How Wally revolutionized boating. Bassani tells you in this book

Luca Bassani was about to merge his Wally creature with Nautor Swan in the late 1990s. And the history of boats, sail and power, was likely to change. This is just one of the countless backstories that Bassani reveals in recounting his life as a sailor, entrepreneur, and inventor in the book “A Dream Called Wally” (Piemme, 20 euros) now in bookstores.

A word of advice, if you want to know the recent history of the evolution of boating, to understand how a passion becomes a reason for living, how from mistakes come opportunities, you must read this book and watch this video interview: https://youtu.be/m60cdokJG8w?si=xKvpbDt873g9Fi72 Luca Bassani, 68 years old, inventor of the iconic nautical brand Wally, tells his story in this unfiltered book, from the time he stepped on his first boat in 1963 in his aunt’s swimming pool to today’s collaboration with one of the world’s largest shipyards, Ferretti, to which he has handed over his creature.
Fifty years of life at sea, including successes and flops, inventions that revolutionized boating, cruises to the most beautiful places in the world, regattas won and lost, dismastings, friendships, disappointments, and joys.

When Putin had to get on a Wally

From Saint Tropez, where his Wallys moor at the quay of honor, to Portofino, where sailor Tito Prato taught him to go to sea. From the lawyer Agnelli, who told him “his boats look like a tile” to Berlusconi, who wanted to introduce him to Putin. From Apple, taking a design lesson from Wally, to Leonardo Ferragamo, who blew him off the Swans. These examples just to name the dozens of places and characters that dot the story of Luca Bassani’s life. This book brings you into contact with an exclusive world, but Bassani “doesn’t pull his punches.” He tells of his world, made up of privileges but also pitfalls. But he does not consider himself privileged: he calls himself a sailor. And he is, in the sense that he knows how to go to sea, without being afraid to change, to improve, to dare. Like true sailors who respect and adapt to the unpredictability of nature. There are not only stories of famous people in his narrative, but also portraits of great nautical personalities with whom, with humility but also healthy arrogance Bassani came into contact in his very long career.

What Wally has changed in sailing and motoring

Reading ” A Dream Called Wally” you will find out how and why today’s sailboats can be operated by only two people, how the open cockpit on the water so comfortable and safe was born, why boats today heel less and go faster. And as for powerboats, how today you can sail at high speeds even when the sea is rough, how you can save fuel, why the sides that open up came into being, when they became more beautiful and comfortable. One of his clients, Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones, compared Bassani to Enzo Ferrari. True, but Ferrari thought only of winning competitions. Instead, Bassani thought about how to be better on a boat, going fast, yes, but also more comfortable. Enjoying the sea. If you want to understand how today’s boats came into being, you need to read this book.