Wally Yachts Have embarked On A Journey To Create The World’s Fastest Racing Yacht

With the Rocket51, Wally Is Making A Yacht That Everyone Is Looking For And Everyone Wants.

Sailing into the Future: Wally’s Game-Changer, the Rocket 51.

In the world of luxury sailing, where innovation and performance reign supreme, Wally has once again raised the bar with the unveiling of their latest creation – the Wally Rocket 51. This remarkable yacht not only embodies the brand’s iconic style but also represents a bold new direction for Wally, pushing the boundaries of what a racing yacht can achieve.

A New Chapter in Wally’s Legacy

Wally has long been synonymous with style and innovation in the sailing world, consistently setting new benchmarks for performance and design. With the Rocket 51, they have embarked on a journey to create the world’s fastest racing yacht, capable of thrilling as a one-design class while dominating elite competitions like IRC and ORC racing.

Measuring at 15.5 meters LOA, the Wally Rocket 51 fits snugly within the classic 52-footer category, making it slightly shorter than a TP52. However, it’s designed to outperform them, thanks to a host of innovative features, an ultralight displacement, and a meticulously refined hull. To achieve this ambitious goal, Wally collaborated with Botin Partners, a renowned naval architecture team with an impressive track record in the America’s Cup and numerous championship titles.

The Secret of the 51-Footer

Adolfo Carrau, Partner at Botin Partners Naval Architecture, sheds light on the design process, saying, “The idea of Wally was to make a very strict one-design class that could provide pure racing, that was high-tech and that could provide a lot of fun, but which could also be very competitive under IRC and ORC rating rules.” The starting point was a 52-foot design, a size known for its competitiveness in various conditions. However, here’s the first secret: the Wally Rocket 51 is, in fact, a 51-footer.

This slight reduction in size allowed the design team to optimize critical elements such as the hull, underwater appendages, and sailplan, gaining a rating bonus that could be invested in other areas. Notably, the yacht boasts a mere 6.3-ton displacement in measurement condition, making it the lightest racing boat on the scene. This translates into incredible reactivity, lightning-fast downwind speeds, and rapid planing capabilities. But what sets the Rocket 51 apart is its ingenuity upwind, employing an adjustable trim tab on the keel’s trailing edge, reminiscent of the 2007 America’s Cup. This innovation generates substantial lift, reducing resistance and minimizing leeway. The result? A shorter waterline length that sails higher and faster than its competitors.

Champion-Backed Excellence

The Rocket 51’s development wasn’t entrusted solely to designers and engineers. Two formidable names in competitive sailing, Vasco Vascotto and Guillermo Parada, lent their expertise to the project. With their combined Olympic and America’s Cup experience, they played pivotal roles in making the Wally Rocket 51 more manageable with fewer crew members while enhancing the overall sailing experience. Together, they’ve been instrumental in shaping the forthcoming WallyRocket one-design series.

Vasco Vascotto summed up the project’s essence, stating, “With the Wally Rocket 51, we are making a yacht that everyone is looking for and everyone wants. A yacht able to perform in all regatta fields, but at the same time, it maintains the design and is fun and respects the standards of the most modern yachts and possibly exceeds them.”