Catching air off a monstrous wake, twisting and turning in every direction while airborne is the life of a professional wakeboarder. Intense practice sessions, long hours on the road and in the water, and the ability to take risks when performing tricks is what it takes to be successful in the world of professional wakeboarding. Not only does this profession take intense skill and coordination when grabbing onto the rope, but it also takes dedication. It is the commitment to get up one more time when your arms feel like they are going to fall off that separates the professional from the amateur.
Brian Francis from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, has made his life's work soaring through the air on a wakeboard and spends much of his day-to-day time perfecting tricks and getting the water time necessary to continue his impressive professional track record. For Brian, looking professional in the water is his top priority, but the impression he leaves on spectators, sponsors, and fans starts far before he enters the water. Rolling up to the ramp at any aquatic paradise in style is a goal most boating and water sports enthusiasts seek to achieve, and as a professional wakeboarder, Brian is no different. As the sport demands intense practice sessions at all hours of the day, Brian needed a high-quality craft to facilitate his cloud-scraping trick sessions, and turned to the professionals at MasterCraft Boats in Venore, Tennessee, to lay up a 22-footer from their X-Star line.
To anyone who has spent a fair amount of time immersed in the realm of recreational boating, the name MasterCraft is extremely high on the custom boating food chain. The company's high standard of quality performance, styling, and construction is poured into every craft that is extracted from its vast assortment of molds. Not only is MasterCraft recognized as the perfect choice for the family man and water sports enthusiast, but it is also the powerful and impressive history of MasterCraft Boats that sets them apart from other performance ski boat companies on the market. Starting more than 35 years ago, the company's first boats were constructed in a vacant stall in a horse barn.
According to company President and CEO John Dorton, "We weren't happy with the ski boats on the market at the time so we decided to build our own. There was no other motivation than to give ourselves a better boat to ski behind. It just so happened that others agreed our boat was better, so they bought it. As we sold one boat, we built a new one. Soon, a passing hobby became a thriving business."
What was once a small business operated out of the confines of a small horse barn has grown into a boat-building mecca operated on a 225,000-square-foot facility with advanced CAD/CAM technology. The company has indeed come a long way and continues to be the number one choice for professional and recreational water sport enthusiasts. Getting back to one of the company's most impressive models, the X-Star packs everything a pleasure boater, skiing, and wakeboarding enthusiast could want in a quality vessel. Measuring 22 feet, 3 inches from bow to stern, the X-Star is packed with plenty of seating and storage. Even more impressive is the Pro Wakeboard Tour X-Star, which features a host of MasterCraft By Design aftermarket parts designed especially for professional wake carvers such as Brian Francis.