Maxi sailing yachts. Tailor-made gems with a racing heart

Sailing superyacht owners love nature and know that they pay a lower price than that paid for motor yachts of equal length for a craft that in many ways is more elegant, more seafaring and safer in bad weather, even though it may be slower and less spacious. Nothing new, yachting has always been like this, but certainly the pressure to keep yacht owners faithful to a brand has also been cultivated at a competition level. Several of the more powerful names have in fact focussed on single brand trophies, while generally regattas dedicated to maxi yachts remain firmly the most glamorous on the planet. Perhaps not everyone knows that many of the most prestigious names of this exclusive club of yachts has strong ties with Italy which, contrary to what is believed, is not alone at the pinnacle of exclusive mechanically propelled superyacht production. We begin with Wally, the ship-building firm from Monaco created by Luca Bassani Antivari, heir to the famous Italian family that founded BTicino. Wally has produced yachts that reach 164 feet, but its speciality is hulls of around 100 feet. This is the case with the latest creation of 2016, the “Barong D“, with interiors designed by Luca Bassani Design and naval architecture, as is tradition, by German Frers: beautiful colour contrasts and a super-long cockpit for amazing open-air comfort. But on the quay, the most awe-inspiring of the various recent models is the second “WallyCento, Cubed“, delivered a year after the first of the series: just two weeks after inauguration it had already begun to feature prominently in regattas