NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF OYSTER - Oyster Yachts
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF OYSTER - Oyster Yachts
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF OYSTER - Oyster Yachts
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<strong>NEWS</strong> <strong>FROM</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>WORLD</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> ISSUE N 72 SUMMER 2011<br />
O<br />
IN THIS ISSUE – LAUNCHING <strong>THE</strong> NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625, <strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA GRENADA<br />
AND <strong>THE</strong> NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 725 UNVEILED
CONTENTS<br />
03 WELCOME<br />
David Tydeman<br />
04 <strong>OYSTER</strong> LIFE<br />
News from the world of <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
08 <strong>THE</strong> NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 725<br />
11 LONDON OWNERS’ DINNER<br />
12 <strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA GRENADA<br />
Louay Habib<br />
26 <strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>WORLD</strong> RALLY<br />
28 OWNER PR<strong>OF</strong>ILE – MARIUSZ KOPER<br />
Barry Pickthall<br />
36 AN INSIDE LOOK AT <strong>THE</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625<br />
ISSUE N O 72 SUMMER 2011<br />
12 28 40 52<br />
FRONT COVER PICTURE<br />
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS<br />
Photo: Mike Jones<br />
Barry Pickthall<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 resplendent in the<br />
evening light at the <strong>Oyster</strong> Private View,<br />
Louay Habib<br />
St Katharine Docks, London PRODUCTION EDITOR<br />
EDITOR<br />
Liz Whitman<br />
Rebecca Twiss<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
40 MISS TIPPY<br />
Brian and Sheila Norton<br />
50 <strong>OYSTER</strong> SUPERYACHT UPDATE<br />
52 UHURU’S SOU<strong>THE</strong>RN ADVENTURE<br />
Steve Powell<br />
65 <strong>OYSTER</strong> AT <strong>THE</strong> BOAT SHOWS<br />
66 TWIN RUDDERS<br />
Rob Humphreys<br />
68 LIVE IN CUBA<br />
Gunilla Brewert<br />
76 CROSSING <strong>THE</strong> ARABIAN SEA<br />
Liz Cleere and Jamie Furlong<br />
84 <strong>THE</strong> TASTE <strong>OF</strong> AN <strong>OYSTER</strong><br />
Louay Habib<br />
88 <strong>THE</strong> 25TH ARC<br />
Barry Pickthall<br />
94 FOUR MEN AND A BOAT<br />
Tim Barker<br />
102 GONE WITH <strong>THE</strong> WIND<br />
Stephen Hyde<br />
108 ON <strong>THE</strong>IR WAY...<br />
<strong>FROM</strong> <strong>THE</strong> EDITOR<br />
We publish <strong>Oyster</strong> News twice a year and we know from our readers that<br />
the articles they most enjoy reading about are the contributions from <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
owners. If you have a story to tell or information about cruising in your <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
please let us know. Photographs are always welcome with or without a story.<br />
email: liz.whitman@oystermarine.com<br />
or rebecca.twiss@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> News is published by <strong>Oyster</strong> Marine Ltd. <strong>Oyster</strong> News is for promotional purposes only, privately circulated, and cannot form part of any contract<br />
or off er. Views, details and information herein are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher who will not be held responsible for the consequences of any<br />
error or omission. Pictures and illustrations are liable to show non standard equipment.<br />
76 94
During the six months since the last issue of <strong>Oyster</strong> News,<br />
so much has happened it’s hard to know where to start.<br />
I’m delighted to say we closed 2010 with the largest value<br />
of contracts ever signed in one year, which of course gives<br />
us a stable platform going forward – but lead times are now<br />
stretching out again… so don’t wait to plan your adventures!<br />
WELCOME<br />
Several of these orders are for clients planning to take part in our inaugural<br />
World Rally starting in January 2013 and it’s exciting to know that we have<br />
fi rm commitments and entry fees from more than 30 participants. Th is will<br />
be a truly memorable event.<br />
In late June we cracked the champagne on the fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 – Sarafi n<br />
– named aft er a high quality Turkish wine – no prizes for guessing how<br />
we celebrated signing the contract last year. She’ll complete her sail trials<br />
in Turkey over the next few weeks, before setting sail for the Caribbean.<br />
Meanwhile, the fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 went sailing in early May and the fi rst<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 885 starts fi t-out at our Southampton Yacht Services yard in August.<br />
We’ve just sold 625-08 and the yacht has been nominated for a European<br />
Yacht of the Year award. She is attracting owners who prefer to sail with<br />
just family and friends, and it’s interesting to see how the perceived<br />
maximum size a family can handle has grown, yet she also works well as<br />
a crewed yacht. Plentiful on-deck living space and a crisp, modern interior,<br />
with her Seascape saloon windows are particular attractions. Capitalising<br />
on the success of this new design, we have upgraded the <strong>Oyster</strong> 72 – now<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> 725 – the fi rst of which is under construction and will include<br />
some of the features that are so admired on the 625.<br />
SUMMER 2011<br />
SYS have had a good year and Sea Lion – a 1950s Abeking and Rasmussen<br />
built yacht – was relaunched in late June aft er a complete re-build. I think<br />
there were only a couple of strakes in the keel area left of the original.<br />
A fantastic quality job by our team of specialists at SYS and a fi tting fi nal<br />
project for Piers Wilson who founded SYS over 30 years ago and retired<br />
at the end of June. We wish him well.<br />
A great regatta in Grenada in April this year will be followed in September<br />
by over 30 yachts taking part in our Palma event. We head to the British<br />
Virgin Islands in April 2012 as we continue to organise rallies and dinners<br />
to help our owners enjoy their yachts.<br />
Finally, if I may make a personal appeal. I started off shore sailing on the<br />
Sir Winston Churchill with the Sail Training Association (now the charity –<br />
Tall Ships Youth Trust Ltd of which I’m Chairman). We’re trying to locate<br />
people who sailed the Churchill and Malcolm Miller in the 1980s – if you<br />
know anyone, please ask them to contact me.<br />
Many thanks for your continued support of <strong>Oyster</strong>. We’ll do our best<br />
to keep building great yachts.<br />
Sincere regards to you all,<br />
David Tydeman<br />
CEO, <strong>Oyster</strong> Group<br />
david.tydeman@oystermarine.com<br />
3
4<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> life HEADLINES<br />
NEW FACES AT <strong>OYSTER</strong><br />
We are delighted to welcome some new additions to Team <strong>Oyster</strong> as we<br />
strengthen our support network for our customers and owners around the world.<br />
Dan Wurzbacher<br />
Sales Manager<br />
USA Offi ce<br />
Dan has been<br />
professionally<br />
involved in the<br />
marine industry<br />
for seven years,<br />
culminating with<br />
his Captaincy of Argo, a 110 degree Langan<br />
Design Schooner. He has completed crossings<br />
of the Atlantic, Pacifi c, and Indian Oceans,<br />
with over 50,000 miles of blue-water<br />
cruising experience, including extensive<br />
landfalls. He has overseen several major refi t<br />
projects and joins <strong>Oyster</strong> from a career in<br />
Brokerage with Berthon USA in Newport.<br />
Dan is based at <strong>Oyster</strong> Marine’s US<br />
Headquarters at Newport Shipyard in<br />
Newport, RI and handles new yacht sales<br />
in the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet, from the <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 to<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> 885, throughout the Americas<br />
and Caribbean. Contact Dan at:<br />
dan.wurzbacher@oystermarine.com<br />
NEW DIRECTOR<br />
Molly Marston<br />
We are delighted to announce that<br />
Molly Marston was appointed a Director<br />
of <strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage Ltd earlier this<br />
year. Molly’s contribution to the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> business has been signifi cant,<br />
particularly through her careful and<br />
studious expansion of <strong>Oyster</strong> Charter<br />
over the last few years. Her new title,<br />
as Director of Operations – <strong>Oyster</strong> USA,<br />
refl ects what we have all known for<br />
some time, that Molly really has been<br />
running the <strong>Oyster</strong> USA offi ce ever<br />
since it opened 16 years ago! Molly will<br />
continue to manage and develop our<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Charter business.<br />
Michael Bell<br />
Representing<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> in Australia<br />
We are very<br />
pleased to have<br />
secured the<br />
services of Michael<br />
Bell to act as our<br />
representative for<br />
new sales enquiries in Australia. Michael is a<br />
well-known fi gure in the local marine industry<br />
and yachting community, having previously<br />
represented Nautor in Australia, and is<br />
conveniently based from his own offi ces<br />
at Pittswater, just north of Sydney Harbour.<br />
Visiting <strong>Oyster</strong> owners will receive a very<br />
warm welcome. Contact Michael at:<br />
michael.bell@oystermarine.com<br />
Chris Fairfax<br />
Broker<br />
USA Offi ce<br />
Chris joins <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Brokerage with<br />
a wealth of<br />
experience of<br />
the US brokerage<br />
market and a long<br />
career as a yacht captain, including Atlantic<br />
and Pacifi c crossings on board <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
yachts, so is well placed to advise those<br />
looking to purchase a yacht for blue water<br />
cruising. Chris and his wife have two young<br />
sons – they cruise their S&S designed 34ft<br />
cruising yacht and race a Rhodes 19 in<br />
the summer, while Chris keeps busy in the<br />
winter playing ice hockey. Contact Chris at:<br />
chris.fairfax@oystermarine.com<br />
FAREWELL TO BOB MARSTON<br />
<strong>FROM</strong><br />
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>WORLD</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong><br />
Paul Bennett<br />
New Customer<br />
Support Manager<br />
With Eddie<br />
Scougall fully<br />
employed in<br />
helping Debbie<br />
Johnson to plan<br />
and run the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
World Rally, Paul Bennett has taken over the<br />
role of <strong>Oyster</strong>’s Customer Support Manager.<br />
Paul has held a senior role in <strong>Oyster</strong>’s<br />
commissioning team for the last fi ve years,<br />
but has in fact been skippering <strong>Oyster</strong>s for<br />
various owners, including the <strong>Oyster</strong> 82<br />
Cygnus of Anglesey, as well as working for<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> for the last 15 years. So he has a wealth<br />
of blue water sailing and technical knowledge<br />
and experience.<br />
Claudio Corvino<br />
New Yacht Sales<br />
Italy<br />
With a passion<br />
for sailing,<br />
Claudio has sailed<br />
extensively on his<br />
family’s cruising<br />
yacht and has a<br />
background in new and brokerage yacht<br />
sales gained from his previous position in<br />
Varazze, Italy. Claudio has joined our<br />
European sales team where his native<br />
Italian will be put to good use handling<br />
new enquiries. He will be based at <strong>Oyster</strong>’s<br />
Ipswich HQ, whilst he is building up his<br />
knowledge of <strong>Oyster</strong> and looks forward to<br />
meeting customers at the Genoa Boat Show<br />
in October. Contact Claudio at:<br />
claudio.corvino@oystermarine.com<br />
We were sorry to say goodbye to Molly’s husband, Bob Marston, who left <strong>Oyster</strong> to pursue<br />
a new career in the marine industry. Bob played a big role in growing our US brokerage<br />
operation in recent years and we are pleased that he will continue to be a part of the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
family through Molly.
WE ARE RECRUITING<br />
PROJECT MANAGERS<br />
REQUIRED IN IPSWICH<br />
AND SOUTHAMPTON<br />
With a growing order book, we require<br />
additional Project Managers at both our<br />
Ipswich and Southampton Yacht Services<br />
offi ces to provide liaison, technical<br />
support and coordination between<br />
our clients and the yard throughout the<br />
construction process of their new <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
yacht. Candidates will need good people<br />
skills, but above all comprehensive<br />
knowledge of what goes into a modern<br />
yacht, preferably combined with<br />
signifi cant blue water sailing or build<br />
experience. Th ey will need the ability<br />
to inspire confi dence in our clients, most<br />
of whom are experienced yachtsmen.<br />
Foreign language skills would be<br />
benefi cial, though not essential. Our<br />
Project Managers are major contributors<br />
to our ongoing quality development<br />
programme. To apply, please send your<br />
CV to: recruitment@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> SPONSORS LORO<br />
PIANA SUPERYACHT REGATTA<br />
Th e fourth edition of this annual event,<br />
jointly organised by Boat International<br />
Media and Yacht Club Costa Smeralda,<br />
and sponsored by <strong>Oyster</strong>, attracted an<br />
impressive fl eet of 27 of the world’s most<br />
stunning superyachts to the beautiful Yacht<br />
Club Costa Smeralda in Porto Cervo,<br />
Sardinia. <strong>Oyster</strong> CEO, David Tydeman,<br />
enjoyed the hospitality on board the<br />
57.5m Dubois designed, Royal Huisman<br />
Twizzle, a slightly larger version of the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 125 Flybridge, but it was Harry<br />
Macklowe’s Unfurled and Irvine Laidlaw’s<br />
Highland Fling that triumphed in an<br />
event that was dominated by strong winds.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> LIFE<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTAS<br />
PALMA 27 SEPTEMBER – 1 OCTOBER 2011<br />
Th is September will see an impressive fl eet of around 30 <strong>Oyster</strong>s taking part in <strong>Oyster</strong>’s annual<br />
Mediterranean regatta, hosted as usual by the Real Club Nautico in Palma. Participants can look<br />
forward to some great racing in the Bay of Palma and some wonderful parties at some of the<br />
island’s best venues, including a wine tasting and Paella party at the mountainside Bodegas Santa<br />
Catalina and cocktails on the terrace of the iconic Es Baluard art gallery. A full report will appear<br />
in the next issue of <strong>Oyster</strong> News.<br />
BVI 2 – 7 APRIL 2012<br />
Th e British Virgin Islands is one of the most stunning cruising areas in the Caribbean and provides<br />
a fantastic location for an <strong>Oyster</strong> regatta. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet will rendezvous at Nanny Cay Marina<br />
and will visit a number of islands during the 7-day event, including a planned stopover at the<br />
recently opened, prestigious Oil Nut Bay where the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda has opened<br />
a Caribbean base.<br />
COWES 9 – 14 JULY 2012<br />
Planned to be held just before the start of the London Olympics, <strong>Oyster</strong>’s UK Regatta will once<br />
again be hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron at their beautiful and historic headquarters,<br />
Th e Castle, overlooking the Solent. Always a popular event, a large fl eet of <strong>Oyster</strong>s is expected<br />
to take part. With a number of other signifi cant events planned in the Solent in the build up to<br />
the Olympics, there will be plenty of other sailing action for participants to enjoy, including what<br />
will surely be one of the biggest fl eets of J-Class yachts to be seen anywhere in the world. Th e<br />
organisers are hoping to have a fl eet of up to seven J’s take part in the Regatta, which starts on<br />
18 July and ends with the Hundred Guinea Cup around the Isle of Wight on 21 July. Following on<br />
from the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta, this is sure to be a spectacular sight not to be missed.<br />
To ensure you are able to take part in any of these events, owners should register their interest<br />
as soon as possible with Jacqui Kotze at: jacqui.kotze@oystermarine.com<br />
HARRODS INTERIOR DESIGN<br />
SHOWCASED ON <strong>OYSTER</strong> 72<br />
We were delighted to off er the Harrods Interior Design<br />
team the opportunity to dress the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Infi niti,<br />
with a range of beautiful soft furnishings and decorative<br />
objects from the Harrods store, for our Private View event<br />
at St Katharine Docks. Th e yacht looked absolutely<br />
stunning and was much admired by visitors to the event.<br />
We look forward to working with the team in the future.<br />
For more information see: www.thestudioatharrods.co.uk<br />
SUMMER 2011 5
6<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> 625<br />
NOMINATED FOR YACHT <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> YEAR<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Launched earlier this year to great acclaim at <strong>Oyster</strong>’s Private View in London, the<br />
new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 has been nominated for the European Yacht of the Year, proving<br />
what the team at <strong>Oyster</strong>, and the seven owners who have already placed orders<br />
for the 625, have known for some time, that this innovative new yacht, with her<br />
modern profi le and contemporary styling, really is a winner both above and below<br />
decks. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 will be displayed at this year’s Southampton, Cannes and<br />
Genoa Boat Shows. To book a boarding pass to view her at these shows please<br />
go to the Events section of our website: www.oystermarine.com or call us on<br />
+44 (0)1473 695 005. See page 36 for a report on this stunning new yacht.<br />
TRANSATLANTIC MAXI YACHT CUP 2011<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> 885 TAKES SHAPE<br />
Th e International Maxi Association (IMA)<br />
and Yacht Club Costa Smeralda are jointly<br />
organising a Transatlantic race starting from<br />
Tenerife in November 2011 and fi nishing<br />
at Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands,<br />
just in time for the opening of the new YCCS<br />
Club House at Oil Nut Bay. Th e event is open<br />
to yachts over 60 feet LOA, with a mini<br />
maxi fl eet 60-80 feet, maxis 80-100 feet<br />
and supermaxis of 100 feet and over. Th e<br />
organisers would be delighted to see a fl eet<br />
of <strong>Oyster</strong>s take part. For more information, a<br />
copy of the Notice of Race and to enter, go<br />
to: www.internationalmaxiassociation.com<br />
Th e fi rst of the fantastic, new <strong>Oyster</strong> 885s has been released from the mould and will soon be<br />
installed in the build bay at our Southampton Yacht Services yard, where she will commence fi t-out.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 885-01 is being built for Formula One Racing commentator, Eddie Jordan’s family trust and<br />
will be launched in time to go on show at the 2012 Southampton Boat Show before heading for the<br />
Caribbean to join <strong>Oyster</strong>’s World Rally fl eet.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> 56<br />
FIRST IN <strong>WORLD</strong> ARC<br />
Stephen and Aileen Hyde’s <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
56, A Lady, was fi rst in her class in<br />
the 2010-2011 World ARC that<br />
ended in the Caribbean in April,<br />
repeating the success of David<br />
Holliday’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Kealoha 8<br />
that won her class in the previous<br />
event. Just days aft er fi nishing their<br />
14-month voyage around the<br />
world, Stephen and Aileen joined<br />
the fl eet of <strong>Oyster</strong>s at our regatta<br />
in Grenada, where they enjoyed<br />
some success on the racecourse.<br />
See page 102 for more news on<br />
A Lady’s circumnavigation.<br />
PRIVATE VIEW PALMA<br />
Our fi rst Private View to be held<br />
in Palma, Mallorca takes place<br />
over the weekend of 24-25<br />
September, providing an<br />
opportunity for customers to view<br />
a selection of yachts from across<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet, conveniently<br />
located alongside the terrace at<br />
the prestigious Real Club Nautico.<br />
For more details, or to make an<br />
appointment, please call our sales team<br />
on +44 (0)1473 695 005 or email:<br />
privateview@oystermarine.com
ROUND <strong>THE</strong> ISLAND RACE<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 82, Starry Night, led the<br />
fl eet of 13 <strong>Oyster</strong>s in this year’s J. P. Morgan<br />
Round the Island Race, crossing the line in<br />
just over six hours in 19th place, in a record-<br />
breaking fl eet of over 1,900 yachts.<br />
Organised by the Island Sailing Club, this<br />
year was the 80th Anniversary of the event.<br />
In a race that was dominated by weather,<br />
the 16,000 crew taking part faced wind<br />
speeds of up to 28 knots and huge swells<br />
off the Needles. Amongst the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet<br />
OLD PULTENEY ROW TO <strong>THE</strong> POLE<br />
Announced in the last issue of <strong>Oyster</strong> News,<br />
intrepid Scots explorer, Jock Wishart, is making<br />
fi nal preparations for his attempt to ‘Row to<br />
the Pole’, an expedition planned to highlight<br />
the already dramatic eff ect of climate change<br />
on the ice around the Polar Regions. A<br />
seasoned Arctic adventurer and Transatlantic<br />
rower, Jock will be leading a small crew in<br />
what is a world fi rst attempt to row to the<br />
Magnetic North Pole (as certifi ed in 1996).<br />
Th e expedition will set off from Resolute Bay<br />
at the beginning of August 2011 and the<br />
crew plan to row for 450 miles before<br />
fi nally reaching the Magnetic North Pole<br />
at 78 degrees, 35.724 minutes North,<br />
104 degrees, 11.915 minutes West. We wish<br />
Jock and his team every success. Follow the<br />
expedition at: www.rowtothepole.com<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> LIFE<br />
was Steve Powell’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 62 UHURU, just<br />
returned to the UK aft er her amazing trip to<br />
the Antarctic and Falkland Islands – one yacht<br />
that certainly wouldn’t have been worried by<br />
the conditions! Th e veteran <strong>Oyster</strong> Lightwave<br />
48, Scarlet <strong>Oyster</strong> owned by Ross Appleby<br />
was one of six yachts taking part on behalf of<br />
the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, with a crew<br />
of young people on board. <strong>Oyster</strong> continues to<br />
support the Trust, which was the offi cial charity<br />
for the 2011 race.<br />
TEAM <strong>OYSTER</strong> COMPLETE<br />
LONDON TO BRIGHTON<br />
BIKE RIDE<br />
Congratulations to Superyacht Project<br />
Manager, Julian Weatherill, Broker,<br />
Tom Roberts and Marketing Assistant,<br />
Rebecca Twiss who joined 27,000 other<br />
cyclists taking part in the 56-mile British<br />
Heart Foundation’s London to Brighton<br />
Bike Ride. Th e intrepid trio completed<br />
the ride in fi ve hours, raising just under<br />
£1000 for the charity. Anyone who<br />
would like to support their achievement<br />
with a donation can still do so by going<br />
to the Just Giving website at:<br />
www.justgiving.com/team-oyster<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> EVENTS<br />
2011<br />
Orust Open Yard<br />
26 – 28 August<br />
HISWA Amsterdam In-Water Boat Show<br />
6 – 11 September<br />
Cannes International Boat Show<br />
6 – 11 September<br />
Newport Brokerage Show<br />
15 – 18 September<br />
Southampton International Boat Show<br />
16 – 25 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage Autumn Show<br />
16 – 25 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally Seminar<br />
17 – 18 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Owners’ Dinner, Beaulieu<br />
17 September<br />
Monaco Yacht Show<br />
21 – 24 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Private View – Palma<br />
24 – 25 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta – Palma<br />
27 September – 1 October<br />
Genoa Boat Show<br />
1 – 9 October<br />
Annapolis Sailboat Show<br />
6 – 10 October<br />
Hamburg Boat Show<br />
29 October – 6 November<br />
Hamburg Owners’ Dinner<br />
29 October<br />
ARC Owners’ Party<br />
17 November<br />
ARC Start<br />
20 November<br />
2012<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta – BVI<br />
2 – 7 April<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Olympic Regatta – Cowes<br />
9 – 14 July<br />
2013<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally<br />
January 2013 – April 2014<br />
SUMMER 2011 7
8<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
INTRODUCING <strong>THE</strong><br />
NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 725<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 725 is a stunning development of the well-proven<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 72, with many new features, including triple ‘seascape’ vertical<br />
hull windows in the saloon and a clear, fl ush aft deck, both features<br />
recently introduced on the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 to great acclaim.
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 725 was conceived from the outset<br />
to blend the live-aboard and seamanlike qualities<br />
of a typical <strong>Oyster</strong> within a design where high<br />
performance is also considered a priority.<br />
Th e 725 is built using modern composite<br />
engineering, producing a hull and deck that<br />
are both light and stiff , without compromising<br />
the strength, durability and ease of handling<br />
for which <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts are so well known.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 725 has one of our sleekest deck<br />
and cockpit designs ever, with her rolled edge<br />
side decks, fl ush deck hatches and fi ttings,<br />
transom stairwell and a host of ‘superyacht’<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> 725. DIMENSIONS<br />
Length overall (including pulpit) 22.77m 74' 9"<br />
Length of hull 22.10m 72' 6"<br />
Length of waterline 19.75m 64' 9"<br />
Beam 5.85m 19' 2.5"<br />
Draft HPB keel (standard) 2.95m 9' 8"<br />
Draft HPB keel (shoal) 2.34m 7' 8"<br />
INTRODUCING <strong>THE</strong> NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 725<br />
features. Below decks her interior joinery styling,<br />
fi xtures and fi ttings have undergone a subtle yet<br />
comprehensive transformation, giving her a<br />
modern and contemporary feel.<br />
Most owners in this size range will appreciate the<br />
advantages of separating the crew and galley<br />
from the owner’s and guest accommodation,<br />
a proven confi guration that works really well on<br />
the 725 with no compromises. Th e well-appointed<br />
owner's suite, together with double and twin guest<br />
cabins aft , provide luxurious accommodation for<br />
family and friends, whilst the living area forward<br />
of the galley can be confi gured with two en suite<br />
cabins or as a VIP guest suite. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 725’s<br />
spacious, light and airy saloon, with its great<br />
outboard vista through the vertical hull<br />
windows, complements the large cockpit,<br />
perfect for alfresco dining. Whilst her vast aft<br />
deck is a wonderful area for sun worshippers,<br />
entertaining and partying.<br />
Th e standard layout makes best use of space<br />
on board the <strong>Oyster</strong> 725, but as with all the<br />
larger <strong>Oyster</strong>s, the in-house design team<br />
is expert at confi guring a custom layout<br />
to best match an owner’s individual needs<br />
and priorities.<br />
Standard rig and spar type Masthead cutter with fully battened main<br />
Available rig options In-mast furling<br />
Ballast keel type High Performance Bulb (HPB)<br />
Displacement (standard keel) 51,500 kgs 113,538 lbs<br />
Typical engine Cummins QSB5.9 156kW (212hp)<br />
SUMMER 2011 9
10<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
VISIT. EXPERIENCE. SHOP. DINE. UNWIND.<br />
With the Bay of Kotor as its backdrop, Porto Montenegro is a breathtaking marina that is home to<br />
some of world’s finest superyachts. This summer visit our new boutiques, restaurants, bars, spa<br />
and beauty salon located in the Adriatic’s most exciting waterfront village.<br />
info@portomontenegro.com<br />
www.portomontenegro.com
With not one, but two guests of honour, both of<br />
whom had sailed around the world, along with<br />
a number of owners who had already signed up<br />
for <strong>Oyster</strong>’s World Rally in 2013 in attendance,<br />
the evening had a distinctly circumnavigating<br />
theme to it. Several owners had fl own in from<br />
around the world to attend and, as usual, there<br />
was great camaraderie as the previous season’s<br />
cruising stories were exchanged and future<br />
plans discussed.<br />
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston CBE had his leg pulled<br />
by fellow circumnavigator, David Holliday OBE,<br />
owner of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 72 Kealoha 8, for being the<br />
fi rst to sail single-handed non-stop around the<br />
LONDON OWNERS’ DINNER<br />
Th e London Owners ’ Dinner<br />
T H E L O N D O N O W N E R S ’ D I N N E R<br />
Over 170 owners and guests gathered at the Royal Th ames Yacht Club’s elegant<br />
Knightsbridge headquarters for <strong>Oyster</strong>’s annual London Owners’ Dinner in January.<br />
world and later to become the fastest, but never<br />
to have done it in the luxury of an <strong>Oyster</strong> yacht.<br />
Quick as a fl ash, the sailing Knight of the Realm<br />
retorted that he was allergic to oysters and all<br />
“It will be a fantastic experience<br />
– a once in a lifetime adventure.<br />
Paint yourself in bright colours,<br />
not pastel shades – enjoy every<br />
minute of the voyage.”<br />
other shellfi sh, and then regaled his audience<br />
with the benefi ts of sailing singlehanded. “You<br />
don’t have the problems of getting recalcitrant<br />
crew out of their bunks and up on watch, you<br />
don’t have them eating all the stores, and they<br />
don’t cost you anything in port.” He joked.<br />
Sir Robin did however have encouraging words<br />
for the 29 <strong>Oyster</strong> owners who have already<br />
signed up for the 2013-2014 <strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally<br />
to mark <strong>Oyster</strong>’s 40th Anniversary, “It will be<br />
a fantastic experience – a once in a lifetime<br />
adventure. Paint yourself in bright colours,<br />
not pastel shades – enjoy every minute of the<br />
voyage.” He told his enthusiastic audience.<br />
SUMMER 2011 11
12<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
FRIENDSHIP AND<br />
FUN IN GRENADA<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA<br />
GRENADA 2011<br />
BY LOUAY HABIB<br />
SUMMER 2011 13
14<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“Grenada provided the <strong>Oyster</strong> family with a fabulous setting. We wanted to<br />
have a Caribbean adventure and to explore a spectacular new location for<br />
our <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta programme, but we got much more than a special venue.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> owners and their guests were made extremely welcome by the<br />
people of Grenada, who were genuinely excited that the <strong>Oyster</strong> family had<br />
come to their island. I am sure that we will be going back.”<br />
David Tydeman, CEO <strong>Oyster</strong> Group<br />
Th e island of Grenada off ers some of the most<br />
idyllic cruising grounds anywhere in the world.<br />
Wonderful hidden coves and beaches with<br />
sand like fi ne sugar typify Grenada. Known as<br />
Th e Spice Island of the Caribbean, the mountainous<br />
interior is festooned with spice plantations with<br />
the sweet scent of nutmeg and cinnamon<br />
carried on the breeze.<br />
Grenada’s natural beauty is enhanced by its<br />
rich history and vibrant cultural heritage. Local<br />
festivals such as the carnival, fairs and markets<br />
remain an integral part of daily life on Grenada,<br />
which was fi rst discovered by Christopher<br />
Columbus in 1498. Most of the population<br />
lives near the capital, St George’s, one of the<br />
most picturesque cities in the Caribbean. Its<br />
horseshoe-shaped harbour, surrounded by its<br />
colourful, traditionally built buildings is the hub<br />
of the island and was recently complemented<br />
by a world-class international marina.<br />
In terms of modern marina facilities, Grenada<br />
has been somewhat of a late developer – that<br />
was until December 2008 – when Camper &<br />
Nicholsons Marinas opened Port Louis. Situated<br />
opposite the island’s capital, Port Louis has 170<br />
berths and is capable of handling superyachts<br />
up to 300 feet.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada was the 26th<br />
in the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta series and the fi rst time<br />
the event had come to the lush tropical island<br />
in the Southern Caribbean. Port Louis was<br />
chosen as an ideal base and the 25-strong<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet were given pride of place at the<br />
heart of this impressive location, where they<br />
enjoyed VIP treatment from the Port Louis team,<br />
including Marketing Manager Danny Donelan,<br />
who had been instrumental in helping <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
plan the event.
