. We aren’t just talking about making a wave steeper or more mellow, we are talking about customizing the front, back, lip, transition and power of the wave. We are talking about a boat that can create YOUR surf wave, regardless of what that wave is.
So, what boat makes “the best surf wave in the world?” The boat that can make all of them.
