I don’t normally pay much attention to taglines, but Wally’s current one—“20 years ahead”—is an exception. Remember the WallyPower 118? It was Wally founder Luca Bassani’s personal vision of what superyachting could be. It launched 20 years ago but still looks like it’s only just dropped in from outer space. Then there are the various smaller wallypowers that have launched since, the new wallywhys that are phasing in now, and the various iterations of wallytenders, the first of which caused a stir more than 25 years ago. All carry the same futuristic design cues. And who would argue that the new wallypower58 doesn’t look like it’s 20 years ahead of the game too?
The wallypower58 has a distinct aesthetic with a square stem; a clean, hard-chined hull; and a sharp, mostly glass superstructure. The high foredeck has deck lighting and flush sun-pad inlays, and a cockpit Wally calls a semi-open salon. That last space has hardtop protection above as well as full side glazing to plug the gaps between the roof and deck. Overall, the hull volume allocates guest spaces roughly 50-50 inside and outside.
Tanks, engines and pods are beneath the cockpit sole, and there’s carbon-fiber detailing and teak decking everywhere. The decking is particularly impressive where it wraps over the after lip of the swim platform and where it lines the bulwarks. Their after sections fold down to add around 54 square feet of deck space. The whole open-deck area then provides something like 325 square feet of space.
The star attraction aft is a 77-square-foot island sun bed with an awning stretched over a carbon-fiber frame that stows neatly around the base unit. Amidships beneath the coachroof, there’s around 6-foot-9-inch headroom and sofas down each side. The starboard one has a dining table that can be supplemented by free-standing chairs. The forward area beneath the one-piece curved and heavily back-raked windshield includes two high-backed carbon pilot seats to starboard that address a small-diameter horizontal wheel. They look like they could have been plucked from the starship Enterprise.
As with most open models, the accommodations closure is a sliding hatch inboard of the helm, which is nicely arranged with all the switches and instrumentation set into carbon-look moldings. Two Garmin displays dominate the console, where visibility is superb. An electric sunroof above the windshield provides natural ventilation when the air-conditioning is off.
The standard belowdecks arrangement includes a lower salon with two long sofas—one on either side, a head to starboard and a stall shower to port. Forward, there is a stateroom with an aft-facing double berth. The lockers and closets have a rather 1950s luggage look about them, a great contrast to the ultramodern vibe everywhere else.
A smaller, double-berth stateroom with a door, or a single crew cabin with hatch access from the cockpit, are the options on the port side of the lower salon, which also includes a surprise: Instead of hullside windows, this model has what Wally calls magic portholes. Two 55-inch flat-screen TVs can relay real-time images from cameras in the vessel’s sides, or the TVs can relay recordings of the owner’s favorite bay when he’s tied up at the dock, or the TVs can play movies or games. This setup keeps the 58’s sleek hull lines pristine and is more efficient to build, as real windows require significant structures around the apertures as well as laminated glass.
There are two choices when it comes to propulsion: triple Volvo Penta D8-550/IPS700s or triple D8-600/IPS800s, which deliver reported maximum speeds of 35 to 36 knots and 37 to 38 knots, respectively. The boat I got aboard had the most-powerful, 470-cubic-inch, six-cylinder inline diesels, which, at a bit more than half load and in auto-trim mode with the Seakeeper 9 off, delivered virtually 38 knots at just over 2,900 rpm. Wallys always run every bit as well as they look, slicing efficiently and heeling into the turns just enough.
At an all-day, everyday 30 knots at 2,500 rpm, the ultimate range is around 350 nautical miles, much the same as it would be at 20 knots and 2,000 rpm, so there’s no real incentive to cruise halfheartedly with this machine. The onboard management system synchronizes the propulsion of all three pods while in ahead mode, so with only the usual twin control levers at the helm, the skipper drives the boat just like he would if the boat had a twin-engine installation. When maneuvering astern, those two levers only engage the outer engines.
At the heart of a Wally build is style, performance, luxury and a bit of avant-garde thinking. It’s a formula that has made the brand a fan favorite, creating a niche that only it can own. And the wallypower58 owns it well.
The X Factor
The first Wally 58X version recently arrived in Florida. This iteration has quad 600 hp V-12 Mercury Verado outboards, which means a top-end speed of around 50 knots and a quoted fast-cruise range of 290 nautical miles. Normally, aboard an open yacht of this size with a quad rack, owners have to sacrifice some accessibility to the water aft, but fold-down quarter platforms are game-changers in that regard.
On Watch
Wally’s parent company, the Ferretti Group, used the launch of the wallypower58 to say it will soon be one of the first yachtbuilders to offer Watchit anti-collision and grounding systems across its portfolio. Developed by Israeli company Aqua Marine Tech, these systems warn captains about navigational dangers. The tech’s artificial-intelligence technology interprets data from GPS, chart plotters, AIS, radar, sonar, proximity sensors and more.
Take the next step: wally.com
