Eight years ago Wally did what it does best and stunned the sailing world with the launch of its exuberant, incomparable ‘Nano’. The Andre Hoek designed masterpiece, the first of which was the bling, pastel-pink cover star of our January 2009 issue, pushed the limit in terms of size and price of what was conventionally deemed a daysailer. Three Nanos were built in Turkey, however, for a variety of reasons, the project never took off. So What happened? Such flamboyance doesn’t simply disappear. Well, the Wallynano is back with a bang. This MkII version is a collaboration between Wally’s Luca Bassani, designer Andre Hoek and the traditional Dutch yard Doomernik. She remains painfully good-looking – Hoek is the master of the modern classic. A pilot cutter influenced plumb bow, lengthy sprit and low, squared coachroof set off her retro style, finished by that elegantly overhanging counter stern. These classic lines now meet contemporary construction and renowned Dutch attention to detail. The MkII version is also around 300kg lighter than the original. Price: €285,000 ex VAT LOA: 11.4m LWL: 9.0m Beam: 2.6m Draught: 1.8–2.6m The Nano is designed to fit in a 40ft container so it can be shipped around the world. Its mast splits into two sections and the keel bolts can be accessed easily. The first production boat is going to Japan, the second to Italy. And two more were sold in late November. We sailed her with her builder Joop Doomernik in Palma. He has clearly applied his Dragon-honed woodworking skills to her interior and told us he spent a year simplifying the Nano. Doomernik has the original mould so the hull is the same, but the details are different – she has been lightened and cleaned up. Specialist composite workers from two different America’s Cup syndicates oversaw the structural part of the carbon fibre sandwich build. “It’s now 2016 composite standards not 2008 Turkish standards,” said Doomernik. “Simpler and more efficient.” The keel and bulb have been optimised for improved stability. The improvement in construction technique allowed 100kg of weight saving to be added to the bulb. A 2.2m keel is advised for those who opt for the self-tacking jib, or a 2.6m draught version is available for extra righting moment. A big modification to this MkII version is the removal of the Magic Trim hydraulic cylinders – the push button sheeting system used on most Wallys. The benefit of taking these pistons out is the space it frees up and the weight it saves (130kg of hydraulic oil). One look at the mainsheet purchase system now used, however, had me wondering whether Wally founder Luca Bassani would approve. One of the key design principles of Wallys is that they can be push-button sailed solo. Also the self-tacking jib is now only an option and the test boat had a slightly overlapping genoa. “We decided to give it a bit more performance by having a small overlap in the tracks and changing the design of the chainplates,” said … Continue reading The incomparable style of Wally Nano MkII – a Hoek designed modern classic