{"id":159349,"date":"2025-07-29T06:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T05:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?post_type=review&p=159349"},"modified":"2025-07-29T12:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:21:18","slug":"wallyrocket-51-review-is-this-the-worlds-fastest-new-raceboat-on-handicap","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/reviews\/videos\/wallyrocket-51-review-is-this-the-worlds-fastest-new-raceboat-on-handicap","title":{"rendered":"Wallyrocket 51 review: Is this the world’s fastest new raceboat (on handicap)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You have to admire the ambition. A goal to create the fastest race boat in the world (on corrected time) is no small feat, and a particularly punchy thing to claim from the outset, 18 months before splashing the first boat. To then produce a yacht that looks this go-fast good with the Marvel-like heroic name to back it up… It\u2019s brave, it\u2019s brash, it\u2019s bullish. Perhaps only a brand such as Wally could hope to pull it off.<\/p>\n

Racing yacht designs are typically fickle things, their potential success often at the mercy of trends and rules. To ensure some longevity, they not only have to prove successful on the water, to give their owners enjoyment and a chance at silverware, but they also need some versatility. Swan, for example, achieves this with its \u2018Club\u2019 world of regatta circuits \u2013 and by insisting on fitted interiors for after-sales after life.<\/p>\n

Wally is another big brand which thinks big. To put its vision in place and try to ensure the Rocket will do what it claims, it involved some heavyweight partners. With the TP52<\/a> as the long-proven benchmark in the inshore\/coastal Grand Prix scene, Wally took the most successful designers and sailors from this circuit to develop a TP beater. Essentially, it sought a Botin to beat the Botins.<\/p>\n

Combine this with founder Luca Bassani\u2019s long-proven forward-thinking ability and the result is a red-hot, water-ballasted 50-footer with trim tab and ultra-efficient hydraulic controls.<\/p>\n

Wally used the might of its parent company, the Ferretti Group, to construct these new one-design Rockets in a new top-tech carbon facility. It\u2019s now using the first boat to launch as a prototype, to be wetted most stringently and to sail in the most high-profile regattas in its first season, before the next five on order launch.<\/p>\n

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Crew weight and water ballast optimise heel trim. Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget<\/p><\/div>\n

This first Rocket weighed-in at just over six tonnes light, which is nearly a tonne lighter than a TP52. However, should the stats still not deliver for some reason and it doesn\u2019t prove to be first on handicap in regattas, there are a few other pivotal factors to this 51-footer which could ensure its prosperity.<\/p>\n

Firstly, it\u2019s a Wally so it looks rad. Secondly, the aim is for it to be a one-design class for fair owner-driver racing. And then there\u2019s its potential ease of use (comparatively speaking). Bassani\u2019s creations have always promoted ease of handling, and the same could be applied here.<\/p>\n

On paper, it\u2019s less expensive to run, as fewer crew are needed thanks to water ballast and hydraulically-operated systems. It\u2019s also been designed with the potential to swap out the coffee grinders for electric winches. \u201cFast and easy was always Wally,\u201d states Bassani.<\/p>\n

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Wallywind 110 review: \u2018I\u2019ve never ticked off stretches of coastline so effortlessly\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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There are very few times I feel the need to video the scene from a day on the water simply…<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t