Wally announced the start of the Wally Class 2017 with 14 yachts.
Pictures by Martinez Studio
The Wally Class (founded in 1999) is the association for owners of Wally sailing yachts with its own rules approved by the race-addicted owners. They race four events in the racing season. It started with the Sail Racing Palmavela (3 – 7 May) with the 24m Nahita as the overall winner (see complete results here).
The next races are at the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Porto Cervo from May 30th – June 3rd, Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup (5 – 11 September) and ends with the Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.
“The Wally Class confirms to be the world’s strongest division of racing superyachts and we are very proud of this result. Our passion for the sailing competition dates back to 1999 when large boat racing was prerogative of the maxi racers, exclusively developed for this purpose but on the brink of extinction.” – says Luca Bassani, Wally Class President and founder, and avid racer himself – “At that time we had eight yachts on the water, who had already successfully competed in the most important Mediterranean regattas. I realized it was time to create the ad hoc organization for the regattas of our boats, and founded the Wally Class to supervise the racing activity suitable to the Wallys. With such an organized class, year after year we succeeded in having at the events a separate division with its own standings and rating system, as well as the full control over the selection of the courses.” concludes Bassani.
In many superyacht regattas is it normal to hire professional sailors – also for the helm station. The Wally Class exists to encourage the owners to take the helm of their yacht (they get penalized). The rest of the crew can be professional.
“To ensure the fair racing, the Wally Class rules carefully regulate also the cruising soul of the participating Wallys.” explains Paolo Massarini, Wally Class Secretary “And require the measurement of the yachts by an official measurer before the start of the season, to guarantee compliance with their ratings after the winter works.”
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Ahoy, I’m René, the “captain” of this luxury yacht blog, and found my passion for the big ones at the age of 17. I have grown up with sailing since a little child. I have an education in Business Informatics and specialized in digital media solutions (alongside luxury yachts) like Online-Marketing, User Experience Design et cetera. My home port is in Oldenburg, Germany next to Lürssen and Abeking & Rasmussen. More about yachtemoceans