Don’t be
fooled
The yachts may be (very) big, (very) fast and (very) beautiful, but the WallyCento fleet is every bit as obsessed with sail- ing balance as any other smaller racing class. So moving the rig at sea to maintain optimum rudder angle… of course sir
While Wallycento owners have used different talents to design and build their yachts, they all turn to Southern Spars/Future Fibres for masts and rigging. With a race-winning pedigree at Grand Prix level and award- winning expertise in superyacht rigs, the company is perfectly equipped for the Wallycento blend of performance and luxury cruising. Back in the early 1990s, when Luca Bassani burst onto the superyacht scene, he brought innovations that defined a bold and uncompromising new aesthetic, which shifted the entire industry and continues to influence its direction. His beautiful, pared-back Wally yachts, with sharp, angular lines and acres of teak spread across flush decks, became elegant exemplars of contemporary design. Given his own background in competitive sailing, Bassani would never be content with good looks alone. With European and World titles in Six Metre and Mumm 30 classes, he demanded and achieved the highest levels of performance and efficiency in his cruising yachts. His own Wallygator, first of the breed, turned heads not just for its striking appearance but also for its speed, once the boat began keeping company with out-and-out racers in European regattas. ‘People started saying, “but that’s a cruising boat,
70 SEAHORSE
with teak and air-conditioning and everything, and she’s as fast as we are”’ he recalls.
Inevitably, as the Wally fleets grew through the 1990s and into the 21st century, racing results became part of their success.
This heritage is epitomised in the Wallycento concept. These are sleek, 100ft superyachts (the Italian cento relates to the length), designed to a box rule, employing grand prix technology to achieve outstanding performance. While these yachts take Wally’s signature contemporary design to another level, the rule also requires an interior that will offer comfortable cruising amenity as well. The rule is quite simple, with 13 measurement factors and tight restrictions between minimums and maximums. Hull length for example is limited to 30m minimum and 30.48m maximum. Beam can vary between 6.5m and 7.2m and overall
Above: They may be based on a simple rule, but in terms of design, materials, technology and general sophistica- tion, the WallyCento rigs are right up there with America’s Cup boats, according to Southern Spars’ Kevin Batten, who races aboard Galateia
weight between 45,000 and 50,000kg. The rig limits are determined by the mainsail luff (42 to 43m), the foot (13.5 to 14m) and a maximum forestay length of 43m. Four yachts have been built to the rule so far, although the first has since been modified, which means it no longer complies for racing in the Wallycento class. The most recent launching is Tango, a Mark Mills design with a Pininfarina-designed interior and built close to the extremes of the rule in terms of minimum displacement and maximum sail area.
As an indication of the massive research and development effort invested in these yachts, Mills says 49 hull shapes were tested in velocity prediction (VPP) and computational fluid dynamics programs to narrow down the best combination of features. When it comes to masts,
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