Th e event organising team, led by Liz Whitman,<br />
arrived in Grenada a week before the start to<br />
ensure that everything was in place and ready<br />
for the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet’s arrival. Eddie Scougall,<br />
heading up <strong>Oyster</strong>’s in-house service team,<br />
diligently provided owners with technical support,<br />
a complimentary service available to all owners<br />
at all <strong>Oyster</strong> events.<br />
Following the skippers’ briefi ng at Port Louis<br />
Marina, the Beach Cabana at the exclusive<br />
Mount Cinnamon was a fi tting venue for the<br />
opening cocktail party, which was hosted by the<br />
Grenada Tourist Board. Mount Cinnamon is a<br />
magnifi cent boutique resort set amidst tropical<br />
fl owering gardens, overlooking the crystal-clear<br />
waters of Grand Anse Beach, considered one of<br />
the most beautiful stretches of pristine, white,<br />
powder-soft sand in all the world.<br />
Drinks were followed by a sumptuous buff et<br />
dinner, whilst entertainment was provided by<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
the renowned Tivoli Drummers. Th e guest of<br />
honour was Th e Hon. Tillman Th omas, the<br />
Prime Minister of Grenada, who gave a very<br />
warm welcome to the 200 guests attending the<br />
opening party of the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> family dined under the stars and it<br />
was a fun fi lled evening full of laughter. Many of<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> owners and their families and guests<br />
are fi rm friends, but those new to <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Regattas were also treated to a great occasion,<br />
great company and a spectacular location.<br />
Top left : Th e crew of A Sulana raise the regatta fl ag<br />
Top right: Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> Fleet, Port Louis Marina<br />
Right top: David and Mary Tydeman with<br />
Th e Hon. Tilman Th omas, Prime Minister of Grenada<br />
Right bottom: Evening entertainment courtesy of<br />
the Tivoli Drummers<br />
SUMMER 2011 15
16<br />
DAY ONE<br />
Lewmar Race Day<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Grenada’s lush, green paradise relies on rain and on the morning of the<br />
Lewmar Race Day, the <strong>Oyster</strong> Fleet certainly got that. Led out of the marina<br />
by the Coastguard vessel, the 25 <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts proceeded in line on a sail<br />
past around St George’s harbour, with crews dressed in full wet weather<br />
gear – a sight more reminiscent of a wet day in the Solent than the Caribbean.<br />
As the cannons were fi red from the old fort in<br />
honour of the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta, the fl eet provided<br />
a sightseeing opportunity and welcome diversion<br />
from the rain for all those on board a cruise ship<br />
berthed inside the port. But the torrential<br />
downpour was short lived. As if by magic the<br />
fresh easterly wind blew away the rain clouds,<br />
providing dry, if somewhat tricky conditions.<br />
During the course of the day there were<br />
numerous wind shift s and predicting these<br />
changes was the secret to success. A light airs<br />
start was followed by a building breeze, which<br />
piped up to 15 knots by the end of the race.<br />
Starts are always important but especially in a<br />
fi ckle breeze and the Polish <strong>Oyster</strong> 46, SunSuSea,<br />
judged the line to perfection to get away well.<br />
Owned by Mariusz and Paulina Kierebinski,<br />
SunSuSea came to the Caribbean in the 2009 ARC.<br />
“We have been really delighted with the boat,”<br />
smiled Mariusz, “my family love to sail, especially in<br />
the Caribbean. Th is is our second <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta<br />
and although we have little experience with racing,<br />
it is a great way to learn how to improve our<br />
sailing technique. We really like Grenada, it is<br />
such a friendly place and safe for our children.<br />
Aft er the regatta, we will be cruising through<br />
Th e Grenadines to St. Lucia, our last adventure<br />
before the boat returns across the Atlantic.”<br />
Besides Mariusz and Paulina, SunSuSea is crewed<br />
by their daughter Claudia and son Martin, who<br />
are fast learners in the cockpit. Whilst friends,<br />
Artur and Margaret trim the mainsail, helped by<br />
their daughter Adriana, who is just 11 years of age.<br />
In Class 1, the <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Lush with Formula One<br />
racing analyst, Eddie Jordan on board, sailed a<br />
smart race to win, but the powerful <strong>Oyster</strong> 655<br />
was pushed all the way by Chris Shea’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72,<br />
Magrathea, a veteran of several <strong>Oyster</strong> Regattas,<br />
who sailed a near perfect beat by using the lift ing<br />
breeze along Grande Anse Beach. Jonathon<br />
and Jane Mould’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Koluka claimed a<br />
well-deserved third in class.
Alan Brook, who was taking part in his fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Regatta as a competitor with his wife Sue in their<br />
new <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Sulana, won the fi rst race in<br />
Class 2. Th e meticulously prepared yacht was<br />
extremely well positioned on the racecourse to<br />
win by a fair margin. Scott Bickford’s American<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Contingency was second and<br />
Ian Galbraith and crew, racing his <strong>Oyster</strong> 53,<br />
Jigsaw, kept their concentration to take third.<br />
Aft er the fl eet had returned to the safe confi nes<br />
of Port Louis Marina, a cocktail party, hosted by<br />
the Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada,<br />
was full of talk about the day’s events. Later that<br />
evening, the <strong>Oyster</strong> family was treated to a lavish,<br />
private party at the exclusive LaLuna Estate.<br />
Tucked away south of the capital, LaLuna is a<br />
secret hideaway on Morne Rouge Bay, which<br />
off ers one of the fi nest beaches on the island,<br />
just minutes from St George’s. Th e estate is<br />
oft en frequented by stars of stage and fi lm<br />
and provided a truly magical location for the<br />
second <strong>Oyster</strong> party of the regatta.<br />
Th e ultra-chic and secluded venue has a rustic<br />
charm extenuated by the use of traditional<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
“Together with our children and friends, we had a great time and a lot of fun at this<br />
year’s Grenada Regatta. Th anks to <strong>Oyster</strong>’s organisation everything was perfect.<br />
Great choice of clubs and restaurants... spectacular atmosphere and cuisine.”<br />
Mariusz and Paulina Kierebinski, <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 SunSuSea<br />
Caribbean materials to provide a design-fusion,<br />
which is unmistakably Asian in appearance.<br />
Opened in 2000 by Bernado Bertucci, a former<br />
fashion consultant to Prada and Armani and<br />
his wife, Wendy, the resort was designed by<br />
Gabriella Giuntoli. Teak furniture and curved<br />
couches are enhanced by fl owing drapes,<br />
echoing the turquoise sea and green foliage that<br />
surrounds the estate. Th e wooden beachfront<br />
courtyard blends cane, cotton, silk and thatch and<br />
inviting day beds are scattered throughout the<br />
resort with sublime views of the perfect beach.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> family was treated to a mouth<br />
watering four-course dinner with fi ne wine and<br />
a wonderful ambience. Aft erwards, a company<br />
of dancers electrifi ed the atmosphere and very<br />
soon the party was a very lively aff air. It may<br />
have been a day of mixed fortunes on the water<br />
but the <strong>Oyster</strong> crew-conga, snaking through<br />
the LaLuna courtyards was testament to a very<br />
successful day at the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada.<br />
Far left : Cocktails at the Aquarium Restaurant and Beach Bar<br />
Above top left : Scott Bickford’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Contingency<br />
Above top right: Family and friends crew the <strong>Oyster</strong> 46,<br />
SunSuSea<br />
Bottom left : Crew of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Sotto Vento smiling<br />
through a downpour<br />
Bottom right: Th e Death family enjoying dinner at LaLuna<br />
SUMMER 2011 17
18<br />
Th e Race Offi cers set an adrenalin-packed<br />
course, fuelled by strong winds, funneling<br />
around the awe-inspiring southern<br />
coastline of Grenada<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
DAY TWO<br />
Pelagos Race Day<br />
Th e Race Offi cers set an adrenalin-packed<br />
course, fuelled by strong winds, funneling<br />
around the awe-inspiring southern coastline<br />
of Grenada. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet was fully tuned<br />
up, which showcased the grace, power and<br />
above all safety of these majestic yachts.<br />
Despite the feisty conditions, all of the<br />
competing yachts arrived in picturesque<br />
Calivigny Bay, with no more damage than<br />
a few sails in need of minor repairs.<br />
Ole and Lotte Vagner’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 62, Golden Gate<br />
had a great day on the water, executing some<br />
excellent mark roundings, including a text book<br />
gybe-set at the penultimate mark, to steal an<br />
advantage on their competitors. Golden Gate<br />
fi nished the day in fi ne style.<br />
“Although we are Danish, we decided to call our<br />
yacht Golden Gate, as we saw it as a gateway<br />
to adventure and it certainly has been.”<br />
Explained Lotte Vagner. “Th is is our fi ft h <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Regatta, we have enjoyed <strong>Oyster</strong> Regattas in the<br />
Mediterranean and Caribbean and it is so nice<br />
to meet up with our many friends in the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
family. Aft er the regatta we will be cruising with<br />
Golden Gate to Newport Rhode Island and<br />
among other locations, we plan to visit Cuba<br />
and Miami.”<br />
Part of the reason for going to Cuba and Miami<br />
is because Ole is a keen musician and his A-Band<br />
will be performing during the tour. By all accounts<br />
Ole is an accomplished base guitarist.<br />
“Grenada is one of my favourite places in the<br />
Caribbean. Th e people here are so friendly and<br />
they have not been too infl uenced by tourism.<br />
We are really enjoying this regatta and much<br />
of that enjoyment is due to our excellent crew,<br />
Kris the skipper and his wife Gunilla are such an<br />
important part of that. Oft en the hard work that<br />
skipper and crew put in goes unnoticed, without<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
Aft er two days at Port Louis, the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet were all set to race to a new<br />
location. Le Phare Bleu would be the venue and it proved to be a fantastic<br />
experience. Th e 19-mile coastal race to Le Phare Bleu was full of excitement.<br />
them we would never be able to enjoy sailing<br />
Golden Gate, as much as we do.”<br />
During the race, Golden Gate had a close call<br />
with the <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Asante. Although there was<br />
no infringement, Ole felt that perhaps they had<br />
come close to breaking the spirit of <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
sailing and as soon as Golden Gate was dockside,<br />
he off ered his apologies to Andrew Walters,<br />
the owner of Asante, off ering him a bottle<br />
of champagne. It was duly accepted with<br />
a smile and a gracious remark from Andrew.<br />
“Th e situation actually stopped us from our plan<br />
of going inshore, which would have been the<br />
wrong move, so Golden Gate actually did us<br />
a favour, it was a lovely gesture by Ole, in true<br />
Corinthian spirit.”<br />
Aft er racing the fl eet made its way into the<br />
delightful little marina of Le Phare Bleu, where<br />
a cocktail party was held on board the lightship<br />
Västra Banken, originally built in Sweden in<br />
1900, it has been exquisitely restored. Th e<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet was treated to a rather unusual<br />
musical performance, as a steel band played<br />
on board a tugboat, which sailed around the<br />
bay. It was an intoxicating atmosphere, as the<br />
sun dipped down on a perfect day and nearly<br />
200 <strong>Oyster</strong> guests settled in for dinner at<br />
Le Phare Bleu’s beachside restaurant. Dining<br />
alfresco at the water’s edge in the cooler night<br />
air was a delightful experience. A sumptuous<br />
buff et of local fayre including fresh fi sh and<br />
seafood was very well received before the<br />
famous Doc Adams Blues Band performed live<br />
to rapturous applause. Playing a string of all time<br />
favourites, it wasn’t long before the dance fl oor<br />
was throbbing to the music. With a break from<br />
racing the following day, the <strong>Oyster</strong> family<br />
partied well into the night.<br />
Left top: Strong winds off the coastline of Grenada<br />
Left bottom: Andrew & Anne Walters, <strong>Oyster</strong> 56 Asante<br />
leading the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet<br />
Above top: Th e stunning <strong>Oyster</strong> 82, Starry Night<br />
Above middle: Close racing for the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet<br />
Above bottom: Th e crew of Ole Vagner’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 62,<br />
Golden Gate<br />
SUMMER 2011 19
20<br />
DAY THREE<br />
Lay Day<br />
Following two fantastic days of racing, the <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts<br />
remained at Le Phare Bleu Marina for a well-earned rest,<br />
however many of the <strong>Oyster</strong> family took the opportunity<br />
to enjoy the beautiful island of Grenada.<br />
Excursions were organised by <strong>Oyster</strong> Marine,<br />
with over 35 people taking the opportunity to<br />
spend the day touring the island’s historic sites<br />
and rain forest with a lunch stop at the Belmont<br />
Estate, famous for its cocoa bean production,<br />
and a tour of Peter de Savary’s private Mount<br />
Edgcombe Estate. Several crews spent the day<br />
exploring the underwater world. Sea temperatures<br />
are usually in excess of 26ºC with excellent<br />
visibility. Nurse sharks, hawksbill turtles and<br />
stingrays are a common sight and dive sites<br />
vary from reef walls and coral gardens to wreck<br />
dives, oft en just a short journey away from shore.<br />
Grenada is famous for its Workboats, with over<br />
80 of these colourful craft racing every February<br />
at the Grenada Sailing Festival. For Lay Day, the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> crews were given the rare opportunity of<br />
sailing with the local Woburn based skippers of<br />
these clinker built wooden dinghies. Th ere was<br />
some light-hearted bragging between the local<br />
skippers and spectators were treated to some<br />
exciting racing in Calavigny Bay. Th ere was<br />
even talk amongst <strong>Oyster</strong> owners and regatta<br />
sponsors about building a workboat, to take part<br />
in future events, watch this space!<br />
Meanwhile ashore, there was a cook off , which<br />
involved a competition between Grenadians for<br />
the best tasting ‘Oil-Down’, the national dish of<br />
Grenada, which is a stew containing a huge<br />
variety of ingredients. Recipes diff er from pork<br />
off -cuts with coconut milk, bananas, saff ron and<br />
breadfruit to a salt fi sh off ering with okra and<br />
saff ron. <strong>Oyster</strong> owners and guests judged the<br />
competition before rounding off the day with<br />
a cocktail party, at which the ‘Oil Down’ and<br />
Workboat prizes were presented.<br />
Right: Lay Day fun on the Grenada Workboats<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
DAY FOUR<br />
Dolphin Sails Race Day<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
Aft er a truly delightful stay at Le Phare Bleu, the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet<br />
returned to action. Clear blue skies and an easterly breeze of<br />
15 knots provided champagne sailing conditions for the third<br />
race of the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada.<br />
Th e Race Offi cers opted for a 20-mile course,<br />
starting with windward leeward, followed by a<br />
tactical beat along the southern side of the island.<br />
Th e wind abated during the course of the race<br />
but the forecast light airs never really materialised.<br />
Ray and Birgitte Charmak’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Out of India<br />
had a great start, judging the line well and<br />
setting off at pace.<br />
“I was determined to get a good start today,”<br />
explained Ray, “we have been shy of the line on<br />
the last two occasions and as one of the smallest<br />
boats in the fl eet, we always have most of the<br />
fl eet in front of us. Before we decided to set off on<br />
our adventures with Out of India, Birgitte and<br />
I had hardly done any sailing at all, we really<br />
jumped in at the deep-end. Now we have sailed<br />
the yacht across the Atlantic and completed<br />
thousands of miles together, it has been a<br />
wonderful experience. Aft er considering several<br />
options, we decided to go for an <strong>Oyster</strong>, for<br />
blue-water cruising, it was a very good choice.<br />
We prefer a smaller yacht because it allows us to<br />
get away from it all and sail the boat by ourselves.<br />
But Out of India is not set up for racing, our main<br />
aim at <strong>Oyster</strong> Regattas is to have fun and we are<br />
certainly doing that in Grenada.”<br />
“When we heard that <strong>Oyster</strong> were organising<br />
the regatta in Grenada, we were delighted,”<br />
commented Birgitte “it is a wonderful island with<br />
really fascinating and breathtaking scenery. It is<br />
somewhere that we have enjoyed coming to<br />
before, and to have all of our friends from the<br />
other <strong>Oyster</strong>s here makes it even more special.”<br />
Dolphin Race Day provided the fl eet with a tricky<br />
passage race back to Port Louis with special<br />
attention needing to be paid to negotiating the<br />
Porpoise Rocks on the southwest tip of Grenada.<br />
In Class 2, Alan and Sue Brook’s, <strong>Oyster</strong> 56<br />
Sulana was once again victorious, with John<br />
McTigue’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Blue Dreams second and<br />
Harvey and Sue Death’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Sarabi third.<br />
Ian Galbraith’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Jigsaw had a great race<br />
and was well placed, but unfortunately touched<br />
the fi nishing mark. In a great act of sportsmanship,<br />
they alerted their error to the race committee.<br />
In Class 1 Jonathan and Jane Mould’s sporty<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Koluka took line honours and won<br />
on handicap by a signifi cant margin. Koluka is<br />
a stylish <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, with a performance rig in<br />
carbon and a luxurious interior, with a state of the<br />
art entertainment system, Koluka is certainly a<br />
great combination of performance and comfort.<br />
Chris and Susan Shea’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Magrathea<br />
was second and Eddie Jordan, racing the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Lush was third.<br />
The evening festivities took place at The<br />
Aquarium restaurant and beach bar. Th e staff<br />
at Th e Aquarium were full of smiles as the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> guests arrived. Many of the party took<br />
the opportunity of wandering onto the beautiful<br />
beach to watch the sun go down. It was a<br />
stunning location for the <strong>Oyster</strong> family to enjoy<br />
the cool sea breeze and twilight views of<br />
Grenada’s picture-perfect historical capital.<br />
Guests settled into the open-air restaurant<br />
amidst tropical gardens with Koi carp ponds<br />
and waterfalls. Th e Aquarium prides itself on its<br />
international wine cellar, which was very well<br />
received by the guests who enjoyed a barbeque<br />
of local fayre. Th e cobalt night sky and the sound<br />
of waves breaking on the pristine beach created<br />
a totally relaxing atmosphere.<br />
Top left : Chris & Susan Shea’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Magrathea<br />
Bottom left : Ray and Birgitte Charmak, owners of<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Out of India<br />
Above: Alan Brook and crew aboard <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Sulana<br />
SUMMER 2011 21
22<br />
DAY FIVE<br />
Pantaenius Race Day<br />
Th e happy smiling faces dockside at<br />
Port Louis were testament to a truly<br />
memorable <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta on the<br />
magical island of Grenada. However,<br />
there was an element of tension in<br />
the air on the last day of racing and<br />
a dramatic conclusion was to follow.<br />
Th e race area south west of Grenada was sublime,<br />
sunshine and crystal clear water with a warm<br />
breeze, which developed during the day, to a<br />
steady 12 knots.<br />
Jonathan and Jane Mould’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Koluka<br />
continued their domination of Class 1 with their<br />
fourth victory, a clean sweep. An impressive<br />
performance but the couple did not come to<br />
Grenada just to compete, Jonathan and Jane<br />
were accompanied by their extended family,<br />
both daughters, husbands and grandchildren.<br />
“To be honest with you, the racing has been the<br />
most relaxing part. With three grandchildren all<br />
two or younger, it is a busy time ashore. My wife<br />
Jane has done most of the baby-sitting, while<br />
the rest of us have gone sailing. It has been a<br />
lovely experience, it is always nice to do well but<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
to be in such a wonderful place with my family,<br />
is something to savour for years to come.”<br />
Chris and Susan Shea’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Magrathea<br />
was a gallant second, that scored consistently<br />
through the regatta. Eddie Jordan on board<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Lush, fi nished the regatta in<br />
style, coming a close second to the overall<br />
winners Koluka.<br />
Alan and Sue Brook’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Sulana was a<br />
clear leader prior to the last race but a dramatic<br />
event on the racecourse nearly cost them<br />
victory. A coming together with John McTigue’s<br />
Blue Dreams meant a 20% penalty, resulting<br />
in a 10th place for Sulana for the fi nal race.<br />
However their string of wins, prior to the last<br />
race, meant that Sulana held on to win<br />
Class 2 overall.<br />
Alan Brook commented: “We have been in<br />
Grenada for six weeks now and I can safely say<br />
it is an excellent place for many reasons and a<br />
very fi tting venue for <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts and their<br />
owners. I have an excellent crew on Sulana,<br />
who all worked well together to contribute to our<br />
success but I think that we can all leave Grenada<br />
as winners, it has been an excellent event.”<br />
Second in Class 2 was Scott Bickford’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 53,<br />
Contingency. David Fass’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Sulana<br />
was third by just a single point. Meaning that<br />
Ian Galbraith’s Scottish <strong>Oyster</strong> 53, Jigsaw and<br />
Stephen and Aileen Hyde’s Irish <strong>Oyster</strong> 56,<br />
A Lady, just missed out on a podium fi nish.<br />
Stephen and Aileen Hyde left Crosshaven, in<br />
Southern Ireland, in the summer of 2009 and<br />
haven’t been back since. Aft er cruising their<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 56 down to Las Palmas, they crossed the<br />
Atlantic and continued west with the World ARC<br />
fl eet. Stephen has written a fascinating account of<br />
their 30,000-mile circumnavigation, with the fi nal<br />
instalment featured in this issue of <strong>Oyster</strong> News.<br />
“Without doubt, the most amazing place<br />
we have visited was the San Blas Islands.”<br />
Commented Stephen. “Th e archipelago is<br />
composed of approximately 200 islands off the<br />
coast of Panama. Beautiful beaches free from<br />
crocodiles and mosquitoes and brilliant diving in<br />
the reefs and blessed with crystal clear waters<br />
with an amazing variety of wildlife. Even black<br />
tipped reef sharks, which would oft en swim<br />
with us. When I suggested to my wife that we<br />
should sail around the world, she said absolutely<br />
nothing – no comment. However with just a few<br />
days to go until the start, she told me she was<br />
coming and was going to sail every mile. It has<br />
been a fantastic adventure.”<br />
On the fi nal night of the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta Grenada,<br />
the prize-giving party was held at Port Louis<br />
Marina. Th e new facility has been a splendid<br />
setting for the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet and a fi tting venue<br />
for the closing ceremony and party. Over 230<br />
guests attended the evening with Grenadian<br />
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Peter David, as Guest<br />
of Honour. “Sailing is very important to Grenada,<br />
it is deeply rooted in our culture and I speak for<br />
Top left : Mark Howard’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Amanzi<br />
Top right: Jonathan & Jane Mould’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, Koluka
It was a very happy occasion with<br />
crews toasting each other and<br />
recalling memorable moments<br />
during a fantastic week.<br />
the Prime Minister and all Grenadians, that we<br />
were delighted to welcome all of the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
yachts to our island and hope that you all return<br />
soon.” Commented Peter David.<br />
Aft er the prize-giving, a gourmet four-course<br />
meal was served, it was a very happy occasion<br />
with crews toasting each other and recalling<br />
memorable moments during a fantastic week.<br />
Eddie Jordan was competing at his fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Regatta, his long career with Formula One has<br />
taken him to some of the world’s fi nest locations.<br />
“To be honest, contrary to popular opinion,<br />
I have never been much of a party-goer. I have<br />
oft en found that social events oft en never live up<br />
to the billing. But I have to say this regatta has<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
surpassed my expectations. I arrived in Grenada<br />
extremely jet-lagged aft er travelling with the<br />
Formula One circuit through the Far East and<br />
it was a pleasure for myself and Marie to enjoy<br />
such a well managed event with great people<br />
in a lovely part of the world.”<br />
A brilliant fi rework display over the marina,<br />
capped off a truly wonderful event. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Regatta in Grenada had been a roaring success.<br />
Probably one of the main reasons for that was<br />
the warmth and friendship of the people of<br />
Grenada, something that the <strong>Oyster</strong> family<br />
appreciates a great deal.<br />
Later in the year the <strong>Oyster</strong> family will return to<br />
Palma, Mallorca for the annual Mediterranean<br />
Regatta. Hosted once again by the prestigious<br />
Real Club Nautico, the event will run from<br />
27 September to 1 October 2011.<br />
For more information about <strong>Oyster</strong> Regattas see:<br />
www.oystermarine.com/events<br />
Photos: Ingrid Abery<br />
Above: Th e crew of <strong>Oyster</strong> 82, Oceana celebrate<br />
crossing the line.<br />
Below: Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Lush<br />
SUMMER 2011 23
24<br />
CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE<br />
CLASS 1<br />
Presented by <strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage<br />
Golden Gate 62 Ole & Lotte Vagner<br />
CLASS 2<br />
A Sulana 56 David Fass<br />
Sarabi 56 Harvey & Susan Death<br />
Sulana 56 Alan & Sue Brook<br />
RACE 1 – SPONSORED BY LEWMAR<br />
CLASS 1<br />
1st Lush 655 Fastnet Ltd<br />
2nd Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
3rd Koluka 72 Jonathon & Jane Mould<br />
4th Starry Night 82 Starry <strong>Yachts</strong><br />
CLASS 2<br />
1st Sulana 56 Alan & Sue Brook<br />
2nd Contingency 53 Scott Bickford<br />
3rd Jigsaw 53 Ian Galbraith<br />
4th Queen Emma 45 Laurence Batten & Susie Bowman<br />
RACE 2 – SPONSORED BY PELAGOS YACHTS<br />
CLASS 1<br />
1st Koluka 72 Jonathon & Jane Mould<br />
2nd Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
3rd Starry Night 82 Starry <strong>Yachts</strong><br />
4th Pandemonium 82 Stuart Smith & Barry Cooper Jr<br />
CLASS 2<br />
1st Sulana 56 Alan & Sue Brook<br />
2nd A Sulana 56 David Fass<br />
3rd Contingency 53 Scott Bickford<br />
4th A Lady 56 Stephen & Aileen Hyde<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
