Centurion 45 S Sailboats for Sale & Market Overview

The Wauquiez Centurion 45 S represents a pivotal era for the French shipyard, marking a departure from the heavier, traditional IOR-influenced designs of the 1970s and 80s toward a more contemporary, high-performance cruiser-racer aesthetic. Launched in the early 2000s and designed by the prolific naval architecture firm Berret-Racoupeau Yacht Design, the 45 S was engineered to satisfy the "S" in its name—Sport—without sacrificing the offshore robustness that defined the brand’s legacy. The hull is a sophisticated composite of vacuum-bagged resin with a balsa core above the waterline for stiffness and weight reduction, while the underwater sections utilize solid laminate for impact resistance. This model was the centerpiece of a refreshed Centurion range that included the smaller 40 S and the flagship 48 S, all sharing the same design language of a plumb bow, low-profile coachroof, and an expansive, ergonomically optimized cockpit.