Wally's 2026 Mediterranean racing season: over twelve boats competing, new Wally Performance Trophy debuts

Wally's 2026 Mediterranean racing season began in May with the Tre Golfi Sailing Week in the Bay of Naples, following the earlier Caribbean programme. Over a dozen Wally yachts are engaged in the main calendar events, and for the first time the Wally Performance Trophy has been introduced, a seasonal award presented after each regatta in the wallyrocket and Maxi classes, with the overall prize given at Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez.

At the Tre Golfi, which combined the ORC World Championship and the IMA Maxi European Championship, the Wally fleet fielded wallyrocket51s RocketNikka (Roberto Lacorte), Django and Kilara II, the wallyrocket71 Django 7X (Giovanni Lombardi Stronati), wallycentos V (Karel Komarek), Galateia (Chris Flowers and David Leuschen) and Tilakkhana II, and Wally 94s Sensei (Jean Decaux) and Astra I (Marco Tomas and Vivian de la Pedrosa).

In the ORC World Championship, the three wallyrocket51s collected a string of first and second places across eight races. RocketNikka finished the European Championship in third, level on points with the runner-up, and took the Wally Performance Trophy as the best-performing Wally at the event. Django finished fourth. The wallycento V won Division 1 of the IMA Maxi European Championship. Galateia, third in the same division, took line honours in the 150-mile offshore race after a 17-hour duel with V that ended with just four minutes between them. Django 7X, in the Maxi Grand Prix class, finished two points off the top of the standings.

In Porto Cervo, the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta featured the Wally 94 Vantanera. At the subsequent Range Rover Sardinia Cup, back in the IRC circuit after more than a decade, wallyrockets Django and RocketNikka completed the 130-mile offshore race in heavy northeasterly winds that forced nearly half the fleet to retire. Django finished second overall after seven days of racing, RocketNikka third.

The calendar continues with the Cyclades Cup in mid-June in Aegean waters, with four Wallys entered: Vantanera, the 33-metre Wally B and Barong D, and the wallywind110 Galma. Wally is attending as Gold Partner. Next comes the Loro Piana Giraglia, where V and Galateia will be joined by SUD in the Maxi category, while Kilara II and Django will race among the wallyrocket51s.

The season will close from 26 September to 4 October with Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, where after six days of racing, including match races for wallyrocket51s, Wally Maxis and wallynanos, the first seasonal Wally Performance Trophy will be awarded.

Wally, founded in 1994 in Monaco and now part of Ferretti Group, is a two-time winner of the ADI Compasso d'Oro.

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