RACE 3 – SPONSORED BY DOLPHIN SAILS<br />
CLASS 1<br />
1st Koluka 72 Jonathon & Jane Mould<br />
2nd Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
3rd Lush 655 Fastnet Ltd<br />
4th Dorado 62 Terry & Mollie King-Smith<br />
CLASS 2<br />
1st Sulana 56 Alan & Sue Brook<br />
2nd Blue Dreams 56 John McTigue<br />
3rd Sarabi 56 Harvey & Susan Death<br />
4th A Lady 56 Stephen & Aileen Hyde<br />
RACE 4 – SPONSORED BY PANTAENIUS<br />
CLASS 1<br />
1st Koluka 72 Jonathon & Jane Mould<br />
2nd Lush 655 Fastnet Ltd<br />
3rd Starry Night 82 Starry <strong>Yachts</strong><br />
4th Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
CLASS 2<br />
1st Stardust of Burnham 56 Paul Bateman<br />
2nd Sarabi 56 Harvey & Susan Death<br />
3rd Asante 56 Andrew & Ann Walters<br />
4th Contingency 53 Scott Bickford
<strong>THE</strong> YACHTING <strong>WORLD</strong> PERPETUAL TROPHY<br />
Presented by Hon Peter David, Minister of Tourism<br />
Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
<strong>THE</strong> WINDBOATS ANNIVERSARY TROPHY<br />
Presented by Hon Peter David, Minister of Tourism<br />
Lush 655 Fastnet Ltd<br />
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA TROPHY<br />
Presented by Hon Peter David, Minister of Tourism<br />
CLASS 1<br />
1st Koluka 72 Jonathon & Jane Mould<br />
2nd Magrathea 72 Chris & Susan Shea<br />
3rd Lush 655 Fastnet Ltd<br />
4th Starry Night 82 Starry <strong>Yachts</strong><br />
CLASS 2<br />
1st Sulana 56 Alan & Sue Brook<br />
2nd Contingency 53 Scott Bickford<br />
3rd A Sulana 56 David Fass<br />
4th Jigsaw 53 Ian Galbraith<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> REGATTA – GRENADA<br />
“Th anks for such an enjoyable event, really well<br />
organised down to the last detail. Th is was our fi rst<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta and it exceeded all our expectations.<br />
You not only build nice boats but you also help us to<br />
make the best of them in delightful ways and places.”<br />
Andrew and Ann Walters <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Asante<br />
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the many individuals<br />
and businesses in Grenada who supported the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta, for<br />
which we are extremely grateful. More information can be found on<br />
the Events section of our website.<br />
Honourable Tillman Th omas, Prime Minister<br />
Honourable Peter David, Minister of Tourism<br />
Simon Stiel, Grenada Board of Tourism<br />
www.grenadagrenadines.com<br />
Marine & Yachting Association of Grenada<br />
www.mayag.net<br />
Grenada Port Authority<br />
Grenada Coastguard<br />
Anita and Mark Sutton, Island Dreams<br />
www.islandreamsgrenada.com<br />
Danny Donelan and Glynn Th omas<br />
Camper & Nicholson’s Port Louis Marina<br />
www.cnmarinas.com/plm<br />
Dieter Burkhalter, Jana Caniga & Lynn Fletcher<br />
Le Phare Bleu Marina and Boutique Hotel<br />
www.lepharebleu.com<br />
Mark Scott, Mount Cinnamon<br />
www.mountcinnamongrenadahotel.com<br />
Uli Kuhn, Th e Aquarium & Victory Bar<br />
www.aquarium-grenada.com<br />
Bernardi & Wendy Bertucci, LaLuna<br />
www.laluna.com<br />
Rodney George, Loan of the committee boat<br />
James Pascall, Horizon Yacht Charters<br />
Loan of marks and mark laying<br />
www.horizonyachtcharters.com<br />
Mike and Pete, Palm Tree Marine<br />
Mark laying<br />
www.palmtreemarine.com<br />
Russ Fielden, Race course advice<br />
Jimmy Bristol, Grenada Sailing Festival<br />
Loan of race equipment<br />
www.grenadasailingfestival.com<br />
DABS Car Rentals, Loan of team car<br />
www.dabscarrentals.com<br />
Digicel, Loan of team phones<br />
www.digicelgroup.com<br />
Grenada Marina Taxi Association<br />
Westerhall Rum, Complimentary rum<br />
www.westerhallrums.com<br />
North South Wines, Complimentary wines<br />
www.northsouthwines.com<br />
Sarah Baker, Woburn Workboats<br />
SUMMER 2011 25
26<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
OVER 30 <strong>OYSTER</strong>S TO SET SAIL IN <strong>WORLD</strong> RALLY<br />
Plans for <strong>Oyster</strong>’s World Rally are gathering<br />
pace, with 32 enthusiastic owners now signed<br />
up to take part in the inaugural event, which<br />
will see the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet set sail from the<br />
historic Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua on Sunday<br />
6 January 2013. We are delighted that so many<br />
owners have taken up the challenge and we<br />
are so proud, and frankly slightly humbled,<br />
by the fact that this event has taken off at an<br />
astonishing pace.<br />
Held during the weekend of <strong>Oyster</strong>’s Private<br />
View event in London in May, the fi rst of this<br />
year’s complimentary two-day seminars was<br />
hosted by the Royal Th ames Yacht Club and<br />
attended by 26 of the owners on the entry<br />
list. With an international fl eet ranging from<br />
an <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 to the fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong> 885, delegates<br />
fl ew in from as far afi eld as Singapore, South<br />
Africa and the USA to take part.<br />
Leading the London seminar was the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
in-house team who will escort the rally fl eet<br />
throughout the entire circumnavigation. <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Project Manager, Debbie Johnson, and Customer<br />
Care Manager, Eddie Scougall, who are already<br />
familiar to many owners, have both completed<br />
circumnavigations in <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts and between<br />
them have a wealth of technical expertise and<br />
experience of blue water sailing. Both Debbie<br />
and Eddie have already been released from<br />
their usual duties and are now working full-time<br />
on preparation and planning for the rally, which<br />
has already seen them visit the Panama Canal,<br />
Galapagos, Marquesas and Tahiti. As David<br />
Tydeman commented, “We recognise that our<br />
owners’ expectations and requirements may<br />
be diff erent to other world rally fl eets – <strong>Oyster</strong>s<br />
are large yachts and this is a much bigger fl eet<br />
than recent world rallies, which will provide a<br />
challenge in some of the smaller islands visited<br />
en route. We want this to be an experience that<br />
our owners will remember for the rest of their<br />
lives and we intend to ensure that we put the<br />
proper planning in place to achieve that. Th ere<br />
isn’t anyone better qualifi ed than Debbie and<br />
Eddie to support our owners on this adventure.<br />
(Although I think when they volunteered to do<br />
this, they dreamed of sailing around with the<br />
fl eet – reality has set in, that being in each<br />
location ahead of the fi rst yacht, and leaving<br />
aft er the last, will mean two years of hotels and<br />
airlines. I am grateful that their experience and<br />
enthusiasm will make this work and I’m sure the<br />
fl eet will help them enjoy it too!)”<br />
Speakers at the May seminar included Nigel<br />
Calder who provided an entertaining and<br />
informative insight into long distance cruising<br />
and professional meteorologist, Chris Tibbs<br />
who has 250,000nm to his credit, including<br />
three circumnavigations, one as skipper for<br />
the BT Global Challenge. Representatives from<br />
Pantaenius, MailASail, Icom, Raymarine, Dolphin<br />
Sails, Vortec Marine and “Tomo” from Medical<br />
Services Off shore (MSOS) all highlighted just<br />
some of the things owners need to consider<br />
when contemplating a world voyage. Both MSOS<br />
and Chris have been retained by <strong>Oyster</strong> to help<br />
provide some of the ‘special services’ that<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> plans to bring to the Rally to refl ect the<br />
standards of service expected by our owners.<br />
We are delighted that Yellowbrick, one of the<br />
world’s largest satellite-based tracking providers<br />
will be supporting the <strong>Oyster</strong> Rally and will<br />
fi t trackers to each yacht in the fl eet, whilst<br />
Musto has been selected to provide a range<br />
of rally merchandise.<br />
Th e second seminar for participants will be held<br />
over the weekend of 17-18 September in the<br />
beautiful setting of Beaulieu, in the New Forest,<br />
just outside Southampton. Th e programme will<br />
include a presentation about the Galapagos<br />
Islands by Ricardo Arenas and Yvonne Mortola,<br />
of Servi Galapagos, who have been retained by<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> to provide all the services required for<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet’s visit to the islands. A dinner on<br />
the Saturday evening will be held amongst the<br />
exhibits in the National Motor Museum, a unique<br />
event to which all owners are warmly invited,<br />
and is not to be missed.<br />
For more information see our World Rally<br />
website at: www.oysterworldrally.com<br />
or contact Debbie Johnson at:<br />
debbie.johnson@oystermarine.com<br />
Owners not taking part in the world rally<br />
seminar, who would like to book for the<br />
dinner only should contact Jacqui Kotze:<br />
jacqui.kotze@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally Trade Partners confi rmed to date:<br />
Dolphin Sails, Formula BV, Lewmar, Musto, Pantaenius,<br />
Pelagos <strong>Yachts</strong>, Raymarine, Reckmann, Yellowbrick
FOUR DOORS.<br />
FOUR SEATS.<br />
FOR TEST DRIVING NOW.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> NEW FOUR DOOR ASTON MARTIN RAPIDE<br />
For a priority test drive please visit<br />
www.astonmartin.com/oyster<br />
Official government fuel consumption figures in MPG (Litres per 100km) for the Aston Martin Rapide:<br />
Urban 12.5 (22.6), Extra Urban 27.1 (10.4), Combined 19.0 (14.9). CO 2 emissions: 355 g/km<br />
SUMMER 2011 27
28<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
OWNER PR<strong>OF</strong>ILE – MARIUSZ KOPER<br />
MARIUSZ<br />
KOPER<br />
<strong>FROM</strong> PUBLISHER<br />
TO ADVENTURER<br />
Mariusz Koper, one of Poland’s most successful publishers, has<br />
a lot to thank Lech Wałęsa for. Mariusz was just 19 when the<br />
Wałęsa led Solidarity strike at the Lenin shipyard in Gdańsk<br />
broke the yoke of Communist power that had stunted growth in<br />
Poland since the Russian take-over at the end of World War II.<br />
BY BARRY PICKTHALL<br />
SUMMER 2011 29
30<br />
Th e son of an agricultural co-operative manager,<br />
Mariusz Koper was brought up in the central town of<br />
Inowroclaw, 200km from the Baltic Sea. Pocket money<br />
was earned working in a co-operative orchard, and he<br />
might well have followed his father handling apples,<br />
rather than Apple Macs had the Solidarity uprising not<br />
changed the course of Polish history in 1989.<br />
He was lucky in other ways too, in that his mother was a<br />
teacher specialising in history and literature, which gave<br />
the young Mariusz a far broader view of life.<br />
“My fi rst trip outside the Iron Curtain was when I was<br />
11. I went to Denmark and it really opened my eyes to<br />
the world.” Mariusz recalls. “I had been fascinated by<br />
geography and travel ever since primary school, but like<br />
most children in those days, travel was limited to a fi nger<br />
on a map and reading about heroes in adventure novels.“<br />
At high school, the 6ft 4in Koper joined the MKS<br />
Kasprowicz basketball team and got a fi rst taste of<br />
watersports, paddling kayaks and sailing the local Omega<br />
class keelboats on a nearby lake. At college, he was<br />
fascinated by science fi ction and new technology and<br />
decided to major in Computer Science. “My fi rst job was<br />
as a programmer and systems designer and within four<br />
years I was head of research and development. At the<br />
time, Poland was still under martial law and subjected<br />
to a worldwide embargo, but I managed to smuggle in<br />
electronic parts from the Far East and set up Titan SA,<br />
with three friends. It was one of the fi rst soft ware<br />
companies in Poland.”<br />
In 1988, at the height of the Communist collapse, Mariusz,<br />
then 27, took the opportunity to emigrate to Canada<br />
where, with his girlfriend, he set up the jewellery house<br />
Maya Ghall and developed an international business<br />
designing costume jewellery and selling to the best<br />
boutiques in Toronto, Montreal, New York, London<br />
and Paris.<br />
Four years later, when Poland was mid-way through a<br />
transformation from Communist to free-market economy,<br />
Mariusz returned home to help his parents establish<br />
themselves as educational publishers. At the time, the<br />
home market was dominated by the state-owned<br />
publisher WSIP which was reacting slowly to the changing<br />
world and broadening expectations of teachers.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“My fi rst job was as a programmer and systems designer and within four<br />
years I was head of research and development. At the time, Poland was still<br />
under martial law and subjected to a worldwide embargo, but I managed<br />
to smuggle in electronic parts from the Far East and set up Titan SA, with<br />
three friends. It was one of the fi rst soft ware companies in Poland.”<br />
Mariusz brought with him the latest Apple Mac desktop<br />
publishing technology and quickly surpassed the staid<br />
products from their monopolistic opposition with<br />
attractive layouts and modern teaching methods.<br />
Starting with a series of science exercise books, the<br />
aptly named Nowa Era (New Era) publishing house sold<br />
more than one million books in its fi rst year. In 1994,<br />
the company launched a series of biology textbooks,<br />
which further undermined the state monopoly, and fi ve<br />
years later, was ranked the fi ft h largest educational<br />
publisher in Poland.<br />
In 1999, educational reform in Poland brought fresh<br />
opportunities and led to Nowa Era becoming a national<br />
leader in science publishing. It was a remarkable<br />
achievement and to celebrate Mariusz Koper took his<br />
entire 32-man team to Egypt to broaden their minds.<br />
“I believe in people. A good team that respects and<br />
grows together can do more than one made up from<br />
the best recruits that are focused on themselves.” He says.<br />
Th ree years later, the Nowa Era founder began a series<br />
of acquisitions, starting with his sister’s publishing house<br />
Arka. Th is was followed by the oldest Polish cartographer<br />
PPWK, one of the major private competitors Rozak and<br />
Vulcan, which specialised in management systems for<br />
schools and local authorities.<br />
He was just as interested in publishing co-editions and<br />
began a partnership with Cambridge University Press<br />
and the Boston based American publisher Heinle to<br />
introduce westernised management manuals and<br />
teaching resources.<br />
By 2007, the group had grown to 500 employees,<br />
and to celebrate their 15th anniversary, Koper took<br />
them back to Egypt once more, having already held<br />
integrating meetings in Tenerife, Cuba, the Dominican<br />
Republic and Mexico. “Competitors couldn’t believe that<br />
the whole company would be rewarded instead of<br />
simply the top management.” Says Mariusz who realised<br />
at an early stage that success is dependant on all your<br />
staff and not just the few.<br />
By then, Nowa Era’s products and services were as<br />
diverse as its travel, taking in books, CD-ROMs, and<br />
other electronic teaching and learning resources, maps,<br />
atlases, charts, audio tapes and educational fi lms.
OWNER PR<strong>OF</strong>ILE – MARIUSZ KOPER<br />
“I believe in people. A good team that<br />
respects and grows together can do<br />
more than one made up from the best<br />
recruits that are focused on themselves.”<br />
Th e business had grown from a one-man operation to<br />
become the market-leader with sales of almost 15 million<br />
books a year.<br />
In 2007, Koper agreed to sell out his controlling interest in<br />
Nowa Era to the Finnish publishing house Sanoma WSOY,<br />
but continued to act as CEO until the end of 2010.<br />
“One factor that contributed to the rapid development<br />
of Nowa Era was living between Toronto and Warsaw<br />
and commuting between the two. My time in Canada<br />
gave me a fresh perspective and opened my eyes to<br />
new publishing ideas at a time of huge changes within<br />
the industry. It also gave me the opportunity to develop<br />
a second passion – sailing.”<br />
SUMMER 2011 31
32<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“Th e whole circumnavigation could be done<br />
only because of my friends who helped<br />
me to run the company and my family<br />
who supported my dream.”
Mariusz re-kindled his boyhood interest in 1995, setting<br />
sail on Lake Ontario aboard school boats from Humber<br />
College in Toronto. A year later, he took the family for<br />
their fi rst cruise aboard a charter yacht when his fourth<br />
daughter Th ea was just 14 months old.<br />
A year later he expanded his horizons by joining a charter<br />
crew on an adventure sail from Auckland across the<br />
Pacifi c to Tahiti. Th e voyage ended in a 60 knot storm,<br />
but far from putting him off , he then embarked on a race<br />
above the 66th parallel to Spitzbergen.<br />
It was time to buy a yacht. Mariusz fi rst came across an<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 485 at the Annapolis Boat Show, but then fi nalised<br />
on the design aft er several visits to the Hamburg Show.<br />
Katharsis was handed over in September 2001 and Mariusz<br />
immediately set sail for the Mediterranean, reaching<br />
Gibraltar in November that year. His dream was to<br />
cruise round the world, and aft er a series of voyages<br />
around the Aegean, Koper and his crew fi nally set out<br />
across the Atlantic bound for Brazil in January 2003.<br />
“Th e whole circumnavigation could be done only because<br />
of my friends who helped me to run the company and<br />
my family who supported my dream. My sister Roma,<br />
who was co-owner of Nowa Era became my voyage<br />
partner. Rotating crew included some of Nowa Era staff<br />
OWNER PR<strong>OF</strong>ILE – MARIUSZ KOPER<br />
who could have a chance to taste what blue water<br />
sailing is all about.”<br />
Th e following year Mariusz spent his spare time cruising<br />
the Caribbean, taking part in <strong>Oyster</strong>’s British Virgin<br />
Islands Regatta with his Canadian wife Peggy and their<br />
young family. Th e yacht and her crew then sat out<br />
Hurricane Ivan in Grenada before heading south to<br />
Panama and a three-month cruise through the Pacifi c<br />
to New Zealand.<br />
In 2005, the Kopers sailed on to Brisbane, Fiji, Vanuatu<br />
and New Caledonia. Th ey returned to Australia the<br />
following year to visit the Great Barrier Reef, then<br />
headed north to Bali, Singapore and Phuket.<br />
Katharsis remained in Th ailand for two years, hosting<br />
the family for short cruises while Mariusz focused on<br />
Nowa Era and the education reforms being carried<br />
out in Poland. It was not until 2009 that he fi nally found<br />
time to complete the circumnavigation, returning via<br />
the Maldives, and Suez to tie the knot back in Athens<br />
that September.<br />
“Th e last part of the odyssey was very stressful. Th e Gulf<br />
of Aden was awash with pirates and once, when visibility<br />
was limited by a sand storm, they approached Katharsis<br />
only to be scared away by the approach of a navy ship.<br />
SUMMER 2011 33
34<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“One skipper said that you will return as a diff erent person from<br />
Antarctica and I have to agree with that. Th is vast and ice-bound<br />
land is full of life and reminds us how vulnerable we are.”
For most people it is diffi cult to follow their dreams because<br />
of ties they have on land. I fulfi lled my dreams because of<br />
my determination and the support of my family and friends.<br />
I managed to make a circumnavigation and reach the top<br />
business level at the same time. It was the most intensive<br />
and exciting time in my life so far.” Mariusz recalls.<br />
By then Katharsis II, a new <strong>Oyster</strong> 72, was already launched<br />
with a fresh focus to visit the icy wastes of Antarctica.<br />
“For me, sailing has always been a mixture of challenge<br />
and pleasure. One of the biggest challenges has been<br />
to cross the stormy and poorly charted waters of the<br />
Antarctic. By contrast, one of the biggest pleasures has<br />
been to have my six children all on board at the same<br />
time, which was why I purchased a bigger <strong>Oyster</strong>!”<br />
Th ey set out on the 2009 ARC, and competed in the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> BVI Regatta in 2010 before heading through<br />
the Panama Canal for a three-week stay in Galapagos.<br />
Mariusz and two crew then took on the Pacifi c in one<br />
14-day voyage to Fatu Hiva to spend a month cruising<br />
the Marquesas Islands. September and October last year<br />
were spent diving with sharks in Rangiroa and Bora Bora<br />
before returning eastwards via Tahiti and Easter Island to<br />
round Cape Horn on January 7th this year.<br />
Aft er meeting with his sister and parents in Ushuaia, Mariusz<br />
set sail for a 3-week voyage down to Antarctica, crossing a<br />
stormy Drake’s Passage to visit Henryk Arctowski, the Polish<br />
Antarctic Base in Academy Bay on King George Island.<br />
Aft er three days at the Polish Station, Katharsis II continued<br />
south stopping at Greenwich, Livingstone and Deception<br />
islands. Th e Antarctic Peninsula was reached near Cape<br />
Murray but they continued on to Paradise Bay. Aft er visits to<br />
the Gonzales Chilean Base, British Port Lockroy Base and<br />
the Ukrainian Vernadsky Base furthest south, they made the<br />
decision to attempt to sail into the Antarctic Circle.<br />
“<strong>Yachts</strong> rarely pass Vernadsky Station. We were discouraged<br />
to sail further south by an experienced polar skipper<br />
because of the amount of ice that season. Th e weather<br />
was very unstable and the ice fl ow could change its direction<br />
without any warning, blocking you in shallow waters. But<br />
being just 120 miles from the Antarctic Circle, I couldn’t<br />
resist the temptation of going further. Halfway, the ice<br />
really stopped us. It looked like the end of the trip south<br />
but aft er backing off I managed to fi nd a clear path along<br />
the south side of Dodman Island. We survived a storm in<br />
Mutton Cove, one of very few shelters there and the<br />
next day on February 10th we sailed through the Antarctic<br />
Circle. It was a great feeling of achievement.”<br />
“It was the most diffi cult trip so far. It was a huge challenge<br />
for me as skipper but also for the boat and its entire<br />
crew. One skipper said that you will return as a diff erent<br />
person from Antarctica and I have to agree with that.<br />
Th is vast and ice-bound land is full of life and reminds us<br />
how vulnerable we are.”<br />
Katharsis II returned to cruise around Southern Patagonia<br />
and up the Brazilian coast to fi nish in Rio de Janeiro at<br />
the end of May.<br />
Photos: Mariusz Koper, Wojtek Urbanek/PPL, Nowa Era<br />
OWNER PR<strong>OF</strong>ILE – MARIUSZ KOPER<br />
SUMMER 2011 35
36<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
AN INSIDE LOOK<br />
AT <strong>THE</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625<br />
LAUNCHED EARLIER THIS YEAR, <strong>THE</strong> FIRST <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> INNOVATIVE,<br />
NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625s IS A SUPERB EXAMPLE <strong>OF</strong> CONTEMPORARY<br />
STYLING, BOTH ABOVE AND BELOW DECKS.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 625-01, Blue Jeannie, was shown at<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong>’s Private View in St Katharine Docks in<br />
London in May, and although the yacht is yet to be<br />
shown at a boat show, she has already attracted<br />
much acclaim and has recently been nominated<br />
for a European Yacht of the Year award.<br />
Despite her generous size, the <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 is<br />
set up for easy, short-handed sailing for those<br />
owners who prefer to sail without crew.<br />
However, with an interior option that allows for<br />
a forepeak layout for a full-time crew member,<br />
giving the potential of fi ve cabins onboard,<br />
combined with her spacious, fl ush aft deck – the<br />
perfect spot for sun lounging or entertaining –<br />
the 625 is as well suited to occasional charter as<br />
she is for comfortable family sailing.<br />
A fresh look at interior design and detailing<br />
has given the accommodation a clean,<br />
contemporary feel with new joinery, upholstery<br />
design, shower rooms and hardware. Together<br />
with <strong>Oyster</strong>'s choice of interior timbers and<br />
fi nishes, the <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 allows owners to create<br />
a really stunning onboard living environment.<br />
Th e spacious saloon is fi tted with triple 'seascape'<br />
vertical windows, which fi ll the saloon with light<br />
and give a fantastic view over the water while<br />
seated below deck, a real superyacht feature.<br />
Th e accommodation features two generous guest<br />
cabins, each with its own head and shower, a<br />
sumptuous aft owner's suite, which is full beam<br />
and has private access to the aft deck and a<br />
fourth cabin that can be confi gured as a<br />
workshop, guest cabin or a children's cabin with<br />
access from the master cabin. Th e linear galley<br />
on the 625 off ers signifi cantly more storage than<br />
on previous models with space for a full size<br />
washer/dryer and dishwasher as well as the<br />
standard front-opening fridge and freezer.<br />
Available with a Standard, Shoal or SuperShoal<br />
keel, the 625 can be confi gured to meet every<br />
owners’ cruising requirements.<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625 will make her boat show<br />
debut at the Southampton Boat Show and will also<br />
be on display at the Cannes and Genoa Shows,<br />
where she is sure to attract a lot of attention.<br />
For an appointment to view please contact our<br />
sales team at: yachts@oystermarine.com or<br />
call us on +44 (0)1473 695 005.<br />
Blue Jeannie is available for charter from<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Charter. For more information<br />
please contact Molly Marston at<br />
molly.marston@oystermarine.com
AN INSIDE LOOK AT <strong>THE</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625<br />
SUMMER 2011 37
38<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
AN INSIDE LOOK AT <strong>THE</strong> <strong>OYSTER</strong> 625<br />
<strong>THE</strong> SPACIOUS SALOON IS FITTED WITH TRIPLE 'SEASCAPE' VERTICAL WINDOWS,<br />
WHICH FILL <strong>THE</strong> SALOON WITH LIGHT AND GIVE A FANTASTIC VIEW OVER <strong>THE</strong> WATER.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> 625. DIMENSIONS<br />
Length overall (including pulpit) 19.37m 63' 7"<br />
Length of hull 19.03m 62' 5"<br />
Length of waterline 17.24m 56' 7"<br />
Beam 5.44m 17' 10"<br />
Draft HPB keel (standard) 2.80m 9' 2"<br />
Draft HPB keel (shoal) 2.15m 7' 1"<br />
Standard rig and spar type Semi-fractional sloop with fully battened main<br />
Available rig options In-mast furling, cutter and double headsail rigs<br />
Ballast keel type High Performance Bulb (HPB)<br />
Displacement (standard keel) 33,500 kgs 73,854 lbs<br />
Typical engine Volvo D4-180 132kW (180hp)<br />
Photos: Anthony Cullen, Mike Jones<br />
Standard layout<br />
Optional layout<br />
SUMMER 2011 39
40<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Miss Tippy<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Miss Tippy. Cultural extravaganza through<br />
Asia and then tragedy. Th e Norton Family continues their<br />
circumnavigation with the Blue Water Rally.<br />
By Brian and Sheila Norton, <strong>Oyster</strong> 56, Miss Tippy
Aft er a trip to the outback in camper vans, we departed<br />
Darwin later than other rally boats as we stayed with a<br />
friend whose starter motor had broken. In the event this<br />
proved lucky, since most of the other boats had to motor<br />
for the entire three day voyage to Kupang in Indonesia.<br />
We picked up some squalls and fi nally had a wonderful<br />
broad reach, which drove us along at 8 to 9 knots for<br />
the last day. It was an exciting way to arrive in Asia!<br />
We anchored outside the town of Kupang, which was<br />
bursting with life. Th ere were some derelict and bullet<br />
pocked buildings following the Timor War but it was<br />
now peaceful apart from the incessant gurgle of mopeds<br />
and motorbikes that dominate the roads in Indonesia.<br />
Upon arrival we were soon met by an unoffi cial looking<br />
Quarantine Offi cer. He was a warm, smiley character<br />
with a bushy moustache and deep wrinkles around his<br />
eyes. He wore what appeared to be an army surplus<br />
jacket with many pockets in which he could stow the<br />
odd small bottle of whiskey. We were shocked when<br />
he carefully placed his empty coke can in the sea as we<br />
were taking him back on shore in the dinghy. Th is was<br />
