Luca Bassani, founder of the iconic shipyard, Wally, recognised as a symbol for technology and elegance, is our first guest on the new Daily Nautica podcast, Giro di Boa.

A love for sailing that started as a child, with the help of Miranda, a famous racing boat moored in Portofino, where Luca Bassani spent his long childhood summers. “When I was around 6 or 7 years old – the founder of Wally shares with Daily Nautica – one of the most famous racing boats of the time was docked in Portofino, Miranda. It was an 18 metre boat, which was big for the time, and one afternoon, my father’s friends decided to go out and asked if I wanted to join them. There was a strong Scirocco wind, and this boat seemed huge, and there was spray everywhere. That was the first time I got excited about sailing.”

BASSANI: “MY FIRST DESIGN WAS FOR MY FATHER”

First, Luca Bassani learned how to sail, then to race, and lastly, he learned how to design boats. The first one he designed was for his father. It was 1978. That – notes Bassani – was my first experience in design. In pencil on a piece of graph paper. Seeing it built was incredible and with that boat my father travelled around the world twice.”

Then came Wally, known world round for their sail and motor boats. We asked the founder of Wally, which became a part of the Ferretti Group in 2019, to share with us two of his favourite vessels, and, for sail boats, he chose the iconic Wallygator, launched in 1994 and, for motor boats, the WallyPower 118. The reason? Find out in the first episode of Daily Nautica’s new podcast, “Giro di Boa”

The “Giro di Boa” podcast is broadcast with the support of Pantaenius , a leading European yacht insurance company.