NAVIS Aug / Sept 2011

Considering that building a yacht is an inherently iterative process, and that there is a series of successive and unavoidable refinement steps from the initial conceptual design to the final acclamation of the product, en evolutionary parallel could be drawn for each naval architecture project carried out based on the genetics of its predecessor. Allogante, the latest creation of Alloy Yachts, is an example of that, as her lineage dates back, at least, to two generations. The matriarch of this family would be the historic S.Q.N., completed in 2003 and renamed Loretta Anne after her sale, while her closest ancestor would be Ad Lib, built in 2005 and finalist in the ShowBoats International Design Awards. The same exterior design team, Dubois Naval Architects, was in charge of shaping the features of the new Allogante, keeping the most successful characteristics of her predecessors and benefiting from the latest advances in nautical technology.

In the early 1980s, a group of dreamers from New Zealand tenaciously initiated a project aimed at building a 38-meter aluminum yacht. When vessels half as long were considered large according to existing standards, when the focus was placed mostly on austere, light displacement sailing yachts, these brave men resolved to build an unprecedented megalith named Chanel. Two years after such anach-ronistic determination, Alloy Yachts was established. The project was developed on a leased site on the banks of Henderson Creek, in west Auckland. The work team remained close and, some time later, bought a neighboring plot of land where their chimera would be created. Starting from scratch, the rising empire of Alloy Yachts Ltd achieved glory.

When gazing the shiny silhouette of the Wally 130 – the new member of the shipyard family, built in Fano, Italy – we feel as if we were admiring a breaking glacier, a miracle of nature coming to life just to glorify men. With her accurate shapes designed by Javier Soto Acebal, an Argentine engineer specialized in racing yachts, and her interior decoration by Foster & Partners, this new sea animal has become the maximum expression of contemporary naval architecture. Embracing minimalism, this sparkling sculpture, with her high gunwales open to the sky, shows the purity of her hull lines as a principle of clarity. Thus, in the eyes of any skeptic, this ship offers a cleared and continuous deck similar to that of the Wally 143 (under construction). The deck is opened as a dance floor where owners and guests will enjoy the infinite space, indulging their every whim.

Legend has it that in 1842, Pietro Riva set out on a journey from the banks of Lake Como, in Laglio, to Lake Iseo, in Sarnico, to repair some storm damaged boats that had been given up for lost. Faced with this sea of adversities, Pietro got on board his ship of optimism and traveled towards the impossible. And he got there. Thus, this talented young man attracted glances as a nautical miracle worker, but he decided to go even further: in addition to refurbishing, he resolved to invent ships that no other human being had ever imagined. It was only a matter of time before the Riva Yachts enterprise was officially recognized.