our fi rst indication of a huge litter problem in Indonesia.<br />
Once ashore to complete the check-in process we<br />
discovered that there was a problem with customs<br />
clearance. Aft er much deliberation we were told that<br />
we had to leave Kupang before sunrise or have our<br />
boats impounded. It was a great shame, since we had<br />
been welcomed by local dignitaries with a lavish feast<br />
OWNER REPORT – MISS TIPPY<br />
on the night of our arrival and had spent a lovely day<br />
touring the area meeting local children.<br />
We departed at dawn feeling nervous about getting<br />
arrested somewhere in Indonesian waters before we<br />
could get formal customs clearance in Bali. Th is constraint<br />
curtailed our planned trip through the Spice Islands,<br />
as we had to be careful which islands we visited.<br />
Luckily we were sailing with friends who had worked<br />
and lived in Indonesia previously. We followed them<br />
to the island of Sumba as part of a group of four boats.<br />
“Aft er much deliberation we were told<br />
that we had to leave Kupang before<br />
sunrise or have our boats impounded.”<br />
We had no pilotage information and our electronic charts<br />
were completely inaccurate as we approached the town<br />
in Nangamessi Bay. We arrived fi rst and managed to get<br />
into a shallow anchorage and then send waypoints to our<br />
friends. Unfortunately one of the yachts cut the corner<br />
and managed to impale themselves on a wreck which<br />
itself was on a reef. We went back out to help them<br />
while the sun was dwindling but were helpless due to<br />
the depth of our keel. With frantically waving arms and<br />
pointing we somehow managed to communicate with<br />
SUMMER 2011 41
42<br />
a couple of local fi shing boats that roared off to help.<br />
Aft er much bumping and grinding our friends were<br />
fi nally pulled free on a rising tide and were soon safely<br />
anchored, having a well earned beer and debriefi ng us all.<br />
Once settled down we hired a Bemo (a small van) and<br />
two guides, Jimmy and Amaa, to take us on a tour of this<br />
rarely visited island. We were blown away during our two<br />
days there aft er visiting bustling markets, a traditional<br />
village and weavers where they handmade the highly<br />
decorative Ikat textiles. Wherever we went children<br />
mobbed us and giggled as our own children chatted with<br />
them and shared small gift s of sweets, pens or balloons.<br />
Even the adults got in on the act and wanted to be<br />
photographed with our blonde-haired children for luck.<br />
Aft er our whirlwind tour of Sumba we sailed to Rinca.<br />
Th is is a beautiful island next to the more famous and<br />
more visited island of Komodo. Here we went diving<br />
on some small reefs and then dinghied ashore to seek<br />
out some Komodo dragons. Several locals alerted us<br />
that the dragons we approached on the beach were<br />
hungry and angry. We rapidly retreated to watch them<br />
from the relative safety of our dinghy as Freddie<br />
informed us that bacteria in their saliva causes a slow<br />
agonising death if they bite you!<br />
We went to Gili Lawa Laut to the North of Komodo to<br />
visit the famous dive sites of Castle and Crystal Rocks.<br />
We had to time our passage carefully as tides rip<br />
between the islands. Aft er a couple of days of diving<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
and chilling-out by the beach we set off again past<br />
Sumbawa towards Lombok. We encountered a vast<br />
fl eet of small open fi shing boats and had to dodge<br />
nets during the night passages but arrived unscathed<br />
at an anchorage in a remote spot on the North West<br />
of Lombok. Several fi shermen visited us at anchor and<br />
we went into the local village with them to buy some<br />
provisions. Lombok is a Muslim island and people were<br />
more reserved here. Despite this we had a lovely time<br />
and enjoyed sitting at anchor at night listening to the<br />
melodic wails from competing minarets at prayer time.<br />
“Wherever we went children mobbed<br />
us and giggled as our own children<br />
chatted with them and shared small<br />
gift s of sweets, pens or balloons.”<br />
From here it was a short hop to Bali. En route we stopped<br />
at a small island called Gili Air. Diving operations abound<br />
and we met a great team from Ocean 5 and in particular<br />
a young Welshman called Nathan who helped Charlie,<br />
Freddie and Annie achieve their PADI dive qualifi cations.<br />
Aft er a night out for Halloween we left Gili Air for Bali.<br />
Bali marina is in a sad state of disrepair and contradicted<br />
our image of Bali as a beautiful holiday destination. It was<br />
a bit depressing to be moored up to dishevelled concrete
OWNER REPORT – MISS TIPPY<br />
SUMMER 2011 43
44<br />
pontoons amidst pollution from litter and plastic.<br />
However, aft er sorting out our customs clearance with<br />
the appropriate ‘payment’ we ventured away from the<br />
marina and found some of the beauty that Bali is famous<br />
for. We travelled inland to Ubud, went white water raft ing,<br />
cycled through paddy fi elds and ate spicy Indonesian<br />
food while sitting cross-legged in local warungs.<br />
Our next passage took us 350 miles north to the<br />
Kalimantan province in Borneo. Th is province is still<br />
part of Indonesia but has a very diff erent feel to it.<br />
We arrived in the morning and travelled 50 miles up<br />
past a headland into a muddy river, which meandered<br />
15 miles to the town of Kumai. Th e big attraction here<br />
is the Orangutan Sanctuary in the jungle. We hired<br />
a riverboat (a klotok), which took us and another family<br />
up ever narrowing tributaries as we delved deeper and<br />
deeper into the jungle. Th e riverbank was alive with<br />
wildlife. We saw kingfi shers, hornbills, proboscis monkeys<br />
and the occasional orangutan rattling the trees as we<br />
ambled slowly upriver.<br />
Sadly the spread of palm oil plantations, as well as<br />
damage from illegal logging and mining activity, is<br />
fast destroying the natural habitat for the human-like<br />
orangutan. Over 10 million hectares of jungle have<br />
been devastated and the population of the ‘people<br />
from the trees’ has dwindled from half a million to<br />
about 20,000. Aft er a days trip we visited the fi rst<br />
feeding station deep in the heart of the Borneo jungle<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
and met a number of these lovely creatures. We slept<br />
beneath mosquito nets on the open decks of the Klotok<br />
and then went trekking through the swampy jungle<br />
picking up a number of leeches on the way! Th e kids<br />
even invented a new game to see how many leeches<br />
each of them could carry. Th e winner, Freddie, managed<br />
three! Sheila also scared every animal within 10 miles<br />
when she screamed aft er being bitten by fi re ants.<br />
On the way back our guide took us to the village<br />
where he had been born. We wandered among the<br />
simple houses built on stilts above fetid marshy water<br />
and pondered how tough it must be to live in this part<br />
of the world. We passed a father and son swimming in<br />
the murky water between two levees on our way to
the school. Here we met the headmaster and found<br />
that despite their humble existence they were extremely<br />
committed to education. We met conscientious,<br />
well-behaved children turned out in pristine uniforms<br />
working diligently on their sums!<br />
A guy who had slept in our cockpit to protect Miss Tippy<br />
was relieved when we returned after our two-day<br />
trip. He had obviously been lost for things to do as<br />
we found a number of animal fi gures modelled from<br />
clothes pegs scattered around the deck! Th en we left<br />
to a chorus of prayer calls from local mosques while<br />
marvelling at the huge ‘offi ce block’ like buildings that<br />
housed thousands of swallows, which produced birds’<br />
nests for consumption in China.<br />
A three-day sail took us to Nongsa Point marina on<br />
Batam opposite Singapore. We stayed there a couple<br />
of days before crossing the narrow straits of Singapore.<br />
To say the straits are busy is an understatement. In fact<br />
there were so many signals from ships on the AIS that<br />
the chart plotter malfunctioned. Full throttle was needed<br />
as we ran the gauntlet between the shipping traffi c.<br />
Wealthy Singapore offers a stark contrast to the<br />
relatively poor Indonesia, which is only a few miles away.<br />
Awe inspiring architecture, pristine streets and shopping<br />
malls galore left us reeling as we tried to cope with city<br />
life once more. Checking out of Singapore was the most<br />
effi cient process we had encountered anywhere on our<br />
world trip. We just left the marina and met a customs<br />
and immigration boat out in the harbour, which took our<br />
papers in a net on a pole, processed them and handed<br />
them back to us within minutes.<br />
From Singapore we sailed up the Malacca Straits to<br />
Malaysia. Once notorious for piracy this stretch of water<br />
is now relatively safe. Winds were light but we have<br />
found, to our delight, that Miss Tippy manages to make<br />
OWNER REPORT – MISS TIPPY<br />
the most of light winds and allows us to continue sailing<br />
when others have to motor. We enjoyed a lovely gentle<br />
sail to Port Klang. Kuala Lumpar was a short train ride<br />
from the port so we took the opportunity to visit the<br />
Petronas Towers and immerse ourselves in city life again.<br />
Th ere was much regeneration occurring on the route<br />
towards the capital and you got a sense of fast paced<br />
development here.<br />
Aft er another jolt of city life we sailed up the coast to the<br />
small island of Pulau Payar where we went diving for a<br />
few days before moving onto Langkawi. We encountered<br />
massive fi shing fl eets (of up to 100 trawlers) during day<br />
and night and had to keep a careful watch at all times to<br />
avoid nets. It was saddening to see the litter left behind<br />
by these fl eets. We saw hundreds if not thousands of<br />
plastic water bottles and other detritus in the water and<br />
saw fi shermen picking more plastic bags from their nets<br />
than fi sh!<br />
In Langkawi we met some other families sailing around<br />
the world and got our fi rst hint of problems ahead when<br />
a couple we met suggested that we shouldn’t be taking<br />
children through the Gulf of Aden. At the time we just<br />
dismissed this as a bit of scaremongering.<br />
Our last stop in Malaysia was at a small group of islands<br />
known as the Butang group. We enjoyed some diving<br />
there and then ventured north onwards through the<br />
beautiful islands of Th ailand. We have sailed charter<br />
boats in this region before so we had a bit of a holiday<br />
and spent our time relaxing on beaches, swimming and<br />
diving rather than exploring.<br />
We had to get to the Yacht Haven marina in Phuket<br />
to meet up for a rally briefi ng by early December.<br />
We spent a week there and got to know a number of<br />
new boats who were joining the rally including Quest,<br />
SUMMER 2011 45
46<br />
Saildance (an <strong>Oyster</strong> 62), and Journey. We also said<br />
goodbye to the <strong>Oyster</strong> 47, Moonshadow who had<br />
planned to leave the rally at that point. Here we started<br />
to plan for our trip through the Red Sea and formed the<br />
small groups who would sail together in formation<br />
when we hit the Gulf of Aden.<br />
“Miss Tippy shrugged off the treacherous<br />
conditions in her familiar style. Several<br />
boats that were following us by a day or<br />
so were not so lucky and were caught out<br />
as the depression escalated into a tropical<br />
storm with winds of up to 65 knots.”<br />
Aft er a haul-out and anti-fouling we visited James Bond<br />
island and a fl oating village before heading to Phi Phi<br />
island for Christmas. Immediately aft er Christmas<br />
we managed to sneak in a few days of diving in the<br />
beautiful crystal clear waters of the Similan Islands north<br />
of Th ailand before following the rally fl eet to Sri Lanka.<br />
Th e route to Sri Lanka took us about 1,000 miles across<br />
the Bay of Bengal. We were slightly North of the main<br />
fl eet and experienced diff erent weather to everyone<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
else. We gradually became aware that we were heading<br />
into a tropical depression and got stuck in 35-40 knot<br />
headwinds for the last couple of days before we got into<br />
Galle. Miss Tippy shrugged off the treacherous conditions<br />
in her now familiar style. Several boats that were following<br />
us by a day or so were not so lucky and were caught out<br />
as the depression escalated into a tropical storm with<br />
winds of up to 65 knots. Th ankfully all survived to tell<br />
the tale but some of the yachts were damaged.<br />
Sri Lanka was wonderful. We immediately met tuk-tuk<br />
drivers outside the port gates who doubled up as<br />
fi xers who would help us with just about anything we<br />
needed. We got to know a number of these guys as<br />
friends while we stayed there and visited some local<br />
homes. Th ese are very resilient people who have<br />
survived not only a war with the Tamil Tigers but also<br />
the devastation of the Tsunami in 2005. Most people<br />
had a personal tale of tragedy to tell but they had all<br />
picked up the pieces and approached life with a<br />
positive attitude that was uplift ing to see.<br />
We took a tour inland visiting ancient mountain-top<br />
ruins, temples and a variety of towns. Our highlight<br />
was a 7km trek up Adam’s Peak in the highlands near<br />
to sprawling tea plantations. Th e locals believe that this<br />
is the place that Adam or Buddha fi rst set foot on the<br />
earth and a temple has been built at the pinnacle of the
mountain to celebrate this. It is a sacred place and many<br />
thousands of Sri Lankans make a pilgrimage there.<br />
We merged with barefooted pilgrims of all ages and<br />
struggled our way up the mountain in the early hours of<br />
the morning to arrive at the peak before sunrise. Watching<br />
the sun emerge from behind mist covered mountains<br />
while listening to local music from Buddhist monks<br />
was an incredibly spiritual and inspiring experience.<br />
In Sri Lanka we got an indication of growing piracy<br />
problems. A reporter contacted one of our fl eet to<br />
ask what we thought about the escalating piracy in<br />
the Indian Ocean. Dockside meetings were hastily<br />
arranged to discuss the situation and people began<br />
to undertake their own research. It became clear that<br />
Somali pirates’ tactics had changed and they were now<br />
able to operate thousands of miles from their shores by<br />
using mother ships, which had themselves been pirated.<br />
Pirate attacks were appearing with increasing frequency,<br />
not just in the Gulf of Aden, but also all the way across<br />
the Indian Ocean.<br />
Th e passage to India was short but thrilling. In the<br />
gap between Sri Lanka and the bottom of India we<br />
had 25 knot headwinds and large, frequent waves.<br />
Again we were thankful for the solid construction of<br />
our <strong>Oyster</strong>, which allowed us to plough comfortably<br />
through the oncoming seas. Th e winds rapidly declined<br />
as we passed the southern tip of India and sailed up<br />
the coast in the lee of the land. Many small fi shing<br />
boats approached us asking for cigarettes, food or<br />
drink. While we didn’t have cigarettes aboard we were<br />
happy to indulge these requests as far as we could<br />
and found the fi shermen to be thankful and friendly.<br />
In Cochin we faced a lengthy check-in process to<br />
clear customs and immigration before we could start<br />
exploring. At Bolgatty marina we found ourselves<br />
to be a local tourist attraction since this is currently<br />
the only marina in India. Indian tourists would come<br />
round on tour boats and would cheer and wave when<br />
we acknowledged them. Here we met Nasser who<br />
OWNER REPORT – MISS TIPPY<br />
was our local Mr Fixit. He helped us organise some<br />
repairs we needed and generally helped us fi nd our<br />
way around. Again we became friends and went to<br />
his house for a lovely lunch. He lived in Fort Cochin<br />
among humble surroundings but his family were every<br />
bit the gracious hosts. Th ey explained how their family of<br />
eight used to live in a place measuring about eight feet<br />
wide. It is humbling to discover that over 40% of India’s<br />
population of more than a billion still live with their<br />
families in one-room homes. Despite this one got<br />
a strong sense of the fast paced development that<br />
is oft en described in the media these days.<br />
Fort Cochin itself was a beautiful city with many historical<br />
buildings and the hustle and bustle you would expect<br />
from India. Th e colourful saris worn by the ladies were<br />
particularly beautiful in the bright sunshine and tempted<br />
many of the ladies on the rally, including our daughters<br />
to invest in some local clothing!<br />
“It is humbling to discover that over<br />
40% of India’s population of more<br />
than a billion still live with their<br />
families in one-room homes.”<br />
While in Cochin we gathered more information about<br />
the escalating piracy risk as well as the unrest, which<br />
had just emerged in Egypt. At one point we discussed<br />
whether Sheila and the children should leave the boat<br />
while we passed through these increasingly dangerous<br />
waters, but no-one wanted to leave Miss Tippy nor<br />
compromise their circumnavigation having got so far.<br />
In the end the rally changed its route fairly drastically<br />
to travel an additional 700 miles up the Indian Coast<br />
past Goa and to Mumbai before crossing to Oman.<br />
Th is route seemed to avoid the highest concentration<br />
of pirate attacks that had been occurring.<br />
We travelled in the company of a small group of boats<br />
up the coast of India since some attacks were coming<br />
quite close to the shore. We were relieved when we<br />
got to the safety of the hazy port in Mumbai. Our visit<br />
to Mumbai was a bonus, as we had never expected<br />
to come this far north. Th ere was a vibrant and eclectic<br />
culture here. We enjoyed visiting local museums and<br />
an art festival frequented by trendy young middle class<br />
Indians. We drove along Marine Drive and pondered<br />
about the multi-million dollar houses in Malabar Hill<br />
that were just a stone’s throw from some of the crushing<br />
poverty that India is stereotypically known for. A visit<br />
to a small museum at Gandhi’s house was both<br />
educational and inspirational.<br />
Our trip to Mumbai would not have been complete<br />
however, without a trip to Dharavi and the slum made<br />
famous by the fi lm ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Our guide had<br />
an uncle who lived there and he helped us to feel a bit<br />
SUMMER 2011 47
48<br />
more comfortable as we hesitantly entered this alien<br />
world. In the slum we found ramshackle housing, saw<br />
young boys wading in a fi lthy river trawling with their<br />
hands for anything recyclable among the rubbish, and<br />
tried to avoid stepping into open sewers (Sheila was<br />
not successful in this and went knee-deep into a sewer<br />
losing a shoe!).<br />
Despite the obvious hardships we also got a strong<br />
sense of community in the area and found a vibrant<br />
mini-economy here. Having been saddened by the<br />
plastic litter that seems to pervade Asia the sight of<br />
so many recycling businesses gives some hope for the<br />
future. People gathered round us as we stopped for a<br />
sweet drink from squeezed sugar beet and local boys<br />
even invited us to join a game of cricket being played<br />
in the narrow streets. We left with great respect for the<br />
hard-working families and strong communities that had<br />
emerged amidst such adversity.<br />
Th e time came for us to leave Mumbai or jeopardise<br />
the dates for our planned trip through the Gulf of Aden.<br />
We were jumpy when we departed but soon got even<br />
more afraid when we received a report that night of an<br />
attack 30 miles off the coast of Pakistan and directly on<br />
our proposed route. We diverted our course and travelled<br />
through congested oil fi elds while being on high alert.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Light winds prevailed and we motor-sailed in formation<br />
with fi ve other boats. Th e next night we saw an oil tanker<br />
gliding past us in the moonlight without any navigation<br />
lights on. We reported this spooky sight to the authorities<br />
that then contacted them and later advised us that there<br />
was no problem as they were merely travelling unlit to<br />
avoid pirates!<br />
On our second day out we heard the unthinkable.<br />
One of the rally boats, Quest, had been seen by a<br />
Danish helicopter towing a skiff and appeared to have<br />
been pirated. Our vigilance and nervousness escalated<br />
and we took evasive action a number of times when we<br />
saw targets approaching on our radars. Th ankfully nothing<br />
manifested itself as an attack. Tragically the night before<br />
we arrived at the Oman coast we heard from UKMTO<br />
that all aboard Quest had been killed.<br />
We arrived in Salalah, Oman fairly shattered aft er what<br />
had been the most tiring and emotionally draining trip of<br />
the past few years. We decided to fl y the children home<br />
and were intending to carry on as a husband and wife<br />
team until further reports emerged including rumours of<br />
another yacht being pirated with children aboard. Th ese<br />
rumours sadly turned out to be true and, aft er further<br />
information gathering, all but one yacht took the advice<br />
of various military forces and other authorities not to<br />
proceed. As we write, Miss Tippy is in Oman awaiting<br />
shipment to the Mediterranean from which we will<br />
continue our voyages.<br />
Our hearts go out to the families of those on board<br />
Quest as well as all of those from the Danish yacht,<br />
Ing who are still in captivity. Our circumnavigation has<br />
undoubtedly been marred by these tragedies. We have<br />
learned so much, visited so many wonderful places,<br />
overcome so many challenges and met so many lovely<br />
people over the past two years. We will not allow this<br />
minority of ruthless, unscrupulous pirates to overwhelm<br />
all the positive memories of, what has undoubtedly been,<br />
one of the best experiences of our lives.<br />
Photos: Th e Norton Family<br />
Read Miss Tippy’s story on the family’s blog at<br />
www.rock2rock.co.uk
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SUMMER 2011 49
50<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 100-01 hit the water on June 27th 2011<br />
and the new owner and her son wielded the<br />
axe, which cut the string, released the pendulum,<br />
swung the champagne… and named the yacht<br />
Sarafi n. God bless her and all who sail in her!<br />
It was a great day for <strong>Oyster</strong>, the team of<br />
international superyacht specialists, designers,<br />
and the many craft smen and suppliers who<br />
have all been involved in her build.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> team has done a really good job,<br />
particularly our Superyacht Project Coordinator,<br />
Hamish Burgess-Simpson, and we are really<br />
proud that, at the same time, we’ve had the<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong><br />
SUPERYACHT<br />
UPDATE<br />
Our fi rst press release announcing the <strong>Oyster</strong> Superyacht project was way back in April 2007. It’s amazing to<br />
refl ect on the four years of hard work since then and to remember that when the exciting news was fi rst<br />
announced, our partners – RMK Marine in Turkey – had yet to start building the sophisticated composite<br />
facility and fi t-out building in which we now build the <strong>Oyster</strong> Superyachts.<br />
energy and enthusiasm to design and develop<br />
the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 575, 625, 725 and <strong>Oyster</strong> 885.<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 brings a unique package<br />
to the 100-foot marketplace by cleverly fi lling<br />
the gap between the increasing trend towards<br />
less comfortable, light and ultra light production<br />
off erings, focused more on the race circuit than<br />
long distance cruising and, at the other end<br />
of the time and cost scale, one-off projects.<br />
Whilst benefi ting from the best aspects of<br />
a series production design, e.g. composite<br />
hull and deck, proven sailing performance,<br />
common engineering, tried and tested systems,
the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 also off ers many of the<br />
best aspects of a high-end custom built<br />
superyacht. A fl exibly mounted interior minimises<br />
sound and vibration, one of the twin matched<br />
generators will run continuously providing<br />
air management 24/7, continuous 110/220V<br />
and a hydraulic ring main. A wide range of<br />
customisation enables each owner to choose<br />
their own interior timber, fl ooring, bulkhead<br />
fi nishes, fi xtures, fi ttings and furnishings.<br />
Sarafi n has stunning high gloss walnut joinery<br />
work contrasting with light fabric bulkheads<br />
and upholstery. Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 could<br />
be described as more of a small ship than<br />
a large yacht.<br />
We studied the international superyacht market<br />
from 100ft up to 200ft and realised that there<br />
were a number of attractive fl ybridge designs<br />
of 160ft plus available from diff erent naval<br />
architects and shipyards, but very little below<br />
this size. We concluded that a fl ybridge design<br />
of between 120ft and 130ft would be ideal if<br />
combined series production engineering with<br />
Lloyds 100 A1 and full MCA, LY2 coding and<br />
thus would fi ll a gap in the market (as we<br />
believe our <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 also does). Our fi rst<br />
objective was to design a slightly higher than<br />
normal superstructure. Th is enabled all the<br />
SUPERYACHT UPDATE<br />
Another fi rst for a production yacht of this size<br />
is full Lloyds 100 A1 classifi cation giving every<br />
owner huge confi dence in the standard of<br />
construction, equipment quality and will help<br />
underwrite future resale value. Th is exceptional<br />
yacht will appeal to the owner who wants<br />
the best but does not have either the time<br />
or experience to embark on a time consuming<br />
one off project.<br />
Commissioning is now under way to prepare<br />
Sarafi n for her sail trials and press launch before<br />
she departs Turkey for a season in the Caribbean.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 100-02 is now well into the fi t out phase<br />
and will be launched in Spring 2012.<br />
As if all this is not enough to keep the yard fully occupied, the fi rst of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 125s is moulded and<br />
progressing well. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 125 is off ered in three very diff erent confi gurations, fi rst in build<br />
is the stunning <strong>Oyster</strong> 125 Flybridge.<br />
daytime living area to be in one huge upper<br />
saloon area of the size more normally found<br />
in a signifi cantly larger yacht of approximately<br />
150ft plus. Th is upper saloon off ers a lounge,<br />
bar and dining area all with a full 360 degree<br />
panoramic view. Th is superstructure also<br />
incorporates a fl ybridge upper deck with a<br />
lounge area, refrigerator and wet bar, twin<br />
helm positions, and a large sunbathing area,<br />
whilst cleverly providing shelter from the sun<br />
over the outside dining area.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 125/01 will be launched in Summer 2012<br />
and premieres at the 2012 Monaco Boat Show.<br />
For more information about the <strong>Oyster</strong> Superyachts please<br />
contact Murray Aitken: murray.aitken@oystermarine.com<br />
SUMMER 2011 51
52<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
UHURU’S<br />
‘SOU<strong>THE</strong>RN<br />
ADVENTURE’<br />
I can truly say that the Southern leg of our adventure is why UHURU was built.<br />
I remember walking into <strong>Oyster</strong> in Ipswich for the fi rst meeting with Mike Taylor,<br />
our Project Manager, back in the summer of 2006. I very grandly handed him<br />
one sheet of paper with the following words on:<br />
NAME: UHURU (SWAHILI FOR FREEDOM)<br />
1. She must be capable of surviving in both Equatorial and Antarctic conditions.<br />
2. She must be able to be sailed very short-handed, possibly solo in friendly waters.<br />
3. We will need maximum fuel and water capacity, for extended passages.<br />
4. Quality engineering, reliability, redundancy and safety are my priorities.<br />
BY STEVE POWELL, <strong>OYSTER</strong> 62, UHURU
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
SUMMER 2011 53
54<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“We tend to ignore the old adage that “Gentlemen only<br />
sail downwind”; we prefer “Sailors go where they want.”
