Cruising Yacht: Wallywind110 Galma

Wally founder Luca Bassani has always been ahead of the game. Like all innovators, he stirs emotions. Traditionalists shake their heads at his radical ideas. Others hail him as a visionary who upsets the rules of yacht design.

One thing is certain: Some 30 years after he established the brand, it’s hard to imagine a world without Wally Yachts.

Ferretti Group, one of the world’s most prolific builders of luxury yachts, acquired Wally in 2019. Following the takeover, there were rumors of less room for disruptive design, but instead, the group’s financial muscle has allowed the Wally brand to flourish with investment and innovation.

The latest example is the 110-foot (33.4-meter) Galma. Owned by a repeat customer, she is the first in a semi-custom wallywind series of sailing yachts that marry cruising comfort with thoroughbred good looks and an impressive turn of speed. Bassani described Galma as the best Wally sailing yacht ever delivered.

“In terms of performance, it lacks for nothing,” he said while steering the yacht upwind at nearly 20 knots in 23 knots of breeze. “But at the same time, the boat offers much more comfort, mainly on deck where you spend most of your time.”

Indeed, one of the yacht’s most striking features is the guest cockpit. A collapsible dodger protects more than 860 square feet (80 square meters) of versatile seating, sunbeds and loungers. An optional Bimini top on carbon poles underneath the boom creates more shade underway. Guests can face inboard or outboard when tacking without having to cross the deck. The area is flush with no steps or deck gear to trip over, and the “terrace on the sea” leading down to the open transom—which Wally introduced on the 88-foot (27-meter) Tiketitan in 1998—provides easy access to the water.

Performance comes from the lightweight, all-carbon-fiber construction, agile hull lines by naval architects Judel/Vrojlik in Germany, high modulus carbon spars and rigging, a powerful sail plan with an optional square-top mainsail, and a 20-foot telescopic keel (owners can also choose a fixed or lifting keel).

Uncluttered decks and easy sailing have been features of Wally yachts from the start. On Galma, there’s a submarine anchor system and hidden Magic Trim hydraulics that do away with winches for the mainsail and foresail. Also relevant for shorthanded sailing is the ballast-to-weight ratio of 40 percent. It’s a measure of “stiffness,” or the resistance to heeling, and is an indication of how well a boat performs upwind without having a dozen people sitting on the windward rail.

Racer-cruiser or cruiser-racer? It’s a fine line, but to date, Wally has mostly emphasized the former. Judel/Vrojlik also worked on the 99-foot (30.4-meter) Hamilton, an out-and-out racer-cruiser, as well as last year’s 100-foot (30.5-meter) Y3K. The latter served as a kind of fully custom prototype for the wallywind110 series, but with pure performance in mind.

Galma is fast. She also performs well in strong winds and the light airs typical of the Mediterranean, but she is first and foremost a bluewater cruiser.

“When I started the Wally Class in 1999 as a way for Wally maxi yachts to race against each other within the framework of larger regattas, the boats became more racer-cruisers because owners really enjoyed the racing and wanted to win,” Bassani says. “Today, I think the word ‘racer’ puts people off and the market has shrunk, which is why we have to focus on comfort as well as speed.”

Galma may be a cruiser, but her sleek, teak-clad coachroof is barely visible behind the high bulwarks. In profile, she looks more like a flush-deck racer. The raised salon creates space under the sole for the engine room and other technical equipment, freeing the rest of the boat for guest space. Side windows and an overhead skylight running the length of the coachroof allow more natural light to penetrate the interior.

Belowdecks, the layout follows a conventional configuration with the airy salon amidships; a twin-single stateroom; and a master with a V-berth forward (the guest stateroom can be turned into a larger bathroom for the master). Two more guest staterooms are abaft the salon, with the galley and crew quarters toward the stern, accessed from a companionway between the two helm pedestals on deck.

True to Wally custom, the interior design by Santa Maria Magnolfi is tastefully understated with light wood veneers, pale fabrics and carbon fiber accents.

With a second 110 in build and plans for larger versions in the pipeline, the wallywind series is part of a strategy to lure newcomers into the world of sailing. Galma’s shapely lines and luminous metallic blue hull look fabulous from every angle at a time when the market for large sailing yachts is in decline, for well over a decade. Bassani believes the lack of interest is mainly generational in this age of instant gratification.

There is also the question of value for money, he says: “Sailing yachts have been hit by inflation more than the motoryachts because the production numbers are much smaller, so you don’t have the economy of scale. It’s understandable that if you’re not a sailor and haven’t grown up with sailing, when you have the means to buy a large yacht you want to make it a reasonable investment … and with a motoryacht, you get more volume for less money.”

Either way, Wally has yachting fans covered. The wallywind110 made its debut at the autumn boats shows along with the
wallywhy100, the latest in Wally’s range of high-volume displacement motoryachts. 

WALLYWIND110 GALMA

LOA  109ft. 8in. (33.4m)
Beam 24ft. 11in. (7.6m)
Draft 14ft. 9in. (4.5m)
DISPLACEMENT 69.8 tons
Naval architecture Judel/Vrolijk & Co.
Exterior design Wally/Santa Maria Magnolfi
Interior design Wally/Santa Maria Magnolfi
SHIPYARD Wally Yachts
YEAR 2024

Spring 2025