SUPERYACHT #12
Spring 2007
Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
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Article by Lino Pastorelli, photos at sea from Gilles Martin-Raget, photos of interiors by Toni Meneguzzo
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WALLY YACHT ESENSE
Few boats have given journalists so many definition headaches as Wally
boats: and this splendid dark 43 metre yacht is certainly no exception
since she includes, perhaps in an extreme sense, all of Luca Bassani's
philosophy and genius: let's say that we could call it Mega Class, an
ideal trait d'union between the noblest yachting of the past and the
daring of modern man. Here we won't go back over the full history of
Bassani's insights. It's well known that he started thinking about a
different kind of yacht some fifteen years ago, converting the family
business BTicino into an audacious challenge to the highly
conservative world of yachting. The sequence of successes, in an
intelligent and brazen evolution, includes the names we see on the
quay at St Tropez, usually in early October, or at Palma in spring:
Kauris III, WallyB, Tiketitan, Tiketitoo, Nariida, Magic Carpet, Tango
and yet others right down to this new 143 footer, Esense, the biggest
Wally yacht built to date.
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TECHNICAL DATA
LOA: 43.70 metres
Length on waterline: 38.10 metres
Beam: 8.57 metres
Draft: from 4.00 to 6.00 metres
Displacement: 140 t.
Sleeps: 2 owners, 6 guests, 6 crew
Diesel: 14.000 litres
Water: 6000 litres
Design: Wally
Naval Architect: Tripp Design Naval Architecture
Construction: Wally Europe
Sails: North Sails 3DL, area 900 square metres
Engine: Caterpillar 550 HP
For further information: www.wally.com
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When you build big it isn't hard to make
boats: volumes and areas are a great help in balancing the sacred
triad of architectonic logos-topos-chronos. The tough thing is to make
them outside of the monumental, of hackneyed citations, of arrogant
against-nature models. This is why I believe that we must absolutely
envy those who create such masterpieces (Luca Bassani), those who
design them (in this case Bill Tripp) and indubitably those who own them.
Esense belongs to the Wally custom line, yachts made to measure in
accordance with a private dream, and it couldn't be otherwise. ".....
I already had a boat of this type in mind, big, safe, high performance
with flush deck, and then an owner asked me exactly for this... for
the design I chose Bill Tripp: pragmatic, American, great...". Just
how great was something we pondered as we left the port of Ancona
during the November sea trial: why doesn't this boat make waves at 7-8
knots under power? Something of all these tons of water that silently
opened and closed on Esense's passage surely ought to appear on the
surface, raise a bit of wave astern, a touch of foam! No, no more than
would be raised by an inflatable dinghy with the engine at lowest
speed: "... my boats must fly on the water, not sink into it!" is the
fundamental axiom of Bill Tripp III who grew up on daily bread of
ocean-racers in the studio of his father Bill Tripp Jr. With
presuppositions of this kind, together with the great efficiency of
the sail plan, we should not be amazed by the America's Cup type
excitement that Esense can give. Maybe only Sir Thomas Lipton on
Shamrock IV or Sir Thomas Sopwith at the helm of Endeavour experienced
similar feelings on the endless decks of their J Class vessels! From
modern America's Cup yachts Luca Bassani has borrowed construction
techniques, the only ones that ensure superlative lightness and
rigidity with an optimal weight/power ratio: generalised use of
unidirectional carbon fibres, pre-preg in sandwich, and every
composite capable of reducing weight to the utmost. Seventeen tonnes
of carbon for the hull alone: "We're the biggest consumers of carbon
in Italy," says Bassani, Then 2500 kilos for the drop keel housing and
another 2000 for the mast which soars with four orders of crosstrees
to a height of nearly 60 metres: all justified by the very powerful
forces in play, developed by 900 square metres of sails with their
vectorial assailment of six metres of keel blade and 40.000 kilos of
bulb. The immense flush deck is completely unencumbered. Crossing it
while the boat is heeled produces a slight attack of vertigo which is
soon attenuated by the feeling of safety instilled by the special
bulwarks; the rigging is run inside, where the controls and hydraulic
system are also situated, and you can sit there comfortably. The deck
features another distinguishing detail: near the cockpit, where guests
are welcomed with a teak table and enveloping sofa, a kind of double
vault required by the interior design rises several inches on the
deck, creating the seating backrest. The detail lies in the sinuous
link with the deck level, without broken lines or corners, achieved by
a masterful bending and gluing of teak: the result is perspective
continuity of the flush deck and also the convenience of walking, at
least to windward, on a less inclined surface. A hatch forward
contains the winches and the mooring bitts while the furler for the
self-tacking jib and the Code 0 is also concealed below deck. In the
course of its innovative journey Wally was first to fully exploit the
"terrace on the sea" concept: a considerable portion of the stern deck
, separate from the technical zone, descending close to the water and
linked to the main deck by a spectacular mirrored wall. Esense too has
her terrace on the sea, with two symmetrical access stairways and
plenty of space for sundeck cushions. The main saloon is accessible
from this area which, inevitably, enchants the public when the yacht
is at moorings. Just forward of the terrace, on the main deck, the
bridge has been created in accordance with the yard's philosophy of
easy sailing: two consoles with the controls for winches and magic
trim - silent, linear electrically controlled pistons - and the two
wheels of an innovative hydraulic rudder system with various
programmable functions. The result is precise, light steering with the
sensitivity of a racer. Between the two consoles, an instrument panel
which can be closed contains all the electronic navigation equipment.
The halyards are handled by two massive Harken 1140s at the foot of
the mast: mainsail, reductions, self-tacking jib and Code 0; there is
no gennaker. Esense easily creates apparent wind on all points of
sailing and therefore she can broad reach with sails that are
efficacious with narrower angles, a Code 0 to be precise. The
mainsail, a North Sails in 3DL Carbon, is on a furler inside the boom
and there are three conventional reefing points for reducing it. On
such a special yacht triteness has been excluded also from the
interiors. Given the unquestionableness of the owner's decision not to
have fixed guest cabins but modular ones in the saloon and in the
lobby amidships, architect Odile Decq went for an early 70's style -
somewhat like Gae Aulenti, just to give an Italian reference - with
long white sofas, defined angular surfaces, measured and violent
colour contrasts, bookcases along the couloir walls, stainless steel.
The common denominator throughout is dark padouk wood: from the open
spaces aft to the big galley amidships (which can be closed off with a
glass wall), from the adjacent dinette - where the access stairway is
- to the owner's suite forward. This double bed cabin stretches the
entire width of the beam and communicates with an extraordinary and
spacious bathroom; a king size grating for the shower area rises to
reveal a bathtub with seat. The times of raising the trellis and
filling the tub are synchronised.
Very high class performances were confirmed at sea off Ancona. At her
moorings, her bow high on the water, a nervous hi-tech sculpture in
splendid contrast with a rusty tramp steamer nearby, she already
seemed to promise a gentle passage over and not through the waves. In
an 8 knot breeze Esense was flying right away, close-hauled at a speed
of 11 knots. Mount Conero disappeared astern in the mists of an unreal
silence. After the minimum of familiarisation the helm was very
gentle. If the boat lived and reacted even in that breeze (... she's
43 metres!) what about a 30 knot wind... Our return under power
clarified the workings of the substantial 550 HP Cat with variable
pitch Servogear propeller: cruising speed of 12 knots in maximum
comfort, even over long distances.
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