Mike looked at my list of requirements and gave me<br />
a sideways look saying “It’s unusual for new owners<br />
to know the name of their boat this early” and then<br />
promptly stuck it in a draw as if to say, “as for the rest,<br />
all our boats can do that”… well we were about to fi nd<br />
out if that was true.<br />
My plan was to depart from Grenada around about the<br />
1st October and start heading south down the east coast<br />
of South America. Visiting Guyana, Suriname, Devil’s Island,<br />
French Guiana, Brazil, and Uruguay before heading<br />
down to the Falkland Islands for Christmas.<br />
A journey of approximately 6,500nm, the fi rst 2,000 of<br />
which was up wind and against the prevailing current,<br />
not an unusual situation for UHURU. We tend to<br />
ignore the old adage that “Gentlemen only sail<br />
downwind”; we prefer “Sailors go where they want”.<br />
Th e journey down was both eventful and enjoyable,<br />
we had toyed with hurricane ‘Otto’, gone up a rainforest<br />
river, slugged it out against the wind and current for<br />
nearly 3,000 miles, been chased by ‘pirates’ (or possibly<br />
innocent fi shermen, who knows), crossed the equator,<br />
been hit by a whale, visited amongst others Devil’s Island,<br />
Salvador, Bouzios, Rio and fi nally crossed from Punte del<br />
Este, Uruguay to Port Stanley whilst getting lashed by<br />
three separate gales.<br />
Christmas and New Year in Port Stanley was a joy, singing<br />
carols under the Whale Bone Arch and many a lively<br />
evening in the Victory pub, just like home. Th e locals<br />
were very friendly and helpful and took a genuine<br />
interest in what we were planning, but mainly we were<br />
there to do the fi nal preparations for heading south.<br />
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
PREPARATIONS<br />
Th e preparations had been plentiful, and had started<br />
with the build of the boat. Conscious of the fact that<br />
I had never sailed to Antarctica before, or any high<br />
latitudes for that matter, and that taking a glass fi bre<br />
boat down there came with its own set of risks, I took on<br />
Richard Haworth of High Latitudes as a consultant on the<br />
build from the early stages. I explained that I didn’t want<br />
to build an icebreaker, but wanted to make sure that she<br />
would be safe in those waters. His input was invaluable<br />
and covered many areas of the build and outfi tting,<br />
but was centred on a simple philosophy. Where possible,<br />
on all critical systems, have a backup of everything.<br />
Two autopilots, installed and ready, two raw water<br />
inlet systems, two separate Racor Fuel fi lter systems,<br />
pre-heater on the water-making system, two heating<br />
systems, re-enforcement on all key areas of the sail,<br />
extra high cut for good visibility and deep-reefi ng,<br />
double bolt ropes on all sails, double leach lines on main<br />
and genoa, plus stitched in sail hanks up the luff of the<br />
genoa and staysail, hydraulic windlass and extra weight<br />
ground tackle, and so on, the list wasn’t endless but<br />
certainly extensive.<br />
When it came to outfi tting her it all started again, two<br />
tenders, two outboard engines, three anchors, two<br />
eight-man life raft s, two EPIRBS, two full sets of safety<br />
equipment and grab bags, two communication systems,<br />
diving equipment, 400m of fl oating line for tying off to<br />
rocks, two ice poles, etc, etc.<br />
Th e spares and tools list was endless, everything from<br />
a spare propeller, bolted under one of the bunks, to<br />
mountains of spare fi lters and pumps, every critical<br />
component had to be covered.<br />
SUMMER 2011 55
56<br />
Th e spares list ran to fi ve A4 pages and the tools list ran<br />
another two pages in addition to the extensive range<br />
of tools we already carried, including sledgehammers,<br />
crowbars, and a machete! At times I wondered what we<br />
were getting into.<br />
By the time we had loaded everything it was a wonder<br />
she could sail. But she did, and well.<br />
Our fi nal preparations in Port Stanley included rigging a<br />
double-glazing system for all the windows, hatches and<br />
port lights to reduce condensation. Th is was done with a<br />
mixture of perspex, dual lock, gaff er tape and cling fi lm,<br />
not very elegant, but eff ective. We didn’t have any<br />
condensation problems throughout the trip. We then bolted,<br />
screwed or lashed everything down. We were ready!<br />
My crew for the next month were to be Chris Durham,<br />
(1st mate and engineer), Richard Haworth, (ice guide,<br />
diver and mountaineer), my brother Mike Powell,<br />
(photographer, diver and mountaineer) and Alistair ‘Buzz’<br />
Keck (sailor and good friend) who came on as a last<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
minute stand in when unfortunately David and Tamsin<br />
Kidwell, owners of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 435, Twice Eleven had to<br />
fl y home from Stanley aft er a family bereavement.<br />
LEAVING PORT STANLEY<br />
It was all now down to the weather. Having read all the<br />
recommended texts on crossing the Southern Oceans,<br />
I was understandably apprehensive. Th e Drake Passage<br />
has a well-earned reputation. But I have been using a<br />
combination of daily weather reports from Chris Tibbs, on<br />
the challenging sections, and ‘Clearpoint’, a downloadable<br />
subscription forecasting system based on Grib fi les that<br />
has proved to be remarkably accurate so far. Th e helpful<br />
thing I have found down here is that the weather systems<br />
are so well defi ned that it is relatively easy to passage<br />
plan. Providing you are fl exible with your departure date<br />
and are willing to wait, fi nding a suitable gap between<br />
fronts isn’t that hard. Th e trick then is to make sure you<br />
keep to the plan, don’t ‘dilly dally’ out there, and use the
engine if necessary to maintain your planned<br />
mileage. And, of course, keep an eye on the<br />
forecasts because it can change in a heartbeat.<br />
We left Port Stanley early on the 4th January in<br />
near perfect conditions. Our fi rst 48 hours were<br />
fantastic, 25 knots out of the NW, just aft of the<br />
beam and moderate seas. Everyone was well<br />
and getting plenty of sleep. Chris discovered<br />
early on just how cold the water is by getting<br />
a good dowsing while up forward setting a<br />
preventer line.<br />
We saw our fi rst wandering albatross within hours<br />
of leaving Stanley, very impressive. Apparently<br />
they mate for life and only meet the wife once<br />
every two years on the same patch of land on<br />
one of the sub-Antarctic islands, aft er a bit of<br />
‘slap and tickle’ they hatch their chicks together,<br />
then both head off again, separately, fl ying<br />
around the southern oceans feeding for the next<br />
two years. Sounds like a sailor’s life to me!<br />
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
BECALMED IN <strong>THE</strong> SOU<strong>THE</strong>RN<br />
OCEANS... WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT!<br />
Aft er two days of absolutely perfect sailing,<br />
20-30 knots north-west, just aft of the beam,<br />
and moderate seas, we were then becalmed!<br />
Winds dropped to 2-3 knots. Who would<br />
have thought, we never expected this one.<br />
So the engine went on and we motored along<br />
playing sports trivia cards.<br />
We did have a taste of the southern oceans later<br />
that night with 5-metre plus swells coming in<br />
from the west, and took quite a lot of water over<br />
the bow. But other than that it was a beautiful<br />
night that never really got dark, we had what<br />
looked like a permanent dawn on the horizon<br />
directly south of us.<br />
Th e last 24 hours before getting into South<br />
Shetland Islands, were more like what we had<br />
expected, cold, wet and ugly. Aft er being<br />
effectively becalmed in the middle of the<br />
Southern Ocean, the weather turned on us as<br />
35-40 knots of wind from the SSW (on the nose)<br />
straight off the Antarctic mainland, bitterly cold,<br />
with 5-6 metre seas. Everyone was very stoic<br />
and remembered our nation’s seafaring traditions.<br />
Well... they didn’t whinge too much! And we got<br />
through it well.<br />
As we sailed into Deception Island through the<br />
Boyd Straights, escorted by squadrons of cape<br />
petrels, we saw our fi rst iceberg, a huge majestic<br />
looking thing, which had us all up and excited.<br />
We dropped anchor in the middle of Deception<br />
Island, a fl ooded volcano that last erupted in<br />
1970. Never a dull moment really.<br />
SUMMER 2011 57
58<br />
RUNNING OUT <strong>OF</strong> SUPERLATIVES.<br />
I knew months ago when I started using words like,<br />
fantastic, incredible, perfect, unbelievable and amazing<br />
in my blog that I would eventually come South and<br />
run out of superlatives. Well, it happened.<br />
Our arrival in Antarctica was just ‘astonishing’; we spent<br />
the fi rst day at anchor in Deception Island. We managed<br />
a few very important maintenance jobs in the morning<br />
then spent the aft ernoon on the beach with the<br />
penguins. Yes, there are beaches, all be it black lava<br />
sand, and the penguins love it because the hot spring<br />
water seeping out of the still active volcano gives a<br />
water line of hot water for about 18 inches out.<br />
We set out very early the next morning in near-perfect<br />
conditions, sunshine and wind. Th e moment we came<br />
out of Deception Island, through Neptune’s Bellows, the<br />
aptly named gap into the volcano, we were greeted by<br />
whales and penguins. Penguins swimming are hilarious,<br />
they jump like dolphins, but it’s more of a little hop out of<br />
the water, then every few minutes they all stop, pop their<br />
heads up to check where they are going. Th en off they<br />
go again, ‘hopping’ across the ocean.<br />
Th e rest of the day we were entertained by whales.<br />
And icebergs – there were hundreds of them, and nasty<br />
little ‘growlers’, which are large chunks of ice, oft en<br />
weighing several tons that have broken off an iceberg<br />
and are fl oating just on the surface and very diffi cult<br />
to see, anyone of which could easily rip the bottom<br />
out of UHURU. Which is a rather sobering thought<br />
while you are on watch, and tends to focus the mind.<br />
We spent a lot of time pinching ourselves; we just could<br />
not believe this place, Antarctica was truly out of this<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
world. It was universally agreed that it doesn’t matter how<br />
much we try we will never be able to explain what it’s<br />
really like. Even Mike’s great pictures cannot come close<br />
to explaining what it’s really like. How do you adequately<br />
describe the feeling of sailing along under a deep blue<br />
sky, with the wind whistling through the rigging, little<br />
penguins ‘hopping’ alongside, birds circling constantly,<br />
whales popping up every now and then, all with the ‘ever<br />
present danger of growlers’. And I don’t care who you<br />
are, every now and then that very deep and dark thought<br />
will creep up on you. ‘We are at the end of the world<br />
down here, and if anything goes wrong…’ Well let’s not<br />
fi nish that thought, but I am sure everyone who has ever<br />
come down here must have had it.<br />
BACK IN TIME…<br />
Our next stop was Enterprise Island where we raft ed<br />
up to an old sunken factory whaling boat, called<br />
The Governoren, which caught fi re back in the 1930s.<br />
To try and save it they were going to run it aground,<br />
but before it could hit the shore they ran into a shallow<br />
rock bar. The stern sunk and there it still sits today.<br />
Th is is remote, really remote, we get the feeling that<br />
we have gone back in time here as everywhere you look<br />
there are reminders of a bygone era. Whaling was<br />
massive down here in the early 1900s, and the whalers<br />
established supply bases all around Antarctica. Th is is<br />
one of them.<br />
Edging our way in stern fi rst to a narrow and shallow gap<br />
between the wreck and a rocky ice wall was testing at best.<br />
But once we had lines across to the wreck we found it to<br />
be a very secure berth, if a little noisy from the screaming<br />
Arctic terns that have taken over the ship’s boilers.
Right behind us was a glacier wall, which<br />
immediately became the object of much interest<br />
to brother Mike and Rich. No sooner had we tied<br />
off our last line than out came the climbing gear<br />
and off they went. It seemed like only minutes<br />
later and they were halfway up this ice wall.<br />
It was here that we harvested our fi rst crop of<br />
1,000 year old, Antarctic ice, straight off the<br />
bergs. It made our early evening gin and tonics<br />
go with a zing.<br />
Th e next day we spent exploring the area,<br />
discovering old wooden water supply boats and<br />
bollards that had been painstakingly chiselled<br />
into the rock. We also had our fi rst Antarctic<br />
dive, on the wreck – cold but very exciting.<br />
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS…<br />
Words cannot possibly begin to describe Friday,<br />
14th January 2011, we set off from Enterprise<br />
Island at 05.00, with a plan to stop at a couple<br />
of spots on the way to Port Lockroy. From that<br />
point on it all became rather surreal. Th e weather<br />
was perfect, blue skies and little white fl uff y<br />
clouds. A strong and stable high had settled over<br />
the peninsular.<br />
We started off with the usual escort of penguins<br />
and terns, and then we had a full display from a<br />
pod of humpback whales. As we eased our way<br />
into Orne Harbour a pair of crabeater seals<br />
obliged by posing on a berg right next to us.<br />
“I knew months ago when I started using words like, fantastic,<br />
incredible, perfect, unbelievable, amazing, in my blog, that I<br />
would eventually come south and run out of superlatives.”<br />
Mike, Buzz and Chris then went ashore to climb<br />
Spigots Peak to photograph the penguins and<br />
get a picture of UHURU creeping through the<br />
ice in Orne Harbour. From there they had the<br />
most spectacular views of Orne Harbour and<br />
the Gerlache Straits.<br />
As we left Orne Harbour we came across a<br />
leopard seal basking in the sun having just<br />
fi nished a snack, evidenced by the blood still on<br />
his chin. Th en a large pod of orcas (killer whales)<br />
followed us for about 30 minutes as we gently<br />
cruised down the Gerlache Straits towards Port<br />
Lockroy. By this time there was a very distinct<br />
holiday atmosphere onboard, we were running<br />
around the boat snapping pictures here and<br />
there, at the wildlife, at the scenery, at each<br />
other, like kids in a sweet shop.<br />
So please excuse me if this gets a little bit over<br />
the top! But this is the reward you get for pushing<br />
it all out there, those bitterly cold nights, scary<br />
seas and long, lonely watches, eventually lead<br />
to the ultimate winter wonderland; Antarctica in<br />
all her glory.<br />
SUMMER 2011 59
60<br />
PORT LOCKROY AND PICO LUIGI<br />
On arriving in Th under Bay, Port Lockroy, the<br />
climbing team immediately set about planning<br />
the ascent of Pico Luigi, a 1,530m peak that<br />
looms over Port Lockroy and the Seven Sisters.<br />
Armed with alpine skis, ice axes, miles of rope<br />
and a couple of day’s supplies they set off at<br />
04.30 the next morning.<br />
Meanwhile we went exploring ‘Base A’, Port<br />
Lockroy (pronounced: Lo-ckroy). Th is base was<br />
established in 1944 by a secret British military<br />
expedition, code-named ‘Operation Tabarin’,<br />
to monitor German movements in the Antarctic<br />
and provided weather information. They<br />
established a number of small bases all around<br />
the Antarctic Peninsula.<br />
Aft er the war the base was used by the Falkland<br />
Islands Dependencies Survey for weather<br />
research and the important early studies of<br />
the ionosphere. Th e base closed in 1962 and<br />
fell into disrepair. In 1994 the site was identifi ed<br />
as a key Antarctic historical site and restoration<br />
began in 1996. Since then the restoration work<br />
has continued by volunteers who come out<br />
and spend the whole summer season on this<br />
tiny island.<br />
Th is year there was a team of four glamorous<br />
young ladies led by Nikki from Surrey. Th ey<br />
arrived on site in November and their fi rst job<br />
was to dig the huts out of the snow, which was<br />
a full metre above the roof – tough ladies! Th ey<br />
spend the summer clearing snow, monitoring the<br />
penguin population, restoring the buildings, and<br />
welcoming visitors to the wonderful museum<br />
that they have created here. Th eir only support<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
is visiting expedition ships and passing yachts,<br />
they don’t even have a small RIB to run around in,<br />
they are literally trapped on this small island for<br />
fi ve months. Idyllic on a sunny day like this, but<br />
you can imagine it’s not always like this and must<br />
be quite harsh at times.<br />
Th e penguins wander all over the base, creating<br />
little footpaths as they go. You can never tire of<br />
watching penguins; they are hilarious, and very,<br />
very cute.<br />
Th e base museum is a fascinating insight into an<br />
era where ‘men were men’ and survived horrifi c<br />
conditions, with two jars of Marmite and a pair<br />
of woolly mittens. It has been beautifully<br />
restored in all its details and the families of the<br />
original occupants have donated many of the<br />
artefacts. All the rooms have been laid out<br />
exactly as they were back in the late 1940s,<br />
and the kitchen features all your old favourites<br />
from tins of corned beef to Camp Coff ee and<br />
Marmite. All of it original, dug out from the old<br />
store hut and preserved in the cold.<br />
But one of the most intriguing recent discoveries<br />
has been a number of paintings of glamorous pin<br />
ups of the era hidden underneath a coat of paint.<br />
Th ese were only discovered last year when the<br />
covering paint started to peel. Many of these<br />
paintings were painted on doors, which were used<br />
as shutters during the winter. Local legend has it<br />
that on seeing these paintings outside the huts<br />
Argentinian fi sherman assumed it was a British<br />
brothel in the middle of Antarctica. Resourceful<br />
lot the Brits! It is believed that they were painted<br />
over by the artist as he left the base, to avoid<br />
embarrassment to the following team.<br />
At about three o’clock in the aft ernoon while we<br />
were on the base chatting with the girls about<br />
the museum and its artefacts, well that was our<br />
excuse, we received our fi rst radio communication<br />
from the climbing team saying that they had<br />
reached the summit and could just make out the<br />
base as a tiny speck. In amongst much cheering<br />
and celebrations we invited everyone over for<br />
drinks that night aft er supper to help celebrate<br />
Mike and Rich’s achievement, including some guys<br />
from a Brazilian yacht anchored close by. It took<br />
Mike and Rich another six hours to descend.<br />
We got lots of interesting local insights and<br />
had a very unexpected, and enjoyable evening,<br />
fi nishing sometime in the early hours. But as it is<br />
pretty much daylight all-night nobody was really<br />
sure what time it fi nished, the only indicator was<br />
the size of the hangovers the next morning, or<br />
was it aft ernoon?<br />
<strong>THE</strong> LEMAIRE CHANNEL<br />
AND PORT CHARCOT<br />
As we headed further south the ice got thicker<br />
and the going got slower, but all the time the<br />
spectacular scenery kept us spellbound. Mike<br />
and Rich dissected every peak as a possible<br />
challenge one day. I spent my whole time<br />
dodging growlers and trying to fi nd clear routes<br />
through the ice. Th e occasional heavy thump of<br />
ice hitting the bow reminded us all of how<br />
potentially perilous this endeavour was.<br />
We successfully navigated the Lemaire Passage,<br />
aka ‘Kodak Alley’, one of the most spectacular<br />
scenic spots in the world, but the weather was
closing in. We anchored that night in Port<br />
Charcot, site of the fi rst expedition to winter<br />
over in Antarctica lead by Jean-Baptiste Charcot,<br />
a Frenchman, in 1903. The wind changed<br />
constantly that night and we had to change<br />
our anchorage. We fi nally settled into a small<br />
sheltered cut, with shorelines out to rocks. But<br />
despite that, bergs started to move during the<br />
night and the sight of Rich and Buzz at three<br />
o’clock in the morning in their thermal long johns<br />
using the tender to push large ‘growlers’ out of<br />
our anchorage would have been comical, were<br />
it not so serious.<br />
I had been monitoring the weather forecasts<br />
closely over the last few days and all the signs<br />
were that there was a big weather front coming<br />
in. We had had the most incredible weather so<br />
far for our trip but it was all about to change.<br />
Choices had to be made, and they were, as<br />
always never simple, but in a nutshell; leave<br />
Antarctica immediately and try and beat the<br />
front across or wait until it passes through.<br />
Th e risks of waiting until it passed through were<br />
sitting for possibly fi ve or six days in Antarctica<br />
in bad weather with all the associated risks of<br />
shift ing ice and a fi breglass boat, and also using<br />
up our vital diesel reserves. Followed by a very<br />
rough passage in the big seas that follow a front<br />
like that, with the risk of a lot of growlers on the<br />
loose in those seas.<br />
Or leave now and miss a few days of our planned<br />
trip in Antarctica and get across before the front<br />
kicks in. However, if it sped up or we don’t make<br />
the daily mileage I planned we risk getting a<br />
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
good kicking around the Horn. I guessed that<br />
would be likely anyway.<br />
So I reviewed the situation again at 06.00 and<br />
woke everyone up at 07.00 to tell them that we<br />
were leaving in two hours. Not the most popular<br />
decision I’ve made, but one all agreed with when<br />
the options were explained.<br />
We headed out through a very challenging<br />
un-surveyed section of rock and ice to exit<br />
through the Nimrod Passage then north back<br />
across the Drake Passage.<br />
We rounded the Horn three and a half days<br />
later in 30 knots of wind from the north-east,<br />
and headed directly to a safe anchorage in Porto<br />
William. Nine hours later, a 50-knot plus north<br />
westerly swept through the area, with 10 metre<br />
seas around the Horn, but we were happily<br />
having a beer or two in the ‘Micalvi’.<br />
It had been a fantastic trip across to the<br />
Antarctic Peninsula, a little shorter than we<br />
had planned but safe, no one got hurt, and<br />
the only damage we sustained to UHURU was<br />
a lost Windex aft er it got caught up with the<br />
masthead burgee, and a ‘pecked’ through<br />
outhaul button cover. Not bad really, we also<br />
managed to get down to 65 degrees South,<br />
which although is no record, was no mean<br />
achievement for a glass fi bre hull.<br />
Was it worth it? All the months, no years, of<br />
preparation... all the agonizing and doubts, and,<br />
of course, the cost.<br />
Every moment... every sleepless night... worth<br />
every penny!<br />
For more information on High Latitudes visit<br />
www.highlatitudes.com<br />
Photos: Mike Powell/www.mikepowellphoto.com<br />
SUMMER 2011 61
62<br />
UHURU<br />
AT WORK, REST & PLAY.<br />
As we left Antarctica and sailed north for the Horn, the<br />
atmosphere onboard was understandably subdued.<br />
Yes, I thought, aft er all that work, preparation and eff ort<br />
we have been to Antarctica, it’s over. It’s done. It’s fi nished.<br />
It’s in the past. But it was fun; in fact it was more than fun.<br />
Th en I started thinking about all the ‘little’ things that<br />
somehow got missed in the excitement of the ‘big’ things.<br />
Th e simple act of maintaining the boat and us on a day-today<br />
basis required a lot more work and eff ort than normal.<br />
1.<br />
3.<br />
1. Laundry day on UHURU, Mike<br />
editing pictures and Chris in the<br />
bilges, checking the engine fi lters<br />
2. Rich and Chris stripping the<br />
windlass in Deception Island<br />
3. Mike carrying out the daily task<br />
of crushing the tin cans. Everything<br />
we took in with us had to come<br />
out with us, so waste management<br />
was very important<br />
We had a lot of laughs, at each other, at ourselves<br />
and sometimes at the world, but mostly at penguins.<br />
Mike working with penguins on Spigots Peak and<br />
some penguins with UHURU in the background<br />
But the worst and best of the bird world was the<br />
Sheathbill, a little mischievous white bird, that made<br />
a mess all over the boat on our last night, but somehow<br />
in the process managed to turn on our windvane<br />
auto pilot, which requires two buttons to be held<br />
down simultaneously. So we spent most of the night<br />
‘sailing’ to the wind, at anchor. Th ey also managed to peck<br />
through the waterproof cover on the outhaul button.<br />
2.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Chris surfi ng a small berg<br />
Our resident dare devil/comedian, Chris kept us in fi ts<br />
with his antics. But Chris really pushed it all out there<br />
when he decided that he would leap off the spreaders<br />
into the freezing Antarctic Ocean. Th e cold hit him like<br />
a sledgehammer; you’ve never seen anyone swim back<br />
to the boat so fast. Apparently there was no pain, just<br />
instant total numbness. Th e fact that shortly aft er recovering<br />
him we came across a Leopard seal basking on a small<br />
berg didn’t phase him at all. I suspect his Mum might<br />
have had something to say about it!<br />
Chris’s valiant attempt at giving both himself<br />
and his mother a heart attack
Talking about the cold, I guess it’s confession time. Family<br />
and friends had been asking the question in almost<br />
every email, “how cold is it?” Well unfortunately, we had<br />
no idea, because despite the hoards of extra equipment<br />
we had loaded onboard for this trip, the Skipper, yours<br />
truly, forgot to pack a thermometer!<br />
We knew it was cold, but we just didn’t know how cold!<br />
Best guess is that on average it’s about zero to +1 degree,<br />
but the wind chill can drop that to minus 20 to 30 in<br />
a heartbeat. Just a gentle sailing breeze dropped the<br />
temperature dramatically. In the picture above I am<br />
wearing seven layers! Merino wool long johns and<br />
top, fl eece under shirt, full-length Windstopper thermal<br />
long johns, full-length Gore-Tex fl eece romper suit,<br />
Windstopper thermal blouse, big fl eece, and a full<br />
HPX Ocean suit, plus lining gloves, wrist warmers,<br />
a pair of ski gloves and mittens over the top, a neck<br />
warmer, balaclava and two woolly hats, three pairs of<br />
thermal socks and thermal wellies. Oh, and a life jacket.<br />
Th e Michelin Man has got nothing on me!<br />
But the real cold came when we went diving! We managed<br />
a couple of dives while we were down there, that was<br />
enough, believe me. Once on the wreck in Enterprise Bay<br />
and then on some old whalebones in Th under Bay, Port<br />
Lockroy. I enjoyed both but the cold just ate into you.<br />
We all prepare to go diving on the wreck in Enterprise Bay<br />
We head out to an old whaling area in Thunder Bay that is reputed to be<br />
covered in whalebones. Three very cold guys prepare to go down<br />
And whale bones we found, loads of them, but the<br />
visibility wasn’t that great. This is at about 18 metres<br />
OWNER REPORT – UHURU<br />
All in all the guys had a great time, they did things they<br />
never thought possible, and discovered a part of the<br />
world that you only see on the BBC.<br />
Buzz found a boat park in the middle of an iceberg,<br />
and learnt how to fend off ice fl ows<br />
Mike climbed up everything he could see to bring us great pictures.<br />
And then he ran or skied down the rest!<br />
Rich guided us safely to some of the most beautiful anchorages in the world.<br />
And taught us a lot while doing it<br />
As for me, I had one of the most relaxed and enjoyable<br />
trips ever, I knew we were prepared and all our problems<br />
were small ones.<br />
So I spent a lot of time just feeling smug...<br />
SUMMER 2011 63
64<br />
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<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Mediterranean<br />
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STARTS RIGHT<br />
HERE.<br />
As we approach the Autumn boat show season,<br />
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As usual we will be operating an appointment system to enable as<br />
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Please visit the Events section of our website where you can<br />
fi nd more details about each boat show and you can also make<br />
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<strong>Oyster</strong> 54<br />
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6 – 11 September<br />
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15 – 18 September<br />
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16 – 25 September<br />
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US SHOWS<br />
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Email us at: yachts@oystermarine.com<br />
Visit us online: www.oystermarine.com<br />
Genoa<br />
1 – 9 October<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 625<br />
Annapolis<br />
Sailboat Show<br />
6 – 10 October<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 655<br />
Hamburg<br />
29 October – 6 November<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 54 or 575<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Private View,<br />
Palma<br />
24 – 25 September<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 46, 54, 575, 655 and 72<br />
SUMMER 2011 65
66<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
TWIN RUDDERS<br />
FOR BLUE WATER CRUISING<br />
...another leading idea from <strong>Oyster</strong>!<br />
“Twin rudders have been around for a long time and we’ve used them on<br />
several <strong>Oyster</strong>s where we’ve fi tted shallow draft keels or centreboards. Another<br />
manufacturer uses them as props to stop their yachts falling over when they<br />
beach and, as Rob points out, race yachts regularly use them. What interested<br />
me was the opportunity of fi nding a step change for <strong>Oyster</strong> based on scientifi c<br />
tank testing data, balanced with some CFD rig testing. It was exciting to fi nd<br />
such convincing results that <strong>Oyster</strong> can take a market-leading stance and now<br />
off er a fully engineered option across the range.” David Tydeman<br />
BY ROB HUMPHREYS
Having been a proponent of twin rudders for<br />
well over a decade, Rob Humphreys Design has<br />
a wealth of experience with the arrangement<br />
through a range of boat types, from the rather<br />
esoteric world of Open 60s and Volvo 70s<br />
through to moderately heavy cruising yachts.<br />
Our knowledge of what to do and how to do it<br />
has been partly theoretical, partly intuitive and<br />
– through feedback from our boats – partly<br />
empirical. However, it is only very recently that<br />
we have had the opportunity to really quantify<br />
the benefi ts. Th is came through an exhaustive<br />
tank testing session on behalf of the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 885,<br />
which was commissioned by <strong>Oyster</strong> on the basis<br />
it would not only benefi t the development of<br />
the 885 but also the rest of the <strong>Oyster</strong> range.<br />
In the early design brief discussions last year on<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> “PC” as it was code-named, the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> New Product Development team and<br />
I sat down and ran through their ideas for how<br />
this new yacht should fi t into the range. Th e<br />
conclusion was a yacht with moderate beam,<br />
balancing the requirements of interior volume<br />
with boat speed, a mast further aft to provide<br />
