Today, we treat the masters of classic wooden boatbuilding, their architects and craftsmen with respect, even devotion. They once elevated yacht building to an art form. Their heyday ended when, with the help of modern plastics, endless series production from the mould began. With carbon fibre as a material, boatbuilding approached a new, spectacular level of boatbuilding sophistication with technically complex individual structures. It is not only the finished product that is of interest here, but also its creation. A current example of this is the construction of a Wally 101, which is currently being built at the Performance Boats shipyard in Forlì near Ravenna on the Adriatic. The number 101 stands for the length of the ship in feet (30.80 metres). Delivery of the 48th carbon fibre sailing yacht from Wally is planned for spring 2023.
This is the fourth Wally yacht for the German client. It replaces a Wally 100, which was extremely successful on the regatta course but is now twelve years old. After three designs from the Argentinean-Italian design studio of Germán Frers, the owner is relying for the first time on the Dutch, Germany-based Rolf Vrolijk, a proven regatta specialist.
Ten years of development in design and material
Wally Yachts in Monaco, now under the umbrella of the Italian Ferretti shipyard group, has succeeded in asserting the minimalist design style of high-performance cruiser-racers developed by Wally founder Luca Bassani more than a quarter of a century ago and continuing to position Wally Yachts at the forefront of the evolution in yacht building against all imitators. The client of the new boat expects his new Wally 101 to offer the greatest possible comfort for his holiday cruises and a speed potential that will allow him to have a major say in the International Maxi Class regattas.
Although his new ship is only 30 centimetres longer than the old one, the two projects are very different. This is the result of ten more years of technical developments in design and materials. The Wally 101, with its planing, almost surfboard-flat hull, is almost a metre wider at 7.49 metres, and the lift keel, with a draught of 6.80 metres in regatta mode, is an impressive 1.40 metres deeper than the Wally 100, which is an important factor when sailing downwind. In terms of the data that is particularly important for performance under sail, the new model scores points with an upwind sail area of 630 square metres, compared to 521 square metres for its predecessor. The new boat also has a clear advantage in terms of weight savings, now 56.4 tonnes compared to 68 tonnes. Modern design and technology provide considerably more space below deck, with superior sailing performance.
The minimalist Wally DNA is the link
When Wally Yachts unveiled its iconic 24-metre "Genie of the Lamp" as a push-button automated day cruiser in 1995, it was hard to imagine what the Wally team would be working on in the future. In fact, the developments from almost three decades of high-tech boat building are not visually recognisable at first glance. However, they all share the typical minimalist Wally DNA.
Its inventor Luca Bassani on the question of what so many years of evolution in yacht building have brought to his boats: "The fuller lines, with the greatest width in the stern area, and a lighter hull structure enable our yachts to have greater volume and more performance. Advanced materials such as prepreg carbon fabrics, high-tech fibres for the standing and running rigging and lightweight titanium for the fittings make the yachts stiffer, lighter and more reliable. This also applies to the electronic equipment and controls, which make all boats even safer and more comfortable. We continue to build yachts according to the motto 'fast and easy', but today our customers and their crews are much more involved in the development. Owners' experiences with previous Wallys are an invaluable source of knowledge for us. Their personal wishes and ideas for the external and internal layout play a much greater role in the planning process than was previously the case."
The Wally 101 as art in architecture
Performance Boats is one of a handful of shipyards worldwide that have experience with carbon fibre one-offs in the size and quality of maxi yachts. What leaves the yard here, as in the case of the Wally 101, after two years of work, is a 30.80 metre long piece of "tech art". The various stages of development in the realisation of the project can also be described as art in construction, of which the slatted structure as the basis for the negative shape of the hull is just one example: a work of art in itself.
In order to achieve an optimally smooth outer skin and minimise the need for filling, the sandwich laminate is laid in the mould, which is considerably more time-consuming than laying it on the upside-down positive mould. There is no need to worry about correct impregnation with resin in a negative mould. The epoxy resin of the prepregs, i.e. the laminate pre-impregnated with resin, which is cooled to minus 18 degrees Celsius before processing, reacts with heat and hardens in a 440 square metre oven at 85 degrees Celsius. The deck of the yacht is then created in the same way - in one piece. On 22 August 2022, 15 months after construction began, the hull and deck were married so that painting of the hull could begin soon after. Swan white is the colour of choice for the new build.
The boat builders are the best in the world
Finally, Luca Bassani has his say once again: "Our boat builders responsible for laminating have been with Wally since the very beginning. They are among the best in the world, and they have developed techniques to get the best out of the high-quality materials." As the finished Wally 101 is expected to weigh just 56.4 tonnes when suspended from the crane, this would make her around 20 percent lighter than similar yachts of a comparable length.
The new construction from the computers of the Judel/Vrolijk design office is a classic Wally hybrid: the window gallery on the hull reveals a comfortable interior, while the lines of the hull and the sporty rigging package promise dominance on the regatta course. The work of art can be experienced next spring, but before that we will take a look at the interior - which we will also show here on yacht.de!
