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WATERSKI Magazine
Centurion Avalanche
www.waterskimag.com/boats/centurionavalanche
Recommendation: Hard-core Wakeboard
It's the best boarding boat of the Centurion line, and that's not just wakeboarding. Wake surfing is emerging as a new craze in water-sports circles, and Centurion has met it with open arms. The Avalanche, Centurion's boat for the hard-core wakeboarder, has wakes and space aplenty – the perfect recipe for creating boarding crowds.
It comes standard with a tower and 250-pound center ballast, along with a walk-through transom for easy access to the rear engine or the swim platform. Other features include the ICS with snap-out carpet, the swivel captain's chair (with the optional easy-rider with bolster seat), filler cushion for the bow, a built-in cooler in the walk-through to the bow, and tons of storage. The wide 100-inch beam let us stretch out with plenty of legroom with no worries about trampling over equipment.
We took the boat out on a night run and enjoyed the LED lighting in the cup-holders and the easy-to-read gauge package. The luminescent red gauges and internal lights contrasted perfectly with the dark. But the light of day is where you'll want this baby, airing over the wakes into the flats and surfing the waves.
Wakeboarding
What can we say? It's all about big wakes with this boat. With both standard and optional ballast on our test boat, in addition to some sacks, we were able to pump up the wakes for a fun session. With quick ramp transitions, we got plenty of floaty pop for wake-to-wake action. The boat is solid through double-ups as well as choppy big-lake conditions. Last summer saw the return of the World Wakesurfing Championships, presented by Centurion. The Avalanche pulled the tournament and earned accolades for its wake — or should we say wave. It was absolutely huge. In addition to the swells, Centurion's new Sideswipe exhaust system can distribute the fumes to one side of the boat or the other depending on whether the surfer wants a frontside or backside wave.
Lowdown
- The Wake: capitalized out of respect. Yeah, we respect this mack daddy.
- Storage, storage and more storage. No need to leave anyone or anything behind. And the factory ballast does not diminish the rear storage.
- A truly standout walk-through transom makes it easy to get to the swim platform.
- Solid through the double-ups, quick transitions – line length is important.
- Optional rear ballast and stainless-steel rails.
