How does Steel Lafferty go so big and hit that double up perfect every time? This is just another day for the Florida wonder boy. It is nice when you can get an insight of a pro wakeboarders passion for the sport and their desire to push riding to the next level.

Sponsors: RedBull, Nike Action Sports, Mastercraft Boats, Liquid Force Wakeboards, StraightLine Ballast, Electric Visual, Kicker Audio, Performance Ski and Surf.

Sure, his hair may have a little too much product in it for his age, maybe he did wear gloves a few years too long, and of course there’s no getting past the picture above, but you have to admit Zane Schwenk is legend in the sport of wakeboarding, and an all-around great guy.

The powers that be tend to agree, which is why they honored him with as a Legend of Wake at the 2008 Wake Awards last fall. The equivalent of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy’s, the Legend of Wake recognition highlights important people in the industry that have committed their career towards representing wakeboarding. Zane is exactly the kind of ambassador wakeboarding needs, and is a great public face for our sport.

Check out the video after the jump.

Mastercraft sent out a little update on the status of their newest model, the MC 300 and fortunately they decided to include some actual pictures to whet your appetite.

For those of you not familiar with the MC300, it’s Mastercraft’s latest move away from the hardcore wakeboard industry, and is geared towards pleasure boaters on big water that occasionally like to pull someone behind the boat. As such, this is a BIG, measuring a massive 30 feet long and 11 feet wide. And with a dry weight of 12,500 pounds, it weighs nearly three times more than their flagship wakeboard boat the X-Star.

With an enclosed cuddy cabin and an integrated “arch”, Mastercraft has proven that they can build a boat designed for buyer’s outside the wakeboard industry. Now they just have to figure out how to convince someone that doesn’t know the Mastercraft name to actually buy it.

Check out our gallery of images below, or visit the official Mastercraft 300 site to learn more.

Gallery: First Official 2009 Mastercraft 300 Photos

With boat show season upon us, and boat sales down significantly this year due to the economy, perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that most manufacturers are helping dealers move boats by offering some pretty impressive incentives for boat show shoppers. From Malibu and Mastercraft on down to Supra, almost all of the major players are offering free options, cash back, or a combination of the two.

Compared to years past, where demand outpaced supply, this is definitely a different landscape for those purchasing boats, and for those that have the means, there has never been a better time to buy a new boat.

Read on for a full summary of what’s on the table if you buy a new boat during a 2009 boat show.

With his recent investment in Mastercraft Boats, racing Mogul Roger Penske is now a major share holder in the boat builder from Tennessee. And he’s making use of his racing team’s success on the oval to help promote the Mastercraft brand and increase awareness of wakeboarding amongst the general public.

The first implementation of this new marketing relationship was Mastercraft signage on the #2 car for the Bristol, TN race on March 13th. Penske drivers Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. even made time to stop by the Mastercraft factory in Vonore on March 13th to spend some time with their fellow Penske employees.

Roger Penske has a storied career, achieving success in many motorsports divisions (among other business pursuits), so if his history of winning is any indication, we should expect great things from Mastercraft as this relationship continues to develop and mature.

You can read the full details of the partnership between Mastercraft Boats and Roger Penske’s NASCAR team on the Mastercraft Website.

System AVD Inc., a Seattle-based design company, has announced the release of the Rusty Malinoski Pro-Model design boat wrap. In addition, Rusty becomes the first athlete System AVD will sponsor. The custom designed boat wrap, which matches the design of Malinoski’s personal MasterCraft X-Star, will be available in 2008 at MasterCraft dealers world-wide, including installation services in the United States and Canada.

Check out the full press release after the jump.

Yeah, this one has been making the rounds on the interwebs for a while now, but it’s still pretty funny, so why not watch it again? Apparently Zane and his PC-aping buddy were bored at a Mastercraft shoot, and came up with a series of funny (although hardly original) skits comparing their product to the competitors.

Still, what they’re lacking in creativity, they make up for with a good laugh at Malibu’s expense. Granted much of the information offered in the skit isn’t entirely accurate, but then again is accurate journalism really what you expected from Zane Schwenk?

Check out the video after the jump, and stay tuned for the other videos in the series.
Still, what they’re lacking in creativity, they make up for with a good laugh at Malibu’s expense. Granted much of the information offered in the skit isn’ entirely accurate, but then again is accurate journalism really what you expected from Zane Schwenk?

Check out the video after the jump, and stay tuned for the other videos in the series.

It’s not every day that you get to see a Mastercraft X1 dangling from a helicopter a few hundred feet above the ground. When you combine extreme flooding with a sand bar, that’s the only means of rescue for a new boat that gets stranded. We can only imagine what was going through the owner’s mind while he watched his toy being plucked off the mud. In the end though, everything turned our fine and the X1 survived it’s harrowing trip suspended from a Bell 212 helicopter by a single cable.

Check out the video courtesy of YouTube after the jump.

2008 will mark the 40th year that the Mastercraft boat company has been in business. That is quite a feat to be sure, and one that is deserving of recognition. In a trend that has only become more popular recently, current rumors indicate that Mastercraft is working up something special to commemorate four decades of building boats. We’ll have to wait until some time around July or August for the unveiling, but we do have a few predictions that we can share right now.

Read on to see what we expect from these limited edition models after the break.

Rumors have been swirling about a new cross-over wake boat from Mastercraft for the last few months. Now we finally get a chance to see it in the flesh. This new model is 21′ 4″ long, and rides on a new multisport friendly hull design that is optimized for both wakeboarding and waterskiing. In addition to the new hull, the X14/214 models also features a unique wrap-around seating configuration that gives the seating capacity of a v-drive in a direct drive configuration.

More pics and detailed information coming after the break.

[Via: TeamTalk Forums]