![\"Wallyrocket](\"https:\/\/keyassets.timeincuk.net\/inspirewp\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/11\/YAW315.new_yachts_dps.wallyrocket71_hr_0021-630x354.gif\")
Wallyrocket 71 Django 7X became a world champ at its first major regatta. Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget[\/caption]\r\n\r\nCompared with its main Maxi 72 rivals then (most of which have been extended), the Wallyrocket 71 is two tonnes lighter, with over 30% more water ballast (2.7 tonnes of it) for the same sail area, which brings advantages both in the light and going downwind. It can clock upwind speeds of 10.5-11 knots, while matching or exceeding true winds going the other way.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe started from a blank sheet of paper, asking how we could beat the most competitive Maxi 72s on corrected time,\u201d Botin\u2019s Adolfo Carrau explains. \u201cWhen they were designed, it was to a box rule, so many parameters were already set. Now, as everyone is optimising their boats under IRC rules, there is a lot more freedom.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_160701\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]![\"Clean,](\"https:\/\/keyassets.timeincuk.net\/inspirewp\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2025\/11\/YAW315.new_yachts_dps.wallyrocket71_hr_1353-630x354.gif\")
Clean, Spartan carbon interior \u2013 it\u2019s a racing yacht after all. Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget[\/caption]\r\n\r\nGiovanni Lombardi Stronati commissioned the build of the first 71, Django 7x<\/em>, at King Marine in Valencia. It is already being campaigned by his Italian Django team, which represented the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda<\/a> (YCCS) at the Admiral\u2019s Cup with the first 51. Once again, this team is galvanised by the affable Vasco Vascotto, who holds more world titles than any other sailor.\r\n\r\nDjango 7x<\/em>\u2019s first major regatta was the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup in September, hosted by the team\u2019s club YCCS, where it took on the likes of seasoned competitors such as Bella Mente<\/em>, Vesper<\/em>, Jolt<\/em> and Jethou<\/em> \u2013 and beat them all, to claim the first Rolex IMA Grand Prix World Championship. Quite the proof of concept!\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n[collection]\r\nWallyrocket 71 Specifications:<\/h2>\r\nLOA:<\/strong> 21.44m 70ft 4in\r\nBeam:<\/strong> 5.55m 18ft 3in\r\nDraught:<\/strong> 4.90m 16ft 1in\r\nDisplacement:<\/strong> 12,500kg 27,558lb\r\nSail area (upwind):<\/strong> 305m2 3,283ft2\r\nSail area (downwind):<\/strong> 630m2 6,781ft2\r\nContact details:<\/strong> wally.com<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/keyassets.timeincuk.net\/inspirewp\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/05\/YW_JUNE19_-COVER-1-152x200.jpg\")
<\/a>If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/h2>\r\n\r\nYachting World is the world's leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.<\/em><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nBuild your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers<\/a> and save at least 30% off the cover price.<\/em><\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nNote: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em>\r\n\r\n
","excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re all time poor. The word \u2018pastime\u2019 is barely still in modern usage, because we simply don\u2019t need ways of passing the time \u2013 instead we\u2019re seeking to carve out small chunks of leisure in our ever-busier schedules. And that has made it harder and harder for us to justify time-intensive activities like a long weekend of yacht or dinghy racing. Michael Morin is a lifelong sailor who is committed to helping find solutions to this challenge. While the digital revolution has been a large cause of the problem, Morin believes new technology can help alleviate it too. \u201cI belong to Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit. We have probably just as many boats in the harbour as we have ever had,\u201d he says. \u201cActually, we have more boats in our harbour because we expanded our harbour more than 10 years ago. But when I began sailboat racing 40-some years ago, we had twice as many boats on the racecourse as we have today.\u201d He believes one reason is that sailing is just too time consuming. \u201cYou get out and you\u2019re waiting for your race to start; then it starts and you get a general recall… If you\u2019re involved in a regatta it just takes up so much time. People are time-poor and it is a real problem for families. So, while there are more boats in the Bayview harbour, there are fewer people who are racing every Wednesday, every Tuesday, every Saturday. \u201cBecause there are fewer people racing, there are fewer volunteers. We have ageing volunteers and fewer people offering to volunteer. That\u2019s a real big struggle for clubs.