I think so. Just when I thought I’d seen the ultimate in sailing innovation in the form of Maltese Falcon I get an invitation to sail Esense the much anticipated 143ft Bill Tripp designed Wally. She represents a completely new breed of super-sailing yacht and on first sight she’s enough to take your breath away. I’ve never seen so many yachting journalists, many of whom have been around for longer than they’d probably care to admit, looking so dumbstruck on the dock as we prepared to go sailing this morning from a sun-drenched Ancona.
Esense is Luca Bassani and his Wally organisation at their very best, once again pushing the boundaries of how we might dare to go sailing. Admittedly they need an owner to make it all happen but this is essentially Wally thinking with a lot of go-fast input from American designer Bill Tripp.
The result – a simply mind-blowing looking yacht which handles like a dinghy, can be sailed by one person (and that includes getting her off the dock, gybing and tacking) and which this morning topped 12 knots in 9 knots of true breeze. They’re still getting her up to speed and with the Code 0 ashore in the container you got the feeling there’s much more to come from this remarkable yacht.
We thought her performance was pretty amazing but it’s the deck and those gorgeous bulwarks which really got us all talking. Tons of protection, an exceptional feeling of security and all sorts of other benefits including the provision of one of the biggest bench seats ever seen on a sailing yacht.
Yes, this yacht is something special and we can’t wait to bring you the real deal in a BIG feature in Yachting World soon.