a powerful blade jib for easy upwind sailing,<br />
and room for four owner/guest cabins in a hull<br />
length of “no more than 20 millimetres short of<br />
the LY2 MCA 24 metre rule”. David Tydeman’s<br />
naval architecture background quickly helped<br />
me persuade him that twin rudders were the<br />
way to go!<br />
It was clear that this was going to be a bit of a<br />
sea change for <strong>Oyster</strong> and I was pleased that<br />
David was keen to push this forward and also<br />
to support this breakthrough with a proper<br />
budget for tank testing. We all felt it would<br />
be helpful to have tangible reference information<br />
for those owners trying to understand the shift<br />
from a skeg-rudder to the twin rudder form for<br />
this exciting new model.<br />
In fact our testing session set out to do more<br />
than just this because we also used the<br />
opportunity to let the spade rudder have its say,<br />
just for some form of completeness. We have<br />
oft en been asked why <strong>Oyster</strong> has tended to<br />
steer clear of spade rudders and the answer<br />
has more to do with potential vulnerability than<br />
any disrespect for its potential qualities. As any<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> owner knows, a blue-water cruising<br />
yacht has to be accomplished in a number of<br />
diff erent ways, and one of the lower profi le<br />
requirements has to be an ability to slide<br />
backwards against a Mediterranean harbour<br />
wall without necessarily endangering the<br />
steering gear. One paradox of success for<br />
TWIN RUDDERS<br />
CFD analysis of the sailplan<br />
“From our perspective,<br />
twin rudders represent a huge<br />
benefi t and <strong>Oyster</strong> owners will<br />
really appreciate this development<br />
too as soon as they have the<br />
wheel at their fi ngertips.”<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> is that with so many boats out there,<br />
if it is possible to do something then it has<br />
usually been tried. In this case, with three<br />
SuperShoal twin rudder <strong>Oyster</strong>s already on the<br />
water, the expression ‘tried and tested’ comes<br />
to mind. A spade rudder, whatever its qualities<br />
in other respects, is not quite as bomb-proof as<br />
a rudder hung off a full-depth skeg, but again<br />
David’s racing and technical background has<br />
helped to push the decisions forward.<br />
In our tank testing we were focusing our attention<br />
on a fully-pressed up set of sailing conditions,<br />
with the boat heeled over to 20 degrees and<br />
sailing at nine knots, with a variety of leeway<br />
angles and load conditions. Separately we had<br />
commissioned North Sails to run their proprietary<br />
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) panel code<br />
‘Flow’, to determine the exact three-dimensional<br />
centres of pressure that are relevant to <strong>Oyster</strong>s,<br />
so that we could keep an eye on what was<br />
happening to the balance of the boats.<br />
We tested a lot of other things as well, but the<br />
rudder testing was most interesting and was<br />
totally supportive of all that we had learnt to<br />
be true in the fi eld. For a given side force and<br />
leeway angle the skeg rudder and the spade<br />
rudder were in a roughly similar ballpark,<br />
whereas the twin-rudder equivalent was in<br />
another world altogether. For example, with the<br />
twin rudders set to just two degrees to the fl ow,<br />
the spade rudder needed to be at over six for<br />
an equivalent moment, and the skeg-hung<br />
rudder at eight – all for the same yaw moment.<br />
Put another way, the leeward twin rudder provided<br />
four times as much force than a skeg rudder!<br />
Much of the distinction comes from the fact that<br />
the twin rudders are operating in clean water<br />
whereas centreline rudders – of whatever<br />
denomination – are operating in a disturbed<br />
second-hand fl ow coming off the keel. Th e result<br />
is a much more satisfying steering experience<br />
and at the same time a signifi cant reduction in<br />
resistance – so more speed.<br />
From our perspective, twin rudders represent<br />
a huge benefi t and <strong>Oyster</strong> owners will really<br />
appreciate this development too as soon as they<br />
have the wheel at their fi ngertips. But what’s<br />
also interesting is that the system fares a lot<br />
better in terms of potential reliability, especially<br />
against the spade rudder. Th e blades are<br />
signifi cantly smaller and more lightly loaded,<br />
and the span is considerably shorter, making it<br />
almost impossible to damage the steering gear<br />
when reversing into a quay. And of course, with<br />
two rudders rather than one, there is an obvious<br />
increase in the level of redundancy. Unlike some<br />
twin-rudder installations, the arrangement we<br />
have for <strong>Oyster</strong> means that even assuming the<br />
worst-case loss of one rudder it would still be<br />
possible to sail the boat on the compromised<br />
tack, albeit with reduced canvas.<br />
All in all we learnt nothing new in a qualitative<br />
sense; but in quantitative terms it was certainly<br />
an eye-opener, not just for me but also for the<br />
Wolfson Unit who had not previously run such<br />
a benchmarking comparison.<br />
With twin rudder installations already in action on<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 82s and an <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, and now specifi ed<br />
as standard on the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 885, in addition to<br />
being available on the SuperShoal versions of the<br />
54, 575 and 625, we see their use spreading<br />
through to the standard keel yachts. Watch this<br />
space for the next new model!<br />
Photos: Mike Jones / waterlinemedia.com<br />
SUMMER 2011 67
Live in<br />
68<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
C U<br />
Golden Gate is an <strong>Oyster</strong> 62 owned by Ole Vagner and crewed by<br />
Kris and Gunilla Bewert. It’s always interesting to talk about future plans.<br />
Living and working on a yacht is never dull, the possibilities to see diff erent<br />
places around the world through your work is a way of life for us.<br />
Aft er having spent a year and a half in the Mediterranean, we crossed<br />
the Atlantic again with the ARC in November 2010. Not sure exactly what<br />
lay ahead aft er St Lucia, we sat talking on one of the windless days at sea…<br />
BY GUNILLA BEWERT (CHEF/STEWARDESS AND ROCK’N’ROLL MANAGER)
B A<br />
“We are going to Cuba,” announced Ole.<br />
We looked at each other and replied, “Are we?”<br />
“Yes, with A-Band”, said Ole.<br />
Th at was how it started. A-Band is a band playing classic<br />
rock ’n’ roll, Ole is the bass guitarist. Th e band have been on<br />
board Golden Gate twice before, once in the Caribbean<br />
and once in Greece and we have managed to organise gigs<br />
for them in diff erent places along the sailing routes. Cuba<br />
was now the new place on the horizon and Ole asked us<br />
to organise it all, certainly a challenge worth the name.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 62, GOLDEN GATE<br />
Where do we start? We gathered information on Cuba<br />
and where we could sail. With Golden Gate’s draft of<br />
2.7 metres our options were quite limited and we had to<br />
search the charts for harbours, marinas and anchorages.<br />
Th e only pilot books seemed to be from around 1999<br />
and not up-to-date. Online we found out that more<br />
information would be published in a pilot book when<br />
the USA lift s the embargo. Th at could take a while!...<br />
A-Band wanted to sail on the south coast so we<br />
focused on places there.<br />
SUMMER 2011 69
70<br />
Aft er some searching we came across Placido<br />
Sanchez at Mega Yacht Services and, even<br />
though we normally don’t need to use agencies,<br />
for this trip we found it more than helpful to<br />
have a person on the inside to help us with the<br />
organising. A-Band also had a contact, a music<br />
producer in Havana and between the two of<br />
them we managed to book four concerts, two<br />
in Havana, one in Trinidad and one in Cienfuegos.<br />
Being Cuba, this required the band to have<br />
cultural visas instead of tourist visas and the<br />
music producer in Havana applied for those<br />
on our behalf.<br />
Cienfuegos lays almost 1100nm from St Maarten<br />
and was the place we chose as our port of entry.<br />
As we arrived in late May there were not many,<br />
in fact hardly any, cruising yachts around. Having<br />
sent all the ship’s documents and crew lists to<br />
Placido we arrived aft er a six-day passage and<br />
had the entire range of offi cials waiting for us.<br />
We had to anchor off the marina fi rst, lower<br />
the tender and go into the dock to pick up the<br />
doctor and the immigration offi cer who came<br />
back out to the boat with Kris. While planning<br />
the passage from St Maarten we had made note<br />
of several ports of refuge should we need to<br />
divert. Th is was never necessary as the weather<br />
was fi ne and the boat behaved well, something<br />
we were very glad of when we learned of all<br />
the questions on our arrival. Th e doctor asked if<br />
we had stopped in the Dominican Republic and<br />
since the answer was “no” we were clear. When<br />
we asked why, he answered that there was<br />
cholera on Hispaniola and a stop there would<br />
have meant we would have to be in quarantine<br />
for several days and not allowed ashore.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“FIDEL CASTRO PREVIOUSLY BANNED <strong>THE</strong> BEATLES <strong>FROM</strong> CUBA, BUT<br />
ON <strong>THE</strong> 20TH ANNIVERSARY <strong>OF</strong> JOHN LENNON’S DEATH, IN 2000,<br />
A STATUE <strong>OF</strong> HIM WAS UNVEILED IN <strong>THE</strong> PRESENCE <strong>OF</strong> FIDEL.”<br />
When the form was completed we had to lower<br />
the Q-fl ag immediately to show the people<br />
ashore we were healthy. We could then dock<br />
the boat and go through the rest of the inward<br />
clearance procedure, it took four hours but<br />
everyone was very nice and friendly. All the<br />
offi cials, nine of them, required a soda in order<br />
to do the work. Only the drugs sniff er dog didn’t!<br />
We were glad we had stocked up in St Maarten.<br />
Ole and the band arrived in Havana on a Sunday<br />
evening and, staying at Hotel Nacional, were<br />
keen to try the mojitos and Cohibas (cigars) at<br />
the hotel’s bar. Th e Hotel Nacional opened in the<br />
1930s and is famous for all the prominent guests<br />
who have stayed there over the years and their<br />
terrace bar is the place to be seen. Kris and I<br />
had rented a car and drove to Havana to greet<br />
A-Band and make sure all went well. Apart from<br />
a lost suitcase, which we couldn’t blame on the<br />
Cubans, everyone was happy.<br />
Fidel Castro previously banned the Beatles from<br />
Cuba, but on the 20th anniversary of John<br />
Lennon’s death, in 2000, a statue of him was<br />
unveiled in the presence of Fidel. Th e statue<br />
sits in Parque Lennon and there is a club called<br />
Submarino Amarillo (Yellow Submarine) that<br />
recently opened next to the park. What better<br />
place for A-Band to play in Havana, where the<br />
people like to rock! Th e fi rst concert took place<br />
on a Tuesday night and the club was packed<br />
with happy people. A-Band started with the<br />
song ‘Unchain my Heart’ by Joe Cocker and<br />
the audience were with them right from the<br />
start, raving until they left the stage an hour<br />
and a half later. It was a great success and true<br />
evidence that music brings people together.<br />
A-Band departed on a bus tour to diff erent places<br />
of interest for a few days while we went back to<br />
Golden Gate to make her ready for their arrival.<br />
Th e Harbour Master came by and asked if the<br />
trip had been good and made sure all was fi ne<br />
with the boat. Th e kindness of the offi cials is<br />
worth mentioning, especially aft er a few seasons<br />
in the Caribbean. We found the Cubans to be<br />
very honest and hardworking people. No one<br />
asked us for money, they did however ask for<br />
gift s of diff erent kinds. One bicycle taxi driver<br />
asked if we had soap to spare. We had read of<br />
the need for soap, shampoo and such articles<br />
and had stocked up with extra, although we<br />
weren’t exactly walking around with soap in<br />
our bags. It’s very expensive for the Cubans,<br />
only to be found in the so-called CUC stores.<br />
Cuba has two currencies, the peso and the<br />
Cuban convertible. Th e people get paid in<br />
pesos and there are 24 pesos to one CUC.<br />
Th at is something to remember when buying<br />
fruit and vegetables in the markets where the<br />
counting is fast and knowing a little Spanish is<br />
very important for a trip to Cuba.<br />
Costa Sur Club hosted A-Band’s concert in<br />
Cienfuegos together with the local band<br />
‘Los Moddyz’. It’s an open-air scene and with the<br />
daily rain shower we were somewhat concerned<br />
if it would work. Luckily, despite a few early<br />
showers the heavy rain went elsewhere. It was<br />
another great evening and the local band even<br />
invited A-Band’s singer, Lasse, up on stage to sing<br />
along with them to the beat of Duran Duran’s<br />
‘Shout’. When we talked to the locals, they were<br />
very appreciative to have the opportunity to see<br />
and hear a band from outside Cuba.
OWNER REPORT – GOLDEN GATE<br />
SUMMER 2011 71
72<br />
inCuba!<br />
DO’S & DON’TS<br />
DO’S<br />
◎ Brush up on your Spanish, it’s just as crucial<br />
to know some while in Cuba, as English is<br />
good to know when in England.<br />
◎ Plan your trip. Th e best pilot book is still<br />
Nigel Calder’s ‘Cuba – A Cruising Guide’.<br />
Ashore we found the ‘MOON Cuba<br />
Guide Book (2010)’ by Christopher P. Baker<br />
very helpful.<br />
◎ Bring all the spares you need, or think you<br />
might need. Cuba is not on the FedEx route<br />
and even if there are DHL offi ces here it’s<br />
diffi cult to have anything sent there.<br />
◎ Buy all the food you need at your last port<br />
of call. Sure, the Cubans eat too… but<br />
many things are just not obtainable.<br />
Fruit and vegetables are good but think<br />
tropical, very good pineapples and mangos<br />
but no apples or grapes. Bake your own<br />
bread and if you’re into cheese and<br />
yoghurt, bring that too. Havana has a<br />
better selection than in the rural parts<br />
of the country.<br />
◎ Bring Euros for cash exchange into the<br />
Cuban CUC. Th e USD gets a 10%<br />
surcharge on top of the rate.<br />
DON’TS<br />
◎ Buy lobster from a back door freezer;<br />
take my word for it… Th e restaurants serve<br />
good lobsters; they’re a better choice.<br />
◎ Get agitated by the extensive paperwork.<br />
Th e offi cials are only doing their job, and<br />
with a smile it can be a fun experience<br />
as well.<br />
◎ Invite a Cuban onboard, it’s not permitted.<br />
Only offi cials carry the special license to<br />
come aboard.<br />
◎ Buy cigars on the street. Th ey are illegal<br />
to buy, fake and taste thereaft er. You get<br />
what you pay for.<br />
◎ Go to Cuba for their cuisine, it doesn’t<br />
exist… try the Ropa Vieja (Old Clothes)<br />
dish at a good restaurant, it’s worth a<br />
try and surprisingly good. Best we had<br />
was at Dona Eutimia near the Plaza de<br />
la Catedral in Havana.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“CUBA IS A DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY TO VISIT. <strong>THE</strong> FRIENDLINESS <strong>OF</strong><br />
<strong>THE</strong> PEOPLE AND <strong>THE</strong> ATMOSPHERE ALL AROUND IS LIKE BEING<br />
TRANSFERRED BACK TO <strong>THE</strong> 1960s.”
Th e day aft er the concert, we fi led the paperwork<br />
for our new crew of eight and with that taken<br />
care of we could cast off and sail to the islands.<br />
Th e nearest to Cienfuegos, heading west, is a<br />
little speck of an island called Guano del Este.<br />
It has a lighthouse with two lighthouse keepers<br />
and some derelict buildings, that’s it! Th e younger<br />
part of A-Band took the tender and got a tour<br />
of the lighthouse with some great views as<br />
a reward.<br />
Cayo Largo was next on our agenda and we had<br />
a great sail there with winds of about 20-25<br />
knots all the way. Playa Sirena is considered one<br />
of the best beaches in Cuba and we anchored<br />
off and enjoyed stunning views. Aft er some<br />
research with the echo sounder we found<br />
out we could go a little further up into more<br />
protected waters. Th ere is a marina there and<br />
the channel is dredged to 4 metres. Several<br />
of the marinas on the south coast of Cuba are<br />
named Marina Marlin and this was another one.<br />
Th e government owns them all and we had to<br />
do an inward clearance with three offi cials on<br />
the boat. Only four hours later, as we went into<br />
the marina, we had to see yet another offi cial for<br />
what reason we never understood. Cayo Largo<br />
is a tourist island and if you want to experience<br />
Cuba this is not the place to go. However, if you<br />
want great diving and snorkelling, swimming with<br />
dolphins, pretty beaches and to have a leisurely<br />
time, this is a great spot to be. Th e marina is in<br />
El Pueblo, which is the little village where the<br />
locals who work on the island live. Th ey work<br />
OWNER REPORT – GOLDEN GATE<br />
for 20 days, and then they have 10 days off when<br />
they go home to their families on the mainland or<br />
Isla de Juventud where some of them live.<br />
We all went diving and snorkelling on the reef<br />
just outside the marina with the dive company.<br />
It was a shallow dive with plenty of coral and<br />
fi sh. We got to see a half-grown turtle, and at<br />
the end of the dive a nurse shark was lurking in<br />
the coral not wanting to be disturbed. It was<br />
very exciting to see a shark in its natural habitat,<br />
something to cherish and write home about.<br />
Th e show must go on though and aft er fi ve days<br />
onboard it was time for Ole and A-Band to go<br />
back to Havana again. Th ey fl ew from the small<br />
airport on Cayo Largo; it’s a short 30 minute<br />
fl ight, which was very convenient. In Havana they<br />
had one more concert at Submarino Amarillo<br />
before they fl ew home to Denmark with many<br />
new memories.<br />
As for Golden Gate, we planned to sail from<br />
Cayo Largo straight to Marina Hemingway near<br />
Havana, in one go. It was a bit of a concern as<br />
there was a low forming in the Caribbean basin<br />
that could have developed into a tropical storm.<br />
At the time it produced fresh easterly winds on<br />
the north coast of Cuba. We took advice from<br />
Commander Weather to give us a good forecast<br />
and when they said the winds would subside to<br />
10 knots we left Cayo Largo. Sailing along the<br />
south coast was dreamlike; with the wind from<br />
the aft we made good speed. Rounding the<br />
western end of Cuba however turned out to be<br />
quite a challenge. We never saw the 10 knots,<br />
we got 30-35 knots on the nose the entire way<br />
along the north coast and, together with a<br />
counter current from the Gulf Stream, we had<br />
a very long and slow trip heading east. 56 hours<br />
and 370nm aft er leaving Cayo Largo we entered<br />
Marina Hemingway, a good protected marina.<br />
Again we were expected, as Placido had booked<br />
us a berth. Th is did not however make the<br />
paperwork any easier, there were even more<br />
papers to fi ll out in Havana than we had on the<br />
south coast.<br />
Once past the paper exercises, Cuba is a<br />
delightful country to visit. Th e friendliness of the<br />
people and the atmosphere all around is like<br />
being transferred back to the 1960s. Th e old<br />
American cars are still running and they’re a joy<br />
to watch. Th e most common car for the Cubans<br />
to own is a Lada, we saw eight passengers in<br />
one, so they must hold together pretty well!<br />
Public transport is a problem; there are just<br />
not enough buses so people are hitch-hiking<br />
everywhere. Imagine having to do that to go<br />
to work every morning, no wonder shops and<br />
businesses never open on time! With plenty to<br />
see and do, and a culture scene very diff erent<br />
from the rest of the Caribbean we have enjoyed<br />
our weeks in Cuba tremendously. Th e Spanish<br />
poet Federico Garcia Lorca once wrote, “If I get<br />
lost, look for me in Cuba”. We now know why.<br />
SUMMER 2011 73
74<br />
HETAIROS<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
CLASSIC YACHT REFIT & REPAIR | SUPERYACHT FIT OUT | SUPERYACHT REFIT & REPAIR<br />
CUSTOM NEW BUILD | PROJECT MANAGEMENT | DESIGN & ENGINEERING | <strong>OYSTER</strong> YACHT BUILDERS<br />
Hetairos is a 43m (142ft ) wooden, Bruce King<br />
designed ketch built by Abeking and Rasmussen<br />
in 1992. Hetairos is well known on the racing<br />
and cruising circuits, and a little unusual in that<br />
she has a fully retracting centreboard. She spent<br />
the winter with SYS in the refi t hall.<br />
SYS’s engineering team was kept busy with the<br />
removal of the centreboard and servicing of the<br />
beautifully designed control mechanism – all in<br />
bronze. Years of extensive cruising, and latterly<br />
some racing, had exacted its toll, but the<br />
fundamentals of the system remained sound.<br />
Having removed all the components from<br />
the keel box, including the 6.5 tonne, 7.5 metre<br />
long centreboard, and serviced the two<br />
30 tonne hydraulic rams and control system,<br />
she has returned to the water as good as new.<br />
Other work on the yacht included service work<br />
to the rudder, winches and windlass, and a<br />
thorough service of the main engine, shaft and<br />
propeller plus some additional shipwright and<br />
joinery work. Aft er a repaint of the topsides and<br />
the 45m main and 36m mizzen and spars, plus<br />
an overhaul of the rig, she emerged gleaming in<br />
her new livery of jet black with gold cavita line<br />
and gold details on the trailboards.
SEA LION<br />
Sea Lion, the 21m (67ft ) Abeking and Rasmussen<br />
yawl, built in 1953, left the yard in July aft er her<br />
extensive rebuild. As she sailed towards the<br />
Needles on her way down the Channel, she<br />
looked splendid and back in her element.<br />
With gleaming new brightwork and fi ttings,<br />
new frames, bronze fl oors and mahogany<br />
hull skin, new deck and coachroof, all new<br />
equipment and machinery, plus all new interior<br />
WINDSOR BELLE<br />
Windsor Belle, is a 20.7m (68ft ) 1901 Steam<br />
Launch, which arrived at SYS in April for structural<br />
repairs to the hull and replacement of her steam<br />
engine and boiler. Th e SYS team of shipwrights<br />
and joiners set to work replacing the beam<br />
shelves, some areas of hull and deck planking<br />
and the arch board across the transom, fi tting<br />
splines to the topsides, recaulking the seams<br />
SOUTHAMPTON YACHT SERVICES<br />
joinery, electrics and plumbing, she is ready<br />
to face the next 50 years. Th e opportunity was<br />
taken to add some innovative new features and<br />
update her systems, and to install additional<br />
equipment and services into the hull, whilst<br />
preserving her classic appearance, thus making<br />
her easier to live aboard and enjoy. Earlier<br />
stages of the rebuild were reported on in issues<br />
70 and 71 of <strong>Oyster</strong> News.<br />
and re-varnishing the hull and deckhouse. New<br />
engine bearers are being fi tted and the tanks,<br />
plumbing and wiring upgraded. She is being<br />
fi tted with a rebuilt triple expansion engine,<br />
boiler and ancillary steam equipment by SYS<br />
engineers under the direction of a specialist<br />
steam engineer. Aft er trials in August she will<br />
return to the tranquil waters of the River Th ames.<br />
SMALL WORKS – REPAIRS, REFITS, OVERHAULS<br />
AND MAINTENANCE<br />
Th e Small Works team at Southampton Yacht<br />
Services is dedicated to providing the same<br />
standard of care and craft smanship when looking<br />
aft er <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts, as when they were built. Th e<br />
team has access to all the build information and<br />
design specifi cations, plus the full range of facilities<br />
and skills at the yard, and in some cases has access<br />
to the people who originally built the yacht.<br />
Whatever your query, please give the team<br />
a call on +44 (0)23 8033 5266 or email<br />
mattm@southamptonyachtservices.co.uk.<br />
For <strong>Oyster</strong> Customer Service and Support<br />
related questions please email:<br />
paul.bennett@oystermarine.com<br />
For further information please contact: Tel: +44 (0)23 8033 5266<br />
Email: enquiry@southamptonyachtservices.co.uk www.southamptonyachtservices.co.uk<br />
PIERS WILSON RETIRES<br />
As many of our<br />
readers will know,<br />
Piers Wilson retired<br />
in July aft er over<br />
30 years leading<br />
SYS as Managing<br />
Director. Piers started<br />
the company in 1980<br />
and has guided the<br />
business through<br />
three decades of yacht building, always keeping<br />
clients and the SYS team happy. Over that time<br />
the yard has produced a range of exemplary<br />
refi ts on yachts including Altair, Belle Aventure,<br />
Ticonderoga, Thendara, Velsheda, Ilona of<br />
Kylesku, Mari-Cha III, Bystander, Merrymaid,<br />
Alinda V, and Sea Lion, plus numerous smaller<br />
refi t projects on classic motor and sailing<br />
yachts. In the early days, SYS became known<br />
for building one off wood epoxy yachts such<br />
as Gemervescence, Craftsman’s Art and Rocio.<br />
Since 1990, SYS has built more than 65 <strong>Oyster</strong>s,<br />
comprising the larger models from 60ft upwards.<br />
In July the yard held a summer garden party to<br />
say thank you to Piers, but not goodbye, as he<br />
has agreed to remain close to the business as a<br />
specialist to advise on custom new build and<br />
refi t projects, we all look forward to continuing<br />
to work with him.<br />
NEW <strong>OYSTER</strong> MODELS<br />
SYS completed the fi rst stunning new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625<br />
in April and is now nearing completion of the<br />
second yacht, which will be on show at the<br />
Southampton Boat Show in September.<br />
In August the yard starts work on the new<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 885, which has been in development<br />
since mid 2010. Th e team at SYS, including our<br />
designers and yacht builders, has been busy<br />
since the start of the year on detailed design<br />
and production engineering of this new yacht<br />
to ensure that when all the elements of design<br />
and construction are brought together, the<br />
result is another superb <strong>Oyster</strong>. Th e results<br />
that are emerging are spectacular, and<br />
everyone is looking forward to getting 885s<br />
hull #1 and #2 into the build hall and<br />
commencing work on them.<br />
SUMMER 2011 75
76<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Crossin g<br />
The Arabian Sea<br />
When you have sailed over four thousand miles through pirate infested seas, been<br />
chased out of anchorages by African, gun toting military boats, survived engine<br />
failures, fi erce currents and strong winds and are sixty miles from your destination,<br />
you don’t expect the Indian Navy to T-bone your yacht!<br />
BY LIZ CLEERE AND JAMIE FURLONG, <strong>OYSTER</strong> 435 ESPER
SUMMER 2011 77
78<br />
Salalah should have been where our convoy<br />
ended, but the pirates hadn’t fi nished with<br />
us yet. As we prepared to leave, a call came<br />
through from the UKMTO to tell us a ship had<br />
been hijacked 30 miles off the coast of Oman,<br />
bang in the middle of our proposed route.<br />
We were asked to stay for a few more days<br />
while they investigated the danger.<br />
With no further attacks occurring in the vicinity,<br />
and an intense Omani naval presence, we took<br />
the decision to head out of Salalah on 5th April.<br />
Th e taskforce requested we stay together until<br />
well away from the danger zone. Once again<br />
we sailed together in convoy, checking in with<br />
the taskforce every six hours, maintaining radio<br />
silence and using minimal navigation lights.<br />
Before taking the plunge eastwards, we spent<br />
another night at anchor in a pristine bay.<br />
Ras al Hallaniyah, part of the Kuria Muria Islands,<br />
lies 125 miles north of Salalah. Knowing this<br />
would be our last chance to enjoy the deserted<br />
shores of Oman, we spent the day snorkelling<br />
and beachcombing among the white sands,<br />
beneath the dramatic red rock of this barren<br />
coast. We relished a few hours of unadulterated<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“The con voy, ha vin g served its purpose in gettin g us sa fel y throu gh<br />
pira te-ridden seas, broke up when we reached sa fer wa ters.<br />
E ver y skipp er was on ce more master of his own destin y.”<br />
fun before the familiar threats of piracy, storms<br />
and equipment failure forced their way back<br />
into the forefront of our minds.<br />
Despite these underlying concerns, Jamie and<br />
I were eager to begin life on the open water.<br />
Since leaving Turkey we had been anticipating<br />
the crossing as one of the highlights of the Rally.<br />
We headed north, still in formation, early the<br />
following morning. Th e convoy, having served<br />
its purpose in getting us safely through pirateridden<br />
seas, broke up when we reached safer<br />
waters. Every skipper was once more master<br />
of his own destiny.<br />
Some of the faster yachts disappeared over the<br />
horizon quickly. We kept up the radio ‘net’ twice<br />
a day – once in the morning and again in the<br />
evening. Between the group we had enough SSB<br />
and VHF power for messages and bulletins to be<br />
relayed back and forth across the Arabian Sea.<br />
For security reasons we did not give our positions<br />
over the air, instead we announced our distance<br />
and direction from previously agreed waypoints.<br />
Th e net gave us a chance to pool weather<br />
information and to pick up the latest advice<br />
from the taskforce.<br />
Aft er a couple of days of freedom and light<br />
winds, the group began to hallucinate. Jamie<br />
was the fi rst to see phantoms on the radar screen,<br />
always dead ahead. We strained our eyes in the<br />
darkness, but saw nothing. Soon Roam II reported<br />
the phenomenon: a clear blip, dead ahead, but<br />
nothing in the water. When Dan of Still Dreaming<br />
reported the same apparition our imaginations<br />
ran riot. What was out there, so solid on the radar<br />
screen but so well camoufl aged in the water?<br />
Next time the ghost appeared Dan was ready.<br />
Night vision goggles in hand, he strode to the<br />
front of his yacht and peered into the middle<br />
distance. No boat. But hovering in the air, just<br />
above the sea was a helicopter. It seemed that<br />
even out here our military friends were keeping<br />
an eye on us.<br />
Within moments of leaving the convoy we<br />
caught our biggest fi sh yet, a bright blue dorado<br />
(aka mahi-mahi or dolphin-fi sh). It was skinned,<br />
fi lleted and put in the fridge within minutes,<br />
while Millie gorged herself on the left overs.<br />
It is one of the tastiest fi sh in the sea and very<br />
plentiful; we dined well over the next few days,<br />
aft er which we moved on to tuna. Th is positive<br />
start to our independence, boosted by half
decent winds, augured well<br />
for the crossing. We sat back<br />
and relaxed as Esper slowly<br />
made her way across the<br />
rolling ocean.<br />
A pattern soon emerges when<br />
you are at sea. On Esper we<br />
have no strict system, instead<br />
we take our watches when<br />
the time suits both of us,<br />
maintaining a minimum of<br />
three hours. Jamie is a night<br />
owl, preferring to cruise<br />
through the blackness, trimming the sails. He will<br />
happily stay awake from evening till the wee<br />
small hours, while I sleep for England below. I am<br />
a lark, it works well. I start to fl ag by 22.00 hours<br />
when I scuttle off to bed, leaving Jamie alone in<br />
the cockpit.<br />
We have discovered that letting the person on<br />
watch make the decision about when to fi nish<br />
