WALLYWHY 150

A new launch from Wally is always going to cause a splash, but will the latest addition to the Wally why range create the same ripples as its larger predecessor?

- Alan Harper

There are leaders and followers in all areas of human endeavour. Wally Yachts has always been in the former camp, fearlessly putting its ideas out there. Some are never heard from again. The original Wally WHY was 190ft long with a beam of 125ft, a 2,400-tonne displacement and a range of 10,000 miles. The H stood for Hermès, the shipyard's design partner. Sadly, the world wasn't quite ready, and it got no further than a plywood mockup - full-size, mind. Other ideas are quietly adopted by almost everyone, such as the razor-sharp plumb bow that seems pretty much compulsory for fast motor launches these days.

So a new Wally yacht is always an event, whether it's an impossibly elegant one-off sailboat or some radical new take on what a motor yacht ought to be. The Wallywhy range was introduced in 2021 with the 88ft 8in 200 model (the number refers to its volume of 200 Gross Tons). Its scaled-down successor, the new 78ft (23.99m) Wallywhy 150, tries to replicate all of that earlier model's design flair, such as the forward maindeck master cabin and the broad, open-air expanses aft, in a more compact package. But at 10ft shorter and 3ft narrower - not to mention less voluminous by 50GT - that was always going to be a tough brief. Compromises would be called for.

SIZE MATTERS

The 200 was such an unusual, ground-breaking design that there was a lot to say about it, but the main talking point was always the forward cabin, on the main deck, with its impressive 180-degree cinematographic view forward.