Wallytender ha originato un vero e proprio segmento di mercato

Wallytender gave rise to a real market segment

SAILING FIRST. THEN IT WAS THE MOTOR’S TURN. As in all things, there is always a “before” and an “after”. Certainly, with his entry on the scene, boating was no longer what it was before. Luca Bassani not only created a successful brand, Wally, but he was among the forerunners of a new way of conceiving and experiencing the boat. “At Wally, the motor-powered models are a result of the sailing ones” says Bassani. “It all started on the day when a German customer asked me to build a motor boat inspired by the Tiketitan. Actually – continues Bassani – at that time I was already doing a little thought in this sense, but that request convinced me to break the delay“. The rest is history.

But as he has also shown in sailing, limiting the reasoning only to design is an understatement. For Bassani, the form is always at the service of function and never the other way around. “Looking around, I noticed that motor boats had little to say in terms of innovation.

Everything revolved around the idea that adding more power resulted into better performance. Very little had been done in terms of hydrodynamics“says Bassani.

Also in this case, sailing had a hand in it. The inspiration came from the bows of the Wallys. It all started from there. “At that time, motor boats, especially those with a sporting vocation, had a profile with a very pronounced bow. The hull, instead, was flat. In other words, this meant that, in conditions of rough sea, the hulls were not efficient enough and the bow was unable to cut the waves” continues Bassani. Hence the idea of adopting the same type of approach used for the Wally sailboats which stood out precisely for the sharp design of the bow. “The most difficult thing was to conceive a hull capable of being efficient in all sea conditions and with a set-up that did not compromise performance” says Bassani.

The result was what was considered as the most revolutionary boat of the New Millennium. The 118Wallypower was a breaking point from many points of view, starting with performance: 65 knots delivered by three powerful turbines. But the 36-meter boat was revolutionary also in terms of innovation. The most striking innovations were the use of huge glass surfaces for the superstructure in order to eliminate the visual distance between exterior and interior; the creation of an additional cockpit in the bow area (considered as a technical area until then) and the use of folding bulwarks to increase the walkable surface.

“From the idea to the launch it took four years” says Bassani. 118wallypower touched the water in 2003 and, since then, nothing was the same as before.

Actually, a change was already taking place.

And also in this case under the sign of Bassani. “The Wallypower was an extraordinary work platform that allowed us to develop a real range of products that are still very successful today” reflects Bassani. “I was inspired by the lawyer Agnelli. At the end of the 1980s, Agnelli bought a tender from the Australian Kookaburra consortium. It was transformed from a sails tender into a chase boat. Until then, large motor yachts had tenders up to 6 meters in length. In 1998, I bought myself a copy of the lawyer’s tender and, after studying its strengths and weaknesses, I developed the new 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 had to have a tender of at least 40 feet to greatly improve life on board. The smaller boats could remain in the harbor during the cruise, using this type of tender to go ashore, embark guests and for any service, even to transport two thousand liters of fuel in the tanks to refuel the mother boat” concludes Bassani.

The advent of the Wallytender gave rise to a real market segment that has now become one of the most prolific one of boating industry. Similarly, the entry of the Wallyace introduced a new way of conceiving life on a boat, again borrowed from sailing. “The idea adopted is the one successfully tested on board the Tiketitan, that is a real terrace overlooking the sea which, in the case of the Wallyace, communicates with the aft master cabin. Moreover, the salon benefits from a 360-degree panoramic view”.

For the future, Wally’s course in the motor segment is plotted. Once again, the most important innovations involve the Wallytender range which, since the brand’s entry into the Ferretti Group in 2019, has brought a new 48-footer also available in an outboard version. “Maintaining Wally’s strong aesthetic identity” adds Bassani “and the practical solutions already validated in the inboard model, we have created the ideal boat for those who prefer the outboard experience: high speed, high performance and unparalleled seaworthiness”.

The daycruiser range has been further enriched this year with the entry of the 43wallytender. But that’s just the beginning. The best is yet to come.

A destra, il Wallyace. In questo caso l’intuizione di Luca Bassani è stata quella di mutuare dalla vela al motore il concetto di terrazza sul mare, posizionata in comunicazione diretta con la cabina armatoriale di poppa. Sotto, una foto di gruppo che ritrae Wallypower e Wallytender. On the right, the Wallyace. In this case, Luca Bassani’s intuition was to borrow from the sailing to the motor segment the concept of a terrace overlooking the sea, positioned in direct communication with the aft master cabin. Below, a group photo of Wallypower and Wallytender.

Il Wallytender 48 (a sinistra) è tra le novità più significative presentate recentemente da Wally, che dal 2019 è sotto l’orbita del Ferretti Group. Lo stesso modello è declinato anche in una versione (Wallytender X) dotata di una propulsione fuoribordo. Recentemente è stato presentato anche il Wallytender 43, modello che amplia l’offerta del marchio in questo segmento di mercato. The Wallytender 48 (on the left) is among the most important novelties recently presented by Wally which, since 2019, has been part of the Ferretti Group. The model is available in an outboard version (Wallytender X). The shipyard has recently presented another model, the Wallytender 43, which will expand the brand’s offer in this market segment.