works best for us, allowing the other person to<br />
sleep without waiting for the alarm going off .<br />
Jamie starts to fl ag around 03.00 hours and will<br />
rouse me carefully, but no matter how gentle the<br />
awakening we are both programmed to spring<br />
into action as soon as our eyes open. We’ll check<br />
the radar, paper charts, digital display and AIS<br />
together before heading our separate ways,<br />
Jamie leaving me with the same mantra – “Keep<br />
a 360 degree lookout. Stay in the cockpit. Come<br />
and get me if you are worried about anything.”<br />
We keep up our energy levels through the night<br />
by eating little and oft en. Heating up a bowl of<br />
noodles when coming on watch takes just enough<br />
time to let our night vision kick in. Th e cockpit at<br />
night is a cosy place, illuminated only by the moon<br />
OWNER REPORT – ESPER<br />
and dimmed dashboard lights. Sometimes we<br />
might listen to audio books, but neither of us listens<br />
to music, preferring the sound of the boat and<br />
the sea.<br />
For the fi rst couple of hours I am on full alert,<br />
scanning for lights and hazards. I’ll assiduously<br />
clamber up and down the companionway<br />
checking the instruments and the horizon. On a<br />
good night the boat creaks as the rigging does<br />
its job and the sails are taut in the warm, steady<br />
breeze. Th e air of the Arabian Sea is hot and,<br />
when you are alone with your thoughts, it is easy<br />
to nod off in the darkness. To keep awake I’ll do<br />
sit-ups in the cockpit, check the radar and AIS<br />
more frequently and try to identify the stars.<br />
With no light pollution in the middle of the ocean<br />
the night sky is spectacular. It was a joy to watch<br />
Scorpius emerge on the horizon and crawl across<br />
the heavens – home to my favourite star, the fi ery<br />
red Antares. I never tire of peering over the side<br />
to watch a stream of brilliant tiny galaxies refl ected<br />
in the phosphorescence of Esper’s wake.<br />
Dawn is a special time for any yachtsman. As the<br />
weak light reveals the horizon, the world emerges<br />
from shades of grey to bursts<br />
of Turneresque pinks and<br />
oranges. Dolphins, already<br />
on the hunt, come to play<br />
in Esper’s bow waves at<br />
daybreak, happiness incarnate.<br />
Th e calm didn’t last long.<br />
On the third day over the<br />
radio we heard Mary’s<br />
frightened voice from<br />
Still Dreaming. “Rally boats!<br />
Rally boats! Can anyone hear<br />
me? We are being followed!<br />
It’s a big dhow. Can anyone assist?”<br />
Th eir yacht was not visible, but she was coming<br />
across loud and clear. Th e fear in Mary’s voice<br />
was palpable as she tried to explain to Jamie<br />
what was happening. “Th ey have come<br />
alongside. Dan has gone out to talk to them.<br />
Th ey passed us and then turned round and<br />
came back. Th ere are lots of men shouting<br />
at Dan. I don’t know what to do.”<br />
“Describe everything you can see and tell me<br />
where you are.” “Th ere’s lots of shouting.<br />
Th ey are so close!”<br />
Jamie did his best to keep Mary calm and asked<br />
her to describe what she could see. We tried<br />
to work out where she was as the position she<br />
had given made no sense. Aft er a tense few<br />
minutes while we listened to Mary, and some<br />
tremendous shouting in the background, she<br />
stopped transmitting. Fearing the worst we<br />
waited by the VHF, calling them again and again.<br />
Eventually a relieved Dan came on to tell us that<br />
the men in the dhow had simply been curious<br />
and had wanted to say hello. Th is was a timely<br />
reminder that we should continue to expect<br />
the unexpected.<br />
SUMMER 2011 79
80<br />
We soon slipped back into our<br />
routine, but it became tougher<br />
as the wind dropped, the seas<br />
got lumpy, and our autopilot –<br />
which had been problematic<br />
since Egypt – really began to<br />
play up. What had started out<br />
as an occasional loss of power<br />
had transformed into regular<br />
lengthy periods of no autopilot<br />
at all. Th e conditions meant<br />
motoring, so on went the<br />
engine and once again we<br />
were hand steering, the pain<br />
of which was compounded<br />
by an increasingly stiff wheel.<br />
Jamie spent the best part of<br />
the next two days with his head<br />
in the engine or the lazarette.<br />
He checked the alternator<br />
regulator, the steering cables<br />
and the rudder. Th e jury<br />
remained out on whether the<br />
alternator regulator was at<br />
fault or if it was an electronic/<br />
computer problem. Th e rudder<br />
turned out to be fi ne. We had<br />
already checked the cables in<br />
Egypt, but they had stiff ened<br />
again, so Jamie loosened them<br />
and the steering became easier.<br />
I spent six unbroken hours on<br />
the helm and was eventually<br />
forced to go to bed with a<br />
frozen back.<br />
Some hours later I was back<br />
on watch. To my astonishment<br />
Jamie had balanced the boat<br />
and Esper’s windvane steering<br />
system had taken over helming<br />
duties. I nearly cried from<br />
relief. We were motor-sailing,<br />
but there was just enough<br />
wind for our wonderful<br />
Windpilot Pacifi c Plus to work. We had no<br />
autopilot for the rest of the trip, but with this<br />
new-found ability there were fewer occasions<br />
we would have to steer by hand.<br />
We took a moment in the middle of our journey<br />
across the Arabian Sea to mark the occasion and<br />
to toast Jamie’s 15,000th mile. A weak vodka<br />
and tonic and half a beer later, we resumed our<br />
jobs, but decided that from now on we would<br />
take more time out to simply sit together and<br />
enjoy the sailing, rather than running from task<br />
to task.<br />
As we headed towards Mumbai the shipping<br />
traffi c steadily increased. With the aid of AIS we<br />
were easily able to work out which vessels were<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
on a collision course and which could be quickly<br />
discounted. Having a transponder meant we<br />
knew we were clearly visible to those ships<br />
equipped with AIS. On the few occasions<br />
we made radio contact to alert them to our<br />
presence they had already seen us. But even<br />
the brilliance of AIS could not prevent what<br />
happened next.<br />
Roughly 60 miles from our fi nal destination we,<br />
along with Roam II, were skirting the Neelam<br />
Heera and Ratna oilfi elds along Direction Bank.<br />
Terry called us to warn us they had been<br />
boarded by the Indian Navy, who had arrived<br />
on an aged fi shing boat demanding to see ships<br />
papers and any stocks of alcohol on board.<br />
Having gone through the<br />
niceties the gentleman in<br />
charge took a bottle of gin for<br />
his troubles. We kept a lookout<br />
for said fi shing boat and an<br />
hour later a heavy wooden<br />
tub, ringed with old car tyres,<br />
headed straight towards us.<br />
“I have been hailing you for<br />
the last 20 minutes on Channel<br />
05. Why do you not respond?”<br />
shouted an angry looking naval<br />
type. “We are not listening on<br />
05, we have Channel 16 open,”<br />
was Jamie’s reasonable reply.<br />
“Call me now on 05!” came<br />
the command.<br />
Since we were in earshot and<br />
already having a conversation<br />
it seemed superfl uous to talk<br />
on the VHF, but Jamie dutifully<br />
went below to try Channel 05.<br />
Th e crew took this as their cue<br />
to grin and wave at me. Th e<br />
helmsman was mesmerised<br />
and – presumably interpreting<br />
my shouts and gesticulations<br />
to back off as a sign of<br />
encouragement – steered the<br />
boat in the direction he was<br />
looking, straight at me.<br />
Just as Jamie was about to<br />
come up and point out to the<br />
naval man that Channel 05 is a<br />
duplex channel so he couldn’t<br />
be heard, there was a sickening<br />
crunch. Th e fi shing vessel drove<br />
into the side of Esper, smashing<br />
the toe rail and bending a<br />
stanchion. Jamie fl ew up the<br />
companionway without<br />
touching the sides and began<br />
cursing. Th ere was a stand-off<br />
for 10 minutes while Jamie<br />
refused to show Petty Officer Ali Kumar<br />
any paperwork until he had seen insurance<br />
documents and been given a promise to pay for<br />
our repairs. PO Kumar denied all responsibility<br />
and told him to stop swearing.<br />
“I’m not swearing at you, I’m swearing at the<br />
situation.” Misunderstanding what Jamie had said,<br />
PO Kumar looked concerned. “We are not trying<br />
to scare you.”<br />
Luckily this linguistic mix-up defused the situation<br />
and, registering Jamie’s outright refusal to allow<br />
him on board, they backed off and let us on our<br />
way. Some time later Jamie wrote about this<br />
incident on our blog and was contacted by<br />
VAdm Pradeep Chauhan of the Indian Navy.
Log<br />
Whilst asserting that he was writing unoffi cially<br />
he was kind enough to show some sympathy<br />
towards our experience and promised that<br />
those responsible would be “investigated.”<br />
We were never reimbursed for the damage.<br />
Th e fi nal 24 hours motoring into Mumbai was<br />
arduous and fraught with obstacles, allowing<br />
us no sleep. Every inch of ocean was covered<br />
in fi shing boats or nets. At night we were<br />
surrounded by lights of all colours and<br />
combinations, fl ashing or static and utterly<br />
meaningless to us. During the day we gave up<br />
trying to dodge the nets, so we put the boat in<br />
neutral and glided over them. It was a pity we<br />
had not stumbled on this successful tactic earlier.<br />
Arriving in Mumbai had the adrenalin rushing<br />
as this wondrous city assaulted our senses from<br />
all sides. Despite some diffi cult moments we<br />
had made it across almost a thousand miles<br />
of ocean. We anchored in the shadow of<br />
the Gateway of India in water resembling<br />
Mulligatawny soup. We gazed at the exotic<br />
skyline and then, aft er 36 hours without rest,<br />
fell asleep, dreaming of the comfort awaiting<br />
us at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club.<br />
Liz recently won The Telegraph weekly travel<br />
writing competition and has just reached the<br />
fi nal of the Independent on Sunday/Bradt Travel<br />
Writing Competition. You can read her article,<br />
‘Searching for Mermaids’, on-line at:<br />
www.bradtguides.com/travelwriting<br />
Read more about Liz and Jamie’s adventures<br />
with Esper on their website, where you can<br />
also download podcasts every Friday. Go to<br />
www.followtheboat.com<br />
Date From To Distance<br />
05/04/10 Salalah,<br />
Oman<br />
07/04/10 Ras al<br />
Hallaniyah<br />
Ras al Hallaniyah, Oman<br />
(17 31.55N 055 59.42E)<br />
OWNER REPORT – ESPER<br />
125<br />
Mumbai, India 990<br />
Leg total 1115<br />
USEFUL INFORMATION<br />
Insurance?<br />
Each rally member had a diff erent tale to tell. We knew boats with<br />
expensive policies for every eventuality and some with no insurance at all.<br />
We contacted all the brokers we could fi nd about our planned voyage.<br />
We were surprised by the diff erent responses:<br />
•<br />
No kind of policy outside the Mediterranean.<br />
Cover only for Egypt.<br />
Varying premiums from country to country, within a single policy.<br />
Cover only if the yacht is part of a rally.<br />
No cover if the yacht is part of a rally.<br />
No cover for single yachtsmen.<br />
No cover without a minimum of three crew.<br />
Cover for two crew only – providing the yacht has a windvane<br />
steering system, which is regarded as crew. Unlike an autopilot,<br />
which relies on battery power.<br />
VHF Hell<br />
We hadn’t anticipated the ever-present jibber jabber on the VHF<br />
radio. Many blue-water cruisers will have heard lone voices over<br />
the airways at night pining for “Maaario-o-o” and the derogatory<br />
chanting of “Filipino mon-key!” Th is was nothing compared to the<br />
bombardment of sound that accompanied us from Oman to India.<br />
Every channel was alive, including 16, with conversation too X-rated<br />
to repeat here. For most of the voyage we kept Channel 16 on low<br />
and relied on digital selective calling to contact fellow rally members.<br />
As we came closer to the Indian coastline it was worse, with all<br />
channels blocked by local fi shermen shouting into their radios.<br />
Vasco da Gama Rally<br />
Th e fi ft h Vasco Da Gama Rally left Cochin in January. At the time of<br />
writing all yachts are safely in the northern Red Sea. Despite the<br />
increase of piracy, and widening tentacles of the Somali pirates,<br />
Lo safely took his rally on a northerly passage through the Arabian<br />
Sea. Minimising the risks, and armed with the latest information, the<br />
rally hugged the coasts of India and Oman, keeping in daily contact<br />
with maritime safety agencies.<br />
Prior to joining his rallies, Lo makes it clear that participants must<br />
have the necessary knowledge and experience to get there on<br />
their own. He also stresses that each skipper is responsible for the<br />
safety of their own crew and must have a sea-worthy vessel.<br />
You can fi nd out more about the last fi ve rallies on his website:<br />
www.vascodagamarally.nl<br />
Photos: Jamie Furlong<br />
SUMMER 2011 81
82<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
ENGINEERING <strong>THE</strong> PERFECT PARTNERSHIP<br />
WHEN <strong>OYSTER</strong> ANNOUNCED <strong>THE</strong>IR NEW SUPERYACHT PROJECTS, <strong>THE</strong> LEWMAR TEAM WERE EAGER<br />
TO BE INVOLVED. WITH YEARS <strong>OF</strong> EXPERIENCE IN DESIGNING AND MANUFACTURING CONTROL<br />
SOLUTIONS FOR <strong>THE</strong> RACING AND CUSTOM YACHT MARKET, <strong>THE</strong> LEWMAR TEAM WERE KEEN TO<br />
APPLY ALL <strong>THE</strong>IR KNOWLEDGE TO <strong>THE</strong> LATEST <strong>OYSTER</strong>.<br />
Recent superyacht designs have increasingly<br />
called for a combination of the beautiful, sleek<br />
lines of a classic yacht and the performance of<br />
a weight-critical racing yacht. Each new demand<br />
on space and use poses a diff erent challenge<br />
for the equipment design engineer focused on<br />
striking a balance between aesthetics, weight,<br />
and performance. Simply put, the equipment<br />
on a 21st Century superyacht needs to be as<br />
light as possible, deliver superior performance,<br />
and look stunning.<br />
For the Lewmar Design Engineers in Havant, UK,<br />
a wealth of experience combined with strong<br />
relationships with naval architects, shipyards,<br />
and captains puts them in a good position<br />
to understand how to achieve this balance.<br />
Working with the <strong>Oyster</strong> Design Offi ce and<br />
the team at RMK Marine, Lewmar have tailored<br />
a range of marine equipment to complement<br />
the Dubois design ethos of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 100 and<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> 125. Hardware, for example, is a<br />
prominent piece of equipment, with blocks<br />
permanently in sight on the mast, boom, and<br />
deck. Th e strength of each block is of the utmost<br />
importance, as they work with the high loads of<br />
halyards and sheets. Working in a 3D CAD<br />
design programme, the Lewmar Designer<br />
explored taking a block back to its bare bones,<br />
sculpting out excess material. Th e result is a<br />
skeletal block which draws its resilience from its<br />
design and the inherent strength of the material<br />
from which it is made. Th e skeletal block’s ability<br />
to maintain a high level of performance when<br />
subjected to load is tested with the latest Finite<br />
Element Analysis (FEA) soft ware, which assesses<br />
the impact of stress and load over time.<br />
Further opportunity for testing takes place<br />
during the design to manufacture process,<br />
as the blocks are machined and assembled at<br />
the Lewmar Factory on the South Coast of the<br />
UK. Th e fi nished product is a sleek, minimalistic<br />
block that complements the styling of the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong>’s deck and spars, while also providing<br />
the strength and performance required of<br />
high-performance equipment. In addition,<br />
the requirement that the yachts attain full<br />
Lloyds 100A1 classifi cation has resulted in a<br />
set of bespoke, low-profi le genoa cars that<br />
clear the lifeline by the requisite amount whilst<br />
complementing the sleek styling of the blocks.<br />
Th e design trend for clean, uncluttered lines<br />
has resulted in innovative ways to clear the<br />
decks of excess equipment and sheets.<br />
Each of the <strong>Oyster</strong> Superyacht models
features a set of captive winches. Recognising<br />
the need to strike a balance between concealing<br />
equipment below decks without compromising<br />
on available living space, Lewmar have designed<br />
a uniquely compact Captive Winch. Storing the<br />
line on a lightweight carbon drum adjacent to<br />
the main aluminium pulling drum reduces the<br />
need for the large space needed for a single<br />
drum winch, while also removing the load from<br />
the stored rope. Th e result is a compact,<br />
lightweight, high-performance captive winch<br />
which embraces cutting-edge technology.<br />
Indeed, the latest advances in rope manufacture<br />
have posed new challenges for the Captive<br />
Winch system. Th e core of modern ropes goes<br />
hard under load and when the soft outer is held<br />
against a standard sheave, there is potential<br />
for damage to the rope. Th e Lewmar Design<br />
Engineers have developed a sheave with a ‘V’<br />
groove. Th e ‘V’ sheave features a carefully<br />
selected angle that compresses the rope outer<br />
and the inner core together, while simultaneously<br />
spreading the load over the two sides of the<br />
rope. Th e result is a fi rm grip which does not<br />
damage the increasingly expensive rope.<br />
With the ability to be concealed in small<br />
spaces below the deck, the Captive Winch<br />
provides an unobtrusive, lightweight, sail<br />
control solution with heavyweight performance.<br />
ENGINEERING <strong>THE</strong> PERFECT PARTNERSHIP<br />
Once the sails have been furled, the owner<br />
wants to be able to moor up eff ortlessly, be<br />
it mooring stern-to or dropping the anchor.<br />
A 125 foot yacht is a large boat to manoeuvre,<br />
the captain demands precise control at all times,<br />
and superyacht anchoring equipment needs<br />
to be powerful enough to deliver it. Yet this<br />
equipment is only required when mooring,<br />
and should not detract from the use and<br />
performance of the yacht the rest of the time.<br />
To overcome this challenge, Lewmar have<br />
developed a Retracting Swing Th ruster. A<br />
standard vertical retracting thruster is stored<br />
within a tunnel in the hull and slides down when<br />
deployed. Th e reach of the thruster and the<br />
space available for its storage are linked and<br />
defi ne the maximum length of the thruster arm<br />
which, in turn, aff ects the performance of the<br />
thruster. Rather than storing the unit vertically<br />
in the hull, the Retracting Swing Th ruster arm<br />
folds up into a shallow recess in the hull. Th e<br />
length of the arm is increased and, with less<br />
vertical storage required, the unit can be installed<br />
further forward providing more accurate control.<br />
In addition, the <strong>Oyster</strong> 125 features a pair of<br />
V10 Vertical Windlasses, which are mounted<br />
down below to maintain the fl ush look on deck.<br />
With a maximum pull of 5 tonnes, the V10 and<br />
V12 are the newest additions to the Lewmar<br />
Vertical Windlass range, extending the anchor<br />
control solution to boats up to 165 feet in<br />
length. Th e investment cast stainless steel<br />
V10 deck unit is lightweight and has an<br />
innovative mobile brake ring which can be<br />
moved by increments of 30 degrees to ensure<br />
that it is always in the optimum position for<br />
control. Should the unit be installed on deck,<br />
the stylish windlass can be installed in a<br />
position that complements the lines of the<br />
deck without compromising on performance.<br />
While Lewmar have worked closely with the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Design Team to develop the best<br />
control solutions, one aim has always been<br />
paramount. Whether under sail or motoring,<br />
the owner of an <strong>Oyster</strong> Superyacht is off ered<br />
eff ortless, superior control, enhancing the<br />
ultimate <strong>Oyster</strong> sailing experience.<br />
Southmoor Lane, Havant, Hampshire, PO9 1JJ UK<br />
T: +44 (0)23 9247 1 841<br />
www.lewmar.com<br />
SUMMER 2011 83
84<br />
by LOUAY HABIB<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong>
<strong>OYSTER</strong> CHARTER<br />
<strong>THE</strong><br />
TASTE of<br />
an <strong>OYSTER</strong><br />
Peter Harding has a long-standing career in the fi nancial<br />
services sector and leads the advisory division of St James<br />
Wealth Management, the award-winning fi rm with funds<br />
under management amounting to £28 billion.<br />
Away from the offi ce, Peter is a proud family<br />
man and together with his wife Susie, they have<br />
three very active children. Th e Harding family<br />
has always loved to sail and Peter’s passion has<br />
also led him to take part in three transatlantic<br />
races, including an epic 5,000-mile race from<br />
France to Mexico in 2010. All three races were<br />
undertaken with just Peter and a co-skipper.<br />
Sailing two-handed, on a high performance race<br />
boat, with freeze-dried food for sustenance and<br />
weeks of sleepless nights is a far cry from an<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> yacht charter.<br />
Peter and Susie Harding, together with their<br />
three young sons, Henry, Freddie and Hugo,<br />
enjoyed a fabulous time cruising the Grenadines<br />
aboard the <strong>Oyster</strong> 655, Lush, arriving in<br />
Grenada just before the start of <strong>Oyster</strong>’s<br />
annual Caribbean Regatta. Th eir timing was<br />
perfect, as having enjoyed some family time,<br />
Peter was invited to stay on as crew for the<br />
regatta, as Peter explains.<br />
“We have been taking sailing holidays as a<br />
family for over 10 years and to begin with we<br />
started with bareboat trips with some of the<br />
well-known charter companies. Over the years,<br />
I came to realise that if you want to do it properly,<br />
have a skipper and a cook and go for one of the<br />
best boats on the market. Th is can still be a bit<br />
hit and miss, as even with luxury boats you<br />
cannot take the arrangement for granted. But<br />
chartering with <strong>Oyster</strong> direct, you get excellent<br />
service and you know what you are going to get<br />
rather than using a fi rm that you don’t know<br />
much about.<br />
I have been chartering <strong>Oyster</strong>s for the last fi ve<br />
years and I have never been disappointed.<br />
Th e results have always been the same, an up<br />
market holiday with facilities akin to a fi ve star<br />
hotel on the water. When I am with my wife<br />
and children, I want something that is as<br />
good as home and <strong>Oyster</strong>s are extremely<br />
comfortable yachts.<br />
Peter and Susie’s children are aged 6, 8 and 13.<br />
Keeping three highly energetic boys busy with<br />
activities was very high on the agenda and the<br />
holiday on board Lush provided them with all<br />
they could ask for.<br />
SUMMER 2011 85
86<br />
“Th e boys absolutely loved Lush, especially all<br />
the toys!” Laughed Peter. “Th ey spent a lot of<br />
time enjoying sailing the dinghy, water-skiing,<br />
wakeboarding and tubing and when they<br />
weren’t on the water, they were in it, snorkelling<br />
around reefs spotting tropical fi sh. Th ey also<br />
loved the fact that they were waking up in a<br />
diff erent place every day. Every morning there<br />
was a new place to explore. Th e boys were<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
never bored, which can happen if you stay<br />
in a hotel or villa, the trip to Grenada was<br />
a great adventure for them.”<br />
Lush has three luxury guest cabins, that<br />
meant there was plenty of accommodation<br />
for the Hardings and the crew, which was<br />
an important factor to the success of the<br />
charter, as Peter details.<br />
“With two highly experienced people on board<br />
who can sail and really know the boat, you can<br />
do as much or as little as you want. You know<br />
that you are in a safe pair of hands. Safety is a<br />
primary concern to us and an <strong>Oyster</strong> is extremely<br />
well designed and meticulously built. Problems<br />
are extremely rare but even if something isn’t<br />
working as it should, the level of <strong>Oyster</strong>’s<br />
worldwide service and support is outstanding.
If you have a bareboat charter, you are doing<br />
it all yourself and the truth is that the standard<br />
of yacht is nowhere near as good as an <strong>Oyster</strong>.<br />
Even if you have chartered the boat before, you<br />
have no idea what condition it will be in when<br />
you arrive and the level of service is highly<br />
unlikely to come close to that which is provided<br />
by <strong>Oyster</strong>.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> CHARTER<br />
I love to sail, but it is also nice to have some<br />
time-out on board with the family and once<br />
in a while let someone else do the sailing and<br />
the clearing up behind you. Th e crew on Lush<br />
recognised that and were highly skilled in<br />
providing just the right amount of assistance,<br />
whenever it was required. Also the crew knew<br />
the location extremely well and took us to some<br />
of the best places. My wife, Susie, found it very<br />
relaxing, she would rather spend the day in<br />
casual clothes and not worry about dressing<br />
up for dinner, as you would in a hotel and<br />
the kids just loved spending the holiday in<br />
swimming trunks.”<br />
Whilst Peter has chartered <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts before,<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada was the fi rst time<br />
he had come to an organised <strong>Oyster</strong> event. Peter<br />
found that combining a family holiday with the<br />
regatta itself, worked extremely well.<br />
“Our leisure time is very important to us.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta was professionally managed<br />
and when you have committed your precious<br />
time to an event, a well-run event is vital to its<br />
success. Grenada is a wonderful location and<br />
the ambience at the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta was superb.<br />
Th e racing was very well organised and whilst<br />
I love spending time with my wife and children,<br />
it was great to meet other people in the evening<br />
at some outstanding parties. Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> family<br />
comes from all walks of life but all have<br />
something in common, sailing. Aft er a day spent<br />
yachting in a beautiful location, on a great boat,<br />
it was very pleasing to spend time with a friendly<br />
group of people with interesting stories to tell.<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> team put in extensive research into<br />
the event programme and chose some<br />
spectacular venues for fabulous dinner parties.”<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> <strong>Yachts</strong> are famous throughout the world.<br />
For nearly 40 years, the <strong>Oyster</strong> marque has<br />
established itself as the very best in world-class<br />
cruising yachts. Th is factor carries advantages<br />
beyond the luxury of just sailing and chartering<br />
an <strong>Oyster</strong> and, for Peter Harding, makes a lot<br />
of sense:<br />
“It is great to come to a marina or a bay and to<br />
appreciate that people are looking at the yacht.<br />
An <strong>Oyster</strong> is distinctive, it has a presence. It is a<br />
yacht that people instantly recognise. <strong>Oyster</strong>, as<br />
a company, is very well-founded, there is a great<br />
degree of pedigree there. Attention to detail is as<br />
important to me as it is to <strong>Oyster</strong>. You are dealing<br />
with a respected company and you know what<br />
you are going to get. For a start you know that<br />
the yacht is going to be there. It will be in perfect<br />
condition, ready and waiting for you. From the<br />
moment we were met at the airport and taken<br />
straight to the boat, my family and I were made<br />
to feel very special.<br />
Our time on board Lush was a memorable<br />
one, especially the pleasure it gave our children,<br />
snorkelling and water-skiing. Th e thrill each<br />
morning, as we explored somewhere new was<br />
ours to savour. A real adventure for us all and<br />
chartering an <strong>Oyster</strong> is a very practical way<br />
of having a great holiday. If like us, you have<br />
children still at school, you may only be able to<br />
use a yacht for a few weeks a year, so for us at<br />
the moment it makes more sense to charter than<br />
buy a yacht. What is more, you can charter an<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> just about anywhere in the world and at<br />
any time of the year and aft er the trip, you can<br />
just walk away with happy memories.”<br />
Peter Harding was talking to Louay Habib at<br />
the <strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Grenada, April 2011.<br />
For more information about<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Yacht Charter please contact<br />
Molly Marston on +1 401 846 7400,<br />
email molly.marston@oystermarine.com<br />
or visit www.oystercharter.com<br />
Photos: Harding family, An Lambrechts<br />
SUMMER 2011 87
88<br />
<strong>THE</strong><br />
25 th<br />
ARC<br />
Congratulations to Mike Freeman and his<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 575 crew on Can Do Too. Finishing<br />
third in Class A, they were fi rst among the<br />
19-strong <strong>Oyster</strong> fl eet to complete the 3,000<br />
mile Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) from<br />
Las Palmas to Rodney Bay, St Lucia – not bad<br />
for a maiden voyage!<br />
Th ree cheers also go to Alan and Sue Brook and<br />
their equally new <strong>Oyster</strong> 56 Sulana for fi nishing<br />
second in Class B, and to David Edwards and<br />
his crew on the <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 NaughtyNes, for<br />
their second placing in Class F and winning the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Trophy for fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong> to fi nish on ARC<br />
Handicap. Not to be outdone, James Blazeby’s<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 45 Apparition, a veteran of several ARCs,<br />
fi nished fourth in Class H and Siri Ros, Elizabeth<br />
Rowntree’s <strong>Oyster</strong> 485 took sixth place in Class F.<br />
Th is, the 25th ARC event organised by the World<br />
Cruising Club did not exactly go to plan. “Where<br />
are the Trade Winds?” came the bleat from just<br />
about every one of the 233 yachts. Instead, those<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
1 9 O Y S T E R S. 3 , 0 0 0 M I L E S.<br />
O N E U N F O R G E T T A B L E<br />
who chose the shortest great circle route north<br />
found themselves beating uncomfortably into<br />
head winds, while those that went south found<br />
little wind at all.<br />
For one honeymooning couple, the winds – or<br />
lack of them – were secondary to the adventure.<br />
John and Laura Salmon decided a sea voyage was<br />
just what was required to start life together and<br />
bought the <strong>Oyster</strong> Lightwave 395 Rainmaker,<br />
on which to undertake the crossing.<br />
“Our trip across the Atlantic was very enjoyable.”<br />
says Laura. “Th e preparation was the most arduous<br />
part, but the support we received from the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
Service Team was amazing. Th ey came aboard in<br />
Las Palmas and surveyed the rig, electronics, engine,<br />
gas system, batteries, bilges and winches and gave<br />
us a full report at the end. Th is was a real boon.<br />
We were quite resolute in not using our engine,<br />
so a few days were spent sitting on a sea that<br />
looked more like a milky sheet than the building<br />
waves we expected.<br />
E X P E R I E N C E.
