Registry Tampa Bay

These days, if you want to qualify as the super-cool Florida parent or grandparent, it’s no longer enough to have a nice boat to play on. To heighten your ‘cool’ quota, you really need a Wake-Surf boat. 

 

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, wake-surfing is where your boat kicks-up a monster wave at the back, the rider gets towed up to speed, then releases the tow rope and rides the wave like a surfer in Hawaii. 

Don’t confuse it with wake-boarding, which is more like water skiing, where the rider never lets go of the rope and simply carves lots of turns. 

 

“Wake-surfing has suddenly become the pickleball of watersports. Everyone who loves boating wants to ride a wave,” Gavan Hunt, sales VP at Sarasota-based Chris-Craft tells me during a demo of Chris-Craft’s brand new Sportster 25 Wake Surf. 

While wake-surfing isn’t new to Chris-Craft – it offered a Launch 28 Surf back in 2018 – seeing a vast growth in the market, the builder is now getting serious. And that includes the price. A fully-equipped Sportster 25 Wake Surf, powered by a 350-horsepower Volvo-Penta V8, stickers for just under $200,000. 

 

And you can get a standard Sportster 25, with a 300 hp Volvo that’s perfectly-suited for less serious wake-surfing, for $149,000. For a brand new Chris-Craft, with all its fabulous quality and craftsmanship, is a deal.

But I’ve met up with Gavan Hunt to take a look at this new Wake 25 Surf and head out into the glassy waters of Sarasota Bay for a demo. 

 

Full disclosure here; while I actually chickened-out at actually getting in the water, I did spend a couple of hours test-driving the new wake-surfer, and watching a pro showing off his moves.

But first the boat. It features a brand new, wave-cleaving 25-foot-long hull designed around Volvo’s 6.2-liter stern drive V8. The big difference here is that the twin counter-rotating props are forward-facing, to keep the spinning props away from the surfer.

 

And to create the perfect, steep-sided wave, the new 25 Wake Surf comes with a trio of ballast tanks that can be filled, at the tap of a button, with up to 120 gallons of water in three minutes, to really lower the stern of the boat and build great waves.

“I know, we take a perfectly good boat that we go and fill it with water,” says Gavan.

 

To help create the perfect wake, Chris-Craft worked with wake-surfing guru, Scott Wood, owner of Lauderdale-based Wake WorX who created the patented Super Surf’R trim tab system.

This lets the steerer individually adjust the tabs and fine-tune the shape of the wave on each side. 

 

To me, one of the coolest features of this new 25 Wake Surf is its folding top. Not only does it provide important shade, but it comes with three sturdy towing points to keep the lines high off the deck. 

In addition, at the touch of a button the top can be lowered flat, making the boat easier to trailer, fit into a home garage or a dry-stack marina. 

 

Chris-Craft’s long-time designer, Carlo Galeazzi – he’s an Italian based in Rome – certainly did a fine job with the layout of this new 25. 

At the stern there’s a wide sunpad with tilt-up backrest so you can watch the action. In the cockpit, there’s a nice and wide sofa with high back, plus twin helm seats with backrests that can adjust depending whether you want to look forward or back. And under every seat, there’s a ton of storage.

 

Up in the bow, reached through an opening section of the windshield, there are stretch-out sofas on each side, with a pop-in teak table for al fresco dining. 

Out on the water, this new 25 is a total blast courtesy of that big 350 hp Volvo V8 which can punch the 5,680-pound Sportster to a top speed of 50 mph. Want even more oomph, there’s the option of a 400 hp version. 

 

Chris-Craft’s Hunt predicts that this new 25 Wake Surf will account for as much as 40 per cent of total Sportster 25 sales, and appeal to a whole new generation of high-action watersports lovers.

It has to beat sitting there with a fishing rod in your hands.

 

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