We Test Drive the New Wally Ace 26 Metre Motoryacht

When it comes to yacht design Luca Basani has in the past turned peoples conceptions to make a complete U turn.  Each Wally Yacht he produces forces the yachtsman to look one and then look again.

Well he has done it again with the all new Wally Ace a 26 metre Full Displacement Yacht the first of which is called Kanga.

We were one of a small discreet group of privileged journalists to be invited on board this very special looking yacht that will have the purists scratching their heads and wondering why.

We liked a great many features about this yacht and believe that many novel innovative ideas seen here for the very first time will, in due course, appear as copies in designs elsewhere.

We have been commissioned to write this yacht up for several of the worlds better yachting magazines and it will appear in their pages in months to come.  

Look out for it in the Hot Off The Press section of our Web site.

Top Travel Journalist Uses Our Experience to Illustrate a Point

Top travel journalist Alastair McKenzie has interviewed us both for a feature he has written about the use of Twitter.


The feature published in Travelll.com an online resource for those who use the Internet to write about their travels and is one of many interesting articles written by Alastair who is expert in such matters.


Not only does Alastair act as the webmaster for the British Guild of Travel Writers on whose committee he sits as Vice Chair but he is also the Editor of Travel Lists an independent 'expert directory'-style website for British holiday-makers and travellers who want to browse a simple list of only the best and most relevant travel providers for their travel research.


Alastair McKenzie is a travel journalist who has one foot in traditional media and the other in social media. He works on a freelance basis as a commercial audio journalist recording interview and events clips for the travel industry, as a print/online travel journalist, as a webmaster, and sometimes gives talks or training on social media.

He has been a radio travel journalist since 1989 and an online travel journalist since just before the millennium.

In that time he has like us visited over 50 countries - many of them more than once, and a few up to a dozen times.

He is an active member of the travel blogger and social media community and we have learned a great deal from him.

Eat Locally in Marina di Ravenna

One of the great pleasures of being specialist yacht journalists is that when you travel to review yachts you are generally very well looked after by the PR team who facilitate the trip.

As a result you get to visit restaurants that can only be found using local knowledge.  These are generally the best, often hidden away off the beaten track and not necesaarily the most expensive.

On this trip to Ravenna the Monaco sales office of Wally took us out to two restaurants offering wonderful examples of local cuisine cooked to perfection.

The first was Singita, a well presented beach bar where aperativos where served on the beach.  This rolled into a seemingly endless stream of plates of seafood, served in different ways including pasta and risotto.  In the company of fellow journalists and ship yard representatives we enjoyed dinner. Absolutely perfect.

Lunch the next day, if it is possible, was even better!  Ristorante Alma on the viale della Place cooks food in the traditional local style known as Romagnola.

If you do nothing else you should visit here and eat freshly baked Piadina Emiliana an incredibly moorish unleavened bread.  It is a far softer and less chewy version of the more mundane simple Piadina.


Top it with the local soft creamy Squacquarone cheese, add the local chutney and take a bite. Mmmmm.... you will think you have gone to heaven.

The friendly Proprietor has no website but call him on +39 0544 530284

Park Hotel Marina Di Ravenna

We have just returned from staying in the Park Hotel Marina di Ravenna.  As the main Italian holiday season has not started it it was busy but not overcrowded mid week.  It will undoubtably be packed with happy holiday makers very shortly.


They have managed to blend an old villa nicely into the edifice of now a much larger and more modern hotel that is popular as a conference destination off season. 

Miles and miles of fine golden sands make this a great seaside destination. The hotel's own private beach is opposite, across the road and a short walk away down a path through the trees and shrubs.


For those who prefer to swim in fresh water and not get sand between their toes the hotel has a very pleasant pool.  It is surrounded with trees that offer ample opportunities for shade for those who prefer a lounger without sun burn.  


Good transport links and an abundance of holiday facilities such as beach bars restaurants and nightclubs add to the appeal of the area.

The hotel is clean and efficient and does not pretend to be part of the star rating system. Our room on the fourth floor was huge with a shady balcony.  


Our only grip was the cost of the Internet and apparently we were not the only guests unhappy about this. Surely in this day and age it should be included in the room charge.

The city of Ravenna itself is worth a visit.  Buy a combined cultural visit ticket and get to see five attractions for the single payment of 9 euros 50 cents.  The mosaics and the mausoleum are quite spectacular and definitely attractions you won't want to miss out on.


If retail therapy is the object go in the morning or get there after 4.30 pm by which time the shops will have opened and the locals surfaced after their siesta.

To get to town take a number 60 or 70 bus. The trip takes around half an hour each way and costs 2 euros 50 per person each way if you pay on the bus.

Where’s Wally? In Ravenna We Are Told

Wally is to many an elusive fellow hidden in well drawn pages of children’s books but to those who love sailing and beautifully conceived yachts then Wally means Luca Basani.

The illusive Wally we are chasing over the next few days is Kanga a 26 metre motoryacht that is making a series of sea trials for a select group of yachting journalists in the Adriatic off the coast of the Italian seaside resort of Ravenna.

We shall be staying at the Park Hotel Marina di Ravenna and joining the yacht at the nearby Orioli shipyard.

Watch out for our first impressions of this unusual craft