Oceans 12: Wally’s Better Place

Wally’s new thing this year is A Better Place. At 166 feet (50.5 meters), this Bugatti-blue yacht is the world’s largest carbon-fiber sloop and the first RINA Green Star sailing yacht. Naval Architect Bill Tripp ensured racer-like handling despite a voluminous interior and deck space.

By Yachts International Editors

November 20, 2012

Wally’s new thing this year is A Better Place. At 166 feet (50.5 meters), this Bugatti-blue yacht is the world’s largest carbon-fiber sloop and the first RINA Green Star sailing yacht. Naval Architect Bill Tripp ensured racer-like handling despite a voluminous interior and deck space. Only 240 tons, the light displacement and sail area ratio allows for high performance even in light winds, but she can also rely on an incredibly quiet diesel-electric propulsion system. She has a lifting keel and boasts Wally’s trademark easy-sailing systems like an in-furling boom, self-tacking jib, Magic Trim mainsail and furling staysail. The interior design by UK’s Wetzels Brown Partners leans toward minimal and modern, even designing the galley to disappear behind stark-white cupboards. Brown used glass, Plexiglas and extraordinary LED lighting strips on the boat that change colors making the yacht a snazzy showpiece. For her forward-thinking owners, A Better Place is the “best place.”