\u201d Today Morin is the director of sales and marketing for MarkSetBot, a company founded by his son, Kevin, in 2014 producing robotic, motor-powered racing marks. Kevin is a member at Pontiac Yacht Club in Michigan, where every sailor is required to do race committee duties twice a year. Setting a course in areas of the lake that are particularly deep, Kevin reckoned if he could come up with a way of replacing the mark-laying boat, each sailor would only need to volunteer once a year. MarkSetBot was born and has been developed through more than 600 iterations to the point where these remote-controlled marks are now used in SailGP, the America\u2019s Cup, Olympic classes and many more. MarkSetBots are inflatable buoys with their own propulsion, battery powered engine and integral GPS. They have no anchor, removing the need for mark layers. They can carry sensors for wind data, and even be fitted with horns to automate the start sequence or signal course changes. They can also be moved mid-race if the wind shifts, can hold position against most states of wind and tide, and can be controlled remotely from either a committee vessel or onshore. Simon Nearn, president of the Australian 18 Footers League in Sydney, is a big fan of the MarkSetBots. \u201cWe\u2019re into our second season and we love them,\u201d he says. \u201cOur race officers love them because they …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5203,"featured_media":162755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,980],"tags":[162,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162765,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748\/revisions\/162765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162748"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=162748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/h2>\r\n\r\nYachting World is the world's leading magazine for bluewater cruisers and offshore sailors. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams.<\/em><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nBuild your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers<\/a> and save at least 30% off the cover price.<\/em><\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nNote: We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em>\r\n\r\n
","excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re all time poor. The word \u2018pastime\u2019 is barely still in modern usage, because we simply don\u2019t need ways of passing the time \u2013 instead we\u2019re seeking to carve out small chunks of leisure in our ever-busier schedules. And that has made it harder and harder for us to justify time-intensive activities like a long weekend of yacht or dinghy racing. Michael Morin is a lifelong sailor who is committed to helping find solutions to this challenge. While the digital revolution has been a large cause of the problem, Morin believes new technology can help alleviate it too. \u201cI belong to Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit. We have probably just as many boats in the harbour as we have ever had,\u201d he says. \u201cActually, we have more boats in our harbour because we expanded our harbour more than 10 years ago. But when I began sailboat racing 40-some years ago, we had twice as many boats on the racecourse as we have today.\u201d He believes one reason is that sailing is just too time consuming. \u201cYou get out and you\u2019re waiting for your race to start; then it starts and you get a general recall… If you\u2019re involved in a regatta it just takes up so much time. People are time-poor and it is a real problem for families. So, while there are more boats in the Bayview harbour, there are fewer people who are racing every Wednesday, every Tuesday, every Saturday. \u201cBecause there are fewer people racing, there are fewer volunteers. We have ageing volunteers and fewer people offering to volunteer. That\u2019s a real big struggle for clubs.\u201d Today Morin is the director of sales and marketing for MarkSetBot, a company founded by his son, Kevin, in 2014 producing robotic, motor-powered racing marks. Kevin is a member at Pontiac Yacht Club in Michigan, where every sailor is required to do race committee duties twice a year. Setting a course in areas of the lake that are particularly deep, Kevin reckoned if he could come up with a way of replacing the mark-laying boat, each sailor would only need to volunteer once a year. MarkSetBot was born and has been developed through more than 600 iterations to the point where these remote-controlled marks are now used in SailGP, the America\u2019s Cup, Olympic classes and many more. MarkSetBots are inflatable buoys with their own propulsion, battery powered engine and integral GPS. They have no anchor, removing the need for mark layers. They can carry sensors for wind data, and even be fitted with horns to automate the start sequence or signal course changes. They can also be moved mid-race if the wind shifts, can hold position against most states of wind and tide, and can be controlled remotely from either a committee vessel or onshore. Simon Nearn, president of the Australian 18 Footers League in Sydney, is a big fan of the MarkSetBots. \u201cWe\u2019re into our second season and we love them,\u201d he says. \u201cOur race officers love them because they …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5203,"featured_media":162755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,980],"tags":[162,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162765,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162748\/revisions\/162765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162748"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=162748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}