In boating, there is a “before” and an “after” Wally because the brand founded in 1994 changed the world of boats forever. In this case the insight, or rather the vision, bears the name of Luca Bassani.
30 years ago, Wally’s story began.
It all began 30 years ago with the launch of Wallygator II, the first hull that brought the Wally brand to prominence. It was 1994: from then on, sailing would never be the same. History then repeated itself seven years later. In 2001, Wally announced its entry into motoring by presenting a 45-foot hull. A move that might have seemed risky at the time. In contrast to today, at the time it was difficult if not unthinkable to imagine a shipyard present in the two market segments. In boating, sailing and motoring were two parallel lines that never met. That was before Luca Bassani, whose intuition once again proved successful. Then in 2003 the arrival of 118wallypower revolutionized the powerboat segment for good, determining a before and an after. But, if of 118wallypower there was only one, wallytenders, on the contrary, experienced an unprecedented success that continues to this day.
Wally was born as follows.
“What inspired me was Avvocato Agnelli. In the late 1980s, Avvocato bought the tender of the Australian Kookaburra consortium. – Luca Bassani, founder of Wally , tells us – He transformed it from a sail-carrying tender into a people-carrier by inventing the service boat following the mother boat. Until then, large motor yachts embarked tenders no more than 20 feet long. In 1998 I bought a copy of the Lawyer’s tender myself and after studying its merits and flaws, developed the now iconic 45-foot wallytender that I launched in 2001. We sold more than a hundred units in a few years convincing the market that every boat, whether small or large, had to have a tender of that size in tow to greatly improve the quality of life on board. Smaller boats while cruising could stay in the roadstead, using it to bring ashore and embark guests and for any service, even to carry two thousand liters of fuel in the tanks to refuel the mother boat.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3s5gZZQHy0 E così, se all’inizio i wallytender accompagnavano scafi a vela quali Genie of The Lamp, e Tiketitoo riprendendone in alcuni casi perfino i colori, con il passare del tempo questa gamma di imbarcazioni conobbe una grande popolarità e diffusione anche tra i proprietari dei superyacht aprendo così un nuovo segmento di mercato diventato tra i più prolifici e dinamici dell’industria nautica. “Prima dell’arrivo del wallytender” prosegue Bassani “gli scafi a motore potevano essere raggruppati in due grandi famiglie: gli open da una parte e i cabinati dall’altra”. Anche qui come accaduto per la vela le ragioni alla base del successo poggiano su diversi fattori. A iniziare dal design che all’epoca rappresentò un vero e proprio punto di rottura. Anche in questo caso però non c’è nulla di casuale. Tutto si può ricondurre alla capacità che Bassani ha avuto di andare oltre le convenzioni, abbandonando ciò che era considerato normale o inevitabile.
Wally. How Luca Bassani reasons
“I am not Archimedes. And I can’t draw. I draw in my head, then I need someone to shape the idea. I work with rational logic. So I have brought small inventions or innovations even in the design of hulls, sails, masts. Wanting to improve a problem I follow a logical process and then the idea is born. Innovation always comes from a logical process.” Bassani continues. “I started with sailboats by setting as my goal simpler, easier-to-drive and more comfortable boats to convince motorboaters to change. Then as an entrepreneur I had to go alongside the motor. And here, where the problem is getting there first while in sailing it is going towards the goal, the issue to be solved was to make a hull that had the best behavior at sea. We studied it for a long time in the tank and applied it on the 118wallypower and then declined on the other models.” Bassani concludes.
The 8 boats that made Wally ‘s history
Ph: Gilles Martin RagetPh: Gilles Martin Raget
13/07/2012 - Archipel des Iles Kornati (Croatie) - Wally Power ACE***13/07/2012 - Kornati archipelago (Croatia) - Wally Power ACE
Wally 48 X tender in Miami FL
Ph: Alberto Cocchi
18-19/10/2021, Saint-Tropez (FRA,83), Wally Yachts, WHY200
Wally presenta il nuovo 58wallypower
Il 50wallypower debutta sulla scena
