Wally

Portofino, Italy - The very first Nespresso Cup was held over the 6th-9th May, in the exclusive venue of Portofino, Italy, and it was organized by the Yacht Club Italiano.
This new premier regatta solely for the Wally Class, brought together some of sailing’s most respected world-class yachtsmen and leading Wally owners, to deliver one of the most aesthetically pleasing sailing regattas on the planet.

The Nespresso Cup assembled the largest fleet of Wallys ever, totaling 12 yachts on the water. Kenora, Gibian, Dark Shadow, Indio, Y3K, Dark Shadow, Magic Carpet Squared, Tiketitoo, J One, and Ryokan II competed for the Nespresso Cup Trophy, designed by Konstantin Grcic, the well known German designer. While Esense, Genie, Kauris II and Tango contributed to creating the stunning scenario of this unique gathering of high performance yachts.
Loick Peyron, Francesco De Angelis and Paul Cayard acted as race ambassadors of the first edition of this international regatta, and each day alternated on different yachts.

Portofino lived up to its reputation for challenging and tricky racing conditions in the first two days where only one race each day was held. J One won the first one, and Magic Carpet Squared the second.
The final day produced the best conditions and two races were sailed, both won by Magic Carpet Squared that secured victory to lift the inaugural Nespresso Cup Trophy with an impressive consistency of three first places out of four races.
The winners of the other divisions are Kenora in Cruising, Y3K in 100’, Ryokan II in Performance, J One in the 80’.

The enchanting fishing village staged also a perfectly organized social activity that included the Nespresso Cup Party in the Brown Castle where the Trophy was unveiled.

Together with Wally, Nespresso created the Ultimate Cup: the yachts competed in a series of races demonstrating their unique blend of style and cutting-edge design.
It’s a format that is destined to succeed in the future as the overall winner of the first Nespresso Cup concurred: “Everyone likes winning and I suppose that is true of all yachtsmen but when there is something new and special, and it is the first real regatta just for the Wally Class, obviously the first time someone wins it you will always be there, so we are especially delighted. I think the Nespresso Cup is a great format – the boats really are beautiful boats – and the fact that we are lucky enough to have a company to have made this come about has encouraged all sorts of beautiful boats to come.”