Can you imagine a boat’s engines burning a gallon of diesel every four seconds? Wally founder Luca Bassani doesn’t have to because his wallypower118 was consuming that at 60 or so knots when it launched 20 years ago. Now he’s older and happy to admit that speed isn’t everything.
“People don’t want to rush anymore, me included,” he says. “They want to enjoy the ride, and it’s much easier to do that when you’re going slowly.”
The semidisplacement wallywhy series—including the latest model, the wallywhy100—is about watching the world glide by rather than fly by. Still, these yachts can up the ante a little when, say, owners need to get ahead of deteriorating weather or get home in daylight instead of darkness.
In the wallywhy name, “why” stands for Wally Hybrid Yachts, with hulls optimized for displacement and semidisplacement cruising speeds. Each model’s numeral refers to approximate volume in gross tonnage, rather than length overall. The wallywhy200, a trideck, launched three years ago. A smaller raised-pilothouse sistership joined the lineup in 2023. The wallywhy100 is the smallest model at 70 feet length overall. They all have reverse bows and sharp, glass superstructures that help to define the Wally brand’s futuristic vibe.
The 100’s superstructure occupies the forward half of the profile, with virtually all dark glass. That enclosed space includes a bridge and lounge. The aft-deck doors close when the weather is bad, while the coachroof extends farther aft with opaque white acrylic skylights that restrict heat without blocking sunlight. The light comes through soft and diffused.
Even still, this yacht’s raison d’etre is to be open. When it is, it makes for a simply fantastic entertainment space. The spot where the outside and inside zones merge is blurred by optional frameless-glass screens that slide on tracks to the sides and abaft the wet bar. This area is a dining space with a circular table for six guests. It’s also the heart of the yacht for the professional chef taking delivery of the wallywhy100 that I got aboard. For him, entertaining friends is the boat’s principal purpose.
At the after end of the cockpit are a pair of facing sofas, along with loungers just forward of the hydraulic swim platform, which is flanked by fold-down quarter sections. Overall, the swim platform is just four steps down from the main deck.
Side decks are protected by deep, teak-lined bulwarks, matching the teak decking on those quarter platforms when they are raised. The choice of material elevates an otherwise rather mundane area. On the foredeck are a pair of loungers for a private retreat.
Access to the deck below is via two sets of stairs, forward and to port of the bridge. One goes to the guest staterooms near amidships, while the other descends forward to the galley and crew area. The owner’s stateroom is slightly abaft amidships, occupying the full 18-foot-10-inch beam with a sofa and a forward-facing double berth. The en suite sink space has a glass sliding door that can be clear or opaque at the flick of a switch, while the shower and heads are separate with their own doors. Two en suite guest staterooms are amidships, one with a transverse double and one with twin berths.
The galley and crew area can be accessed from two directions: the staircase or a door at the head of the guest corridor. This arrangement should aid traffic flow.
At the helm, seats are the same high-back affairs used aboard wallytenders and wallypowers. Handling is smooth, barely ruffled by the short chop we experienced during our early-morning runs across the Bay of Cannes in France. Like plenty of other semidisplacement designs, this yacht proved a little slow in some of the bigger turns. Visibility forward and to the sides is great, with less clarity looking aft. I didn’t really notice the chunky mullion ridge running right up the middle of the windshield to separate the two panes of glass.
The two engine choices for the wallywhy100 are twin 900 hp Volvo Penta IPS1200s or twin 1,000 hp Volvo Penta IPS1350s, for respective top speeds of 25 or 27 knots at half-load. Wally quotes fast-cruise speeds of 22 or 24 knots. With a little more than 1,200 gallons of diesel capacity, ranges are 360 or 340 nautical miles. The wallywhy100 that I got aboard had the IPS1350s, but was heavy with full fuel and water, and two Seakeepers. With one of them on and the Humphree Interceptors on auto, the best we did flat-out was about 25 knots. At 10 knots, owners could run 1,000 nm before the fuel runs dry.
But, as Bassani says, speed isn’t the ultimate goal with a yacht like the wallywhy100. What’s the rush?
Behind the Design
Chief designer and Wally founder Luca Bassani worked from his office in Monaco, with the Ferretti Group’s central design and engineering team in Forli, Italy. The minimalist interior scheme comes from Andrea Vallicelli’s studio in Rome. One of the wallywhy100’s interesting design elements is that the main deck is just four steps up from the swim platform.
Facts and Figures
The wallywhy100 has about 6-foot-10-inch headroom under its coachroof. Even with the engines adjacent to the owner’s stateroom, I measured just 69 decibels while underway (65 decibels is the level of normal conversation). This yacht is equipped with optional twin gyrostabilizers. In lieu of chaise longues aft, owners can select a garage, which has room for a few underwater scooters and swim gear, as well as other water toys.
Take the next step: wally.com