Th ere were mixed emotions when we fi nally<br />
sighted St Lucia on the 24th day. Certainly, there<br />
was the excitement of arriving somewhere new,<br />
but there was also the knowledge that all too<br />
soon the adventure would be over. We all had<br />
a great time, great food, great company… and<br />
great starlit nights.”<br />
Deborah and Guy Tolson aboard Lady of Avalon,<br />
were equally impressed. “Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> Service and<br />
Support Team checked all the essential systems,<br />
changed the tri-colour bulbs up the mast and got<br />
our AIS working for us – an incredible free service.”<br />
For Andreas Zimmermann on the <strong>Oyster</strong> 53<br />
Dragonfl y, the voyage became one of recovery.<br />
Th e German had bought her in 2009 specifi cally<br />
to take part in the ARC, but was then diagnosed<br />
with cancer. “I thought I would have to forget my<br />
dream, but a few weeks aft er surgery, I decided<br />
that I could still do the voyage providing I could<br />
continue with the chemotherapy. I needed<br />
a doctor on board – I found him with an<br />
advertisement! He came from Vienna and it<br />
was a pleasure for both of us.” One last-minute<br />
problem on Dragonfl y, uncovered by the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> service team, was a damaged shroud.<br />
“We couldn’t get it replaced in Las Palmas and I<br />
thought we wouldn’t be able to start, but <strong>Oyster</strong>’s<br />
Eddie Scougall organised for a replacement to<br />
be fl own out from England and everything was<br />
fi xed within four days!” recalled Andreas with<br />
appreciation at the fi nish.<br />
For Alan Brook, and his wife Sue, who has played<br />
a major part in the <strong>Oyster</strong> story, this was also a<br />
maiden voyage, the fi rst stage of an ambitious<br />
round the world retirement cruise aboard their new<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 56 Sulana. As they sailed into the setting sun<br />
on the fi rst night, they had covered 50 of the 2,900<br />
miles, with a plan to sail 500 miles south to pick<br />
up the Trade Winds. How would it work out?<br />
Deborah and Guy Tolson aboard Lady of Avalon<br />
were treated to their fi rst dolphin sighting on Day 2<br />
while fi shing for tuna, but the focus on Sulana,<br />
was very much on speed. “We logged 183 miles<br />
during our fi rst day and are now romping along<br />
under colourful spinnaker in 15 knots of breeze<br />
with a school of dolphins for company diving<br />
around her bow and quarter wave.” wrote Alan.<br />
But Day 3 brought a change in the wind and a<br />
forecast for calms ahead. Sulana was one of the<br />
fi rst to suff er. “Th e wind dropped away to nothing<br />
in the early hours of this morning and we have<br />
been struggling all day to make any headway.<br />
We are 180 miles off shore and it would seem that<br />
boats up to 100 miles nearer the African coast<br />
<strong>THE</strong> 25TH ARC<br />
have held a breeze and kept sailing south, so our<br />
reported 17th position in fl eet yesterday is but a<br />
memory.” Alan Brook added to the log. Not to<br />
be outdone, the entire crew went for a swim.<br />
“Th e water is remarkably warm, but it felt odd<br />
swimming in a pool several miles deep.”<br />
Day 5 – 26th November – was Th anksgiving Day,<br />
which the Neki crew celebrated in style. “Mike<br />
and Tater cooked a superb Th anksgiving Day<br />
meal. It was almost a traditional meal but<br />
provisioning in Las Palmas denied us some of the<br />
traditional staples. We had an 8lb Turkey cooked<br />
in the oven, homemade stuffi ng, roasted carrots,<br />
potatoes, celery and garlic, corn on the cob, hot<br />
bread and wine. Th e weather lightened up in the<br />
aft ernoon so we had a nice peaceful dinner in the<br />
cockpit. But we had to do without the cranberry<br />
sauce and pumpkin pie!” complained John Noble.<br />
Neki, was left totally becalmed for eight hours,<br />
and the crew on Lady of Avalon quickly became<br />
fed up. Th e only bright spot was catching a 6lb<br />
yellow fi n tuna to provide fi llets for lunch.<br />
Straight aft er, they furled sails and fi red up the<br />
engine to push them towards the Cape Verde<br />
Islands. Th e NaughtyNes crew soon followed<br />
suit and contented themselves with rod and line.<br />
“We have two budding fi shermen, one that can<br />
fi sh and one that is on L plates. So far several<br />
big strikes and one decent fi sh caught and eaten<br />
for dinner. On the fi rst day we hooked a massive<br />
dorado but aft er a good fi ght, Paul lost him, which<br />
was probably just as well. It would have been way<br />
too much for the four of us and probably diffi cult<br />
to get on board. We are however well armed<br />
with soy and wasabi and expect to catch fi sh<br />
regularly.” Th e Edwards’ crew reported.<br />
Th e Siri Ros crew were also enjoying outside<br />
entertainment. “Dolphins have been swimming<br />
around the bow. You can even hear their calls;<br />
a kind of squeaky sound. We are trying to make<br />
the best of the calm conditions; we had a lovely<br />
evening last night, with a candle-lit dinner served<br />
in the best dining room in the world; good wine,<br />
panoramic views and a clear night sky with a<br />
fantastic presentation of the stars and planets<br />
accompanied by a few tracks from Pavarotti and<br />
‘Flight of the Concord’.” Liz Rowntree reported.<br />
Shaya Moya, one of those to have taken an<br />
inshore course, was still surfi ng along with a<br />
following sea down the west coast of Africa at<br />
6.5 knots. “We have just received our expert<br />
weather briefi ng, and guess what the best<br />
corridor for wind was to the Islands?” reported<br />
Dave. “I would have liked to say it was a perfectly<br />
“Where are the Trade Winds?”<br />
came the bleat from just about<br />
every one of the 233 yachts.<br />
BY BARRY PICKTHALL<br />
SUMMER 2011 89
90<br />
executed plan but the one fl aw to this is we are<br />
surrounded by yachts, normally much slower<br />
than us. But I am sure, given our expert positioning<br />
and constant fi ddling with the rig, we will overhaul<br />
the others.”<br />
Th ey were asking the same question on Sulana.<br />
“Mixed fortunes in the night, the good reaching<br />
breeze continued until the early hours – and then<br />
we were in the doldrums again. Finally it fi lled in<br />
from the NNE and we made a tactical decision;<br />
instead of continuing south to reach the fabled<br />
Trade Winds, we have turned west on to a great<br />
circle course for St Lucia. Th e Trades seem to be<br />
further south and pretty weak anyway and not<br />
worth the extra distance. We are likely to face<br />
head winds in a couple of days and if that sends<br />
us a bit more south then so be it. At least every<br />
mile will now be off the distance to run to the<br />
fi nish – 2,200 miles to go...”<br />
"Th ey saw a small pod of dolphins<br />
swimming towards us. One of them<br />
swum right under our bow, popped<br />
its head up and grinned, not once,<br />
but twice, to show off the large<br />
tuna it had in its mouth. Talk about<br />
rubbing it in!"<br />
Luck fi nally ran out for Shaya Moya along with the<br />
wind. “Who on earth said the Atlantic was going<br />
to be diffi cult? We have decided to switch on the<br />
engine and will probably stick with it for the next<br />
12 hours or so. Th e challenges of life on board<br />
have changed. Navigation now consists of pointing<br />
the bow in the right direction and pressing the<br />
autopilot button. Th e major strategic decisions<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
consist of whether to have tea and what time<br />
lunch will be!” reported First Mate, Dave.<br />
On 2nd December, the decision taken onboard<br />
Dragonfl y, to motor through the calms now carried<br />
consequences. “Back in Las Palmas, we only took<br />
on 400 litres of diesel in order to save weight.<br />
We didn’t think there would be so little wind and<br />
I also underestimated how oft en we would need<br />
to run the generator. Everything on the yacht<br />
needs electricity – lights, navigation, self steering,<br />
winches, furling, water pumps, toilet. Soon our<br />
diesel supplies had dwindled. Our AIS system<br />
showed a Greek tanker on a similar course. We<br />
radioed the ship and the Captain agreed to stop<br />
and give us a barrel of fuel. An hour later this<br />
giant tanker stopped beside us. We launched<br />
the RIB and collected this black and dirty broth.<br />
Not long aft er, our fi lters were blocked – but<br />
at least we had bought enough spares back in<br />
Las Palmas to see us through to the fi nish!”<br />
Onboard Sulana, the mystery of why they were<br />
not catching their fair share of fi sh became clear.<br />
“Th is morning, James and Fi were on watch when<br />
they saw a small pod of dolphins swimming<br />
towards us. One of them swum right under<br />
our bow, popped its head up and grinned,<br />
not once, but twice, to show off the large tuna<br />
it had in its mouth. Talk about rubbing it in!”<br />
Alan Brook recorded.<br />
Th e change to head winds inevitably led to<br />
a few ‘casualties’. One was Nigel, the cook<br />
aboard NaughtyNes. “He went down almost<br />
immediately with quite bad seasickness. Meals<br />
have become the more usual ship’s fare using the<br />
random contents of tins most close to hand. It will<br />
probably be a day or two before Nigel is ready to<br />
start cooking again and the rest of us are grateful<br />
for a few days without peppers!” wrote Deborah.<br />
Th ere were moans from Neki too: “We have<br />
been hoping for wind and we got our wish. It is<br />
just not from the direction we asked for. Th e<br />
wind is Force 7 (approximately 25 knots) from<br />
the southwest. We are currently beating into the<br />
wind making good time but it is a rough, wet, ride.”<br />
By Day 9, Sulana was 25th overall and 3rd in<br />
class. “Just maybe, our long term plans are<br />
working out OK.” Alan Brook noted. “Yesterday<br />
was bad, wet and windy, with nobody really<br />
enjoying it, except, of course, Sulana. All our<br />
grand plans went down the pan when the<br />
weather fi les came in. Th ere is a depression<br />
building in front of us, which will give us more<br />
headwinds for the foreseeable future. Ben’s<br />
string of fancy smoothies for our cocktail hour,<br />
are keeping morale high. Tonight we had<br />
'Windward Bashers', with a pineapple and<br />
passion fruit base. His previous extravagant<br />
titles have included: Dirty Banana, French Maid,<br />
Pacifi c Poulet and Mullered Mango!”<br />
Onboard Shaya Moya, the fi ckle winds further<br />
south had prompted the crew to switch on their<br />
engine. “You can’t do much with a 40 tonne<br />
yacht in 4 knots of wind. However, we also know<br />
that Sulana, has not switched on their engine at<br />
all since they have an ambition to 'sail' across<br />
the Atlantic. Th ey are currently well over 100 miles<br />
behind us on a similar course, and on adjusted<br />
times, could still beat us by a good margin.”<br />
reported Dave.<br />
Flying fi sh were the hot topic on NaughtyNes;<br />
“One fl ew through the main cabin window and<br />
landed directly on Nick’s laptop while he was<br />
using it!” reported Nigel who was just as amazed<br />
by the night time phosphorescence in the sea.<br />
“Lots of fl ashing lights in the water when it is<br />
disturbed by dolphins, which leave a trail of<br />
lights behind them – science fi ction!”<br />
NaughtyNes now had good winds and was<br />
sailing on a direct course towards St Lucia, but<br />
life on Siri Ros was not so great. Th ey too were
"By Day 13, the ARC organisers<br />
decided to move the prize-giving<br />
back a few days, fearing that no<br />
one would be there in time.<br />
'What about moving Christmas<br />
too?' came the response."<br />
facing strong headwinds, and three of their<br />
number had succumbed to seasickness, which<br />
led to a change of course south once more in<br />
search of the elusive Trade Winds and a more<br />
comfortable ride. Th e crew announced one<br />
medical triumph… “A new blend of wine with<br />
antidiuretic properties for the more elderly<br />
crew members using wines containing grapes<br />
from the Pinot Noir range. We have named it…<br />
PI NO MORE!”<br />
Th e Lady of Avalon crew was also searching for<br />
those elusive Trade Winds and by Day 10 was<br />
south of the Cape Verde Islands. “Last night<br />
was spent dodging squalls and thunderstorms,<br />
which while spectacular, did mean that we looked<br />
like drowned rats during much of the night shift .”<br />
Having spent the previous night chasing their<br />
tails in a fl at calm, Sulana fi nally picked up the<br />
beginnings of a new breeze from the SE direction<br />
at the start to Day 11 “Oh joy! Off we go again<br />
with a gentle genoa reach, on a south-westerly<br />
heading. We still need to get further south to<br />
avoid the eff ects of the large depression, to the<br />
north-west ahead of us, but at least we now<br />
have a breeze to give us a fi ghting chance to<br />
get where we need to be.” reported Brook.<br />
“Dragonfl y further south, is looking very good<br />
indeed, but then she has motored a bit, so that<br />
may help us, if we don’t give in before the fi nish!”<br />
100 miles behind, Lady of Avalon also found<br />
the Trades but found little to celebrate in the<br />
forecast off ering further head winds until the<br />
end of the week.<br />
Th e news was not greeted well aboard<br />
Shaya Moya. “Imagine our dismay to read the<br />
weather report this morning which is predicting<br />
another low developing mid Atlantic Wednesday/<br />
Th ursday. Th is will further delay the Trades fi lling<br />
in as normal. So more beating against the wind<br />
for this week. Our tactics remain the same;<br />
<strong>THE</strong> 25TH ARC<br />
SUMMER 2011 91
92<br />
make our way westward as much as possible<br />
without going too far north.<br />
Living on board has taken on a new meaning<br />
with the boat healing at 20-30°. One has to<br />
move around crab-like holding on for dear life.”<br />
To raise spirits, Sulana held a ‘halfway celebration<br />
Hawaiian party’, with music, a conga around the<br />
cockpit and aft deck, topped off with a glass of<br />
pink fi zz and a delicious meal of lightly grilled<br />
marlin in a hoi sin sauce.<br />
By Day 13, the ARC organisers decided to move<br />
the prize-giving back a few days, fearing that<br />
no one would be there in time. “What about<br />
moving Christmas too?” came the response<br />
from Lady of Avalon.<br />
By Day 14, Sulana and others to the south, fi nally<br />
found the Trade Winds. “We are bowling along<br />
at 8.5 knots straight for St Lucia!” a delighted<br />
Alan Brook recorded with little more than<br />
1,000 miles to the fi nish.<br />
By Day 16 when Siri Ros was 1,131 miles out,<br />
disaster struck. “Our spinnaker was torn apart<br />
last night. Lutz and Denise have spent the day<br />
with needle and thread trying to repair the<br />
damage. It is a long and tedious job that will most<br />
likely take several days.” reported Liz, but added<br />
on a lighter note, “We have discovered, that<br />
another boat has caught a 1.5 metre long tuna<br />
and several dorado using a squid lure. We are<br />
now trailing a hook with a Marigold washing-up<br />
glove attached, which looks absolutely delicious<br />
and a little bit like a squid!”<br />
Th e following day, the Sulana crew recorded their<br />
best day’s run – 214 miles, but it all ended in tears.<br />
“We made the fatal error of trying to snuff the<br />
kite down in our spinnaker squeezer in 25 knots<br />
of true wind.” Alan wrote in his blog.<br />
Th ey suff ered the same on NaughtyNes. “Real fun<br />
and games last night, the wind came up with<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
the spinnaker out, and continued to increase<br />
beyond the designated limit of the sail. Speed<br />
over ground maxed at 11.1 knots! At 05.15 it was<br />
all hands on deck to take down the spinnaker,<br />
but to our horror, it wrapped around the foresail<br />
and got really knotted up, we had to leave it<br />
fl apping until day break.”<br />
Shaya Moya covered 196nm that day, but not<br />
without incident. “We had some ‘issues’ with a<br />
spinnaker retrieval system yesterday. It’s rather<br />
disconcerting to see steam coming from your<br />
gloves as the sheets are running through your<br />
hands despite your best eff orts to arrest their<br />
progress.” recorded Dave.<br />
“We are bowling along at 8.5 knots<br />
straight for St Lucia!” a delighted<br />
Alan Brook recorded with little more<br />
than 1,000 miles to the fi nish.<br />
Onboard Siri Ros with 699 miles to run, the<br />
Marigold glove trailing astern suddenly attracted<br />
too much attention… “We caught an absolutely<br />
enormous fi sh – 100kg+ – but it got away with our<br />
line, steel trace, lure, Marigold, and all our hopes<br />
and dreams. All that’s left is some line, the fi shing<br />
reel handle and our tattered emotions. No more<br />
of Denise’s delicious fi sh pie!“ Liz wrote in the log.<br />
Mike Freeman and his crew on the <strong>Oyster</strong> 575<br />
Can Do Too headed the cruising fl eet into<br />
Rodney Bay having taken the shortest rhum<br />
line route across the Atlantic – their prize for<br />
enduring the worst of the head winds, taking<br />
3rd place on handicap in Class A.<br />
Th e following day, both Neki and Apollonia had<br />
St Lucia in their sights. Apollonia fi nished a scant<br />
13 minutes behind us aft er 18+ days at sea.<br />
“Remarkable!” wrote Neki’s skipper John Noble,<br />
adding: “Th e crew of Neki had a fantastic time!<br />
It has been an incredible experience… It was<br />
exciting, boring, tedious, eventful, educational<br />
and introspective. All of us missed our families<br />
tremendously and we are all deeply appreciative<br />
of the sacrifi ces they made to allow us the privilege<br />
of going on this adventure… It was a trip I will<br />
cherish for the rest of my life.”<br />
Two days later, Lady of Avalon and Siri Ros got<br />
to within a short distance of St Lucia only to run<br />
out of wind. “So close, yet so far. Can’t believe<br />
it… No wind… It just died and we are making<br />
very slow progress,” wailed Liz, before attention<br />
turned towards helping a Norwegian ARC yacht,<br />
with a young child onboard that had run out of<br />
fuel. “Aft er checking our own fuel supply we<br />
decided that we could spare a 25 litre drum of<br />
diesel and waited three hours for the Norwegians<br />
to catch up.“ reported Liz. Th e Siri Ros crew were<br />
rewarded with a goody bag fi lled with wine,<br />
sweets, biscuits and nibbles and resumed their<br />
course to St Lucia, drinking and munching away<br />
to become the fi rst lady skippered yacht to fi nish.<br />
When Shaya Moya also fi nished, First Mate Dave<br />
summed up the feelings best. “We are handed<br />
a rum cocktail and a case of freezing cold beer.<br />
Welcome to St Lucia! Now is the time for<br />
self-congratulation, hugs and high fi ves all round.<br />
Aft er the band had moved on in readiness for<br />
the next arrival, we sat quietly refl ecting on<br />
what we had achieved. It seemed surreal that<br />
we had sailed here from Europe. We now have<br />
to wait until the prize-giving to know how we<br />
fi nally faired in the ‘rally’ but this genuinely<br />
is very much secondary to the sense of<br />
achievement we all personally feel. Everyone<br />
has their own stories about the barriers and<br />
challenges they had overcome to fi rstly be able<br />
to take part and also the adventures they had<br />
along the way.”
"Everyone has their own<br />
stories about the barriers and<br />
challenges they had overcome<br />
to fi rstly be able to take part<br />
and also the adventures they<br />
had along the way.”<br />
<strong>THE</strong> 25TH ARC<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> ENTRANTS<br />
Sestina Michael Wilcznski <strong>Oyster</strong> Heritage GBR<br />
Rainmaker John Salmon <strong>Oyster</strong> 395 Lightwave GBR<br />
Apparition James Blazeby <strong>Oyster</strong> 45 GBR<br />
NaughtyNes David Edwards <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 GBR<br />
Lady of Avalon Deborah & Guy Tolson <strong>Oyster</strong> 46HP GBR<br />
Siri Ros Elisabeth Rowntree <strong>Oyster</strong> 485 GBR<br />
Dragonfl y Andreas Zimmermann <strong>Oyster</strong> 53 GER<br />
Surya Jac Janssen <strong>Oyster</strong> 54 BEL<br />
Sulana Alan & Sue Brook <strong>Oyster</strong> 56 GBR<br />
Shaya Moya Don Smyth <strong>Oyster</strong> 56 GBR<br />
On Liberty Rovinj LLP <strong>Oyster</strong> 575 GBR<br />
Endless One Axel Moorkens <strong>Oyster</strong> 575 MLT<br />
Can Do Too Mike Freeman <strong>Oyster</strong> 575 GBR<br />
Royal Leopard Oscar Konyukhov <strong>Oyster</strong> 61 RUS<br />
Golden Gate Krister Bewwert <strong>Oyster</strong> 62 DEN<br />
Neki John Noble <strong>Oyster</strong> 655 USA<br />
Sotto Vento Richard Smith <strong>Oyster</strong> 655 GBR<br />
Daena Maciej Slusarek <strong>Oyster</strong> 655 POL<br />
Apollonia Anthony Auger <strong>Oyster</strong> 70 GBR<br />
Photos: Ian Roman, Tim Wright, World Cruising Club and <strong>Oyster</strong> owners<br />
SUMMER 2011 93
94<br />
Tim Barker has sailed his <strong>Oyster</strong> 485<br />
Mina2 from the Arctic, around the<br />
Baltic and the Mediterranean, and is<br />
now heading south to the Antarctic.<br />
Th is is his account as he makes his way<br />
down the coast of Brazil to Uruguay.<br />
I had a couple of technical problems, which<br />
had left my <strong>Oyster</strong> 485, Mina 2 , temporarily<br />
immobilised in Paraty, a delightful old colonial<br />
town midway between Rio de Janeiro and<br />
São Paulo. Friends, Lawrence, Tom and Richard<br />
were to fl y in from the UK to join me for the next<br />
two weeks whilst we sailed 1,200 miles south<br />
to Uruguay. On their arrival at the marina, I<br />
embraced my three reprobate crew with tears<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Cap ta in Corcora n<br />
BY TIM BARKER, <strong>OYSTER</strong> 485 Mina 2<br />
in my eyes, mainly because buried in their<br />
overweight luggage were all the new spares<br />
necessary to get us back on the high seas again!<br />
Th e following morning I bade a tearful farewell<br />
to Maria, my wife, as she left for Buenos Aires to<br />
see her mother, whilst we were left to negotiate<br />
the long and dangerous passages south to<br />
Uruguay. It was going to be tough and probably<br />
quite unpleasant.<br />
I had split our trip down to Uruguay into seven<br />
passages ranging from a nice day sail of 50<br />
miles, up to a three-day passage of 450 miles<br />
between Porto Belo and Rio Grande. I had tried<br />
to select stopovers that would be of interest to<br />
my crew so that they would get to see a bit of<br />
Brazil as well as get some good sailing in.<br />
Our fi rst passage was an overnight sail of<br />
70 miles from Paraty down to Ilhabela, a very<br />
pretty island with massive mountains of volcanic<br />
rock covered with the ubiquitous rain forest and<br />
palm trees. Ilhabela is reputedly also home to<br />
the biggest colony of the dreaded borrachudo,<br />
a small insect with a big bite. You never see<br />
them coming and the fi rst thing you notice is<br />
a pin prick of blood. Th en the trouble starts.<br />
Th e itch is ten times as bad as a mosquito bite<br />
and they last ten times as long.<br />
Aft er a very pleasant 11-hour sail with the wind<br />
behind us, we picked up a mooring off the<br />
Yacht Club de Ilhabela, and even though it<br />
was only 07.30 my crew insisted we kept the<br />
age-old Mina 2 tradition of an ‘anchor nip’. As<br />
we sat drinking the early morning tonic, Tom<br />
yelped. Th ere was a tell-tale pin prick of blood<br />
on his arm. Th e fi rst of the borrachudos had<br />
arrived and we all dived for the cans of Deet.
Photos: Tim Barker<br />
OWNER REPORT – MINA 2<br />
SUMMER 2011 95
96<br />
Aft er a lazy day in Ilha Bela we set sail for the<br />
two-day 235-mile passage to São Francisco do<br />
Sul. Th is particular part of the coast is renowned<br />
for its lack of wind but we were lucky enough to<br />
have suffi cient breeze to sail most of the passage.<br />
But it remained cloudy and cool and once out of<br />
the sight of land it was, as Richard said, pretty<br />
much the same as sailing across Lyme Bay. It was<br />
pleasant enough though, nonetheless.<br />
São Francisco do Sul, ten miles up a wide river,<br />
is one of the oldest towns in Brazil. Settled in<br />
1660 by whalers from the Azores, many of the<br />
buildings, particularly on the seafront, are old<br />
and attractive reminders of the town’s colonial<br />
past. It has been designated a UNESCO World<br />
Heritage Site and the buildings are slowly being<br />
renovated. We arrived in torrential rain, anchored<br />
off the riverfront, going ashore for a long and<br />
rather good lunch of Moqueca (the local fi sh<br />
stew) to get out of the rain.<br />
We were now in the build up to Christmas and<br />
the very ‘green’ town council had adorned the<br />
riverfront with elaborate illuminated Christmas<br />
decorations cleverly fashioned from discarded<br />
plastic water bottles. Th ey included, rather<br />
incongruously in a place where the average<br />
temperature on Christmas day is about 30ºC,<br />
delightful little snowmen standing on beds of<br />
artifi cial snow.<br />
Th e crew had taken to caipirinhas in a big way<br />
on health grounds. A caipirinha is the Brazilian<br />
cocktail made from limes, sugar and cachaça,<br />
the local, incredibly potent fi rewater made from<br />
sugar cane.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“If he’s a 68 year old, wh y doesn’t<br />
he beha ve like a 68 year old?”<br />
Tom, the dentist, said that in the quantities we<br />
were drinking, we would be provided with our<br />
fi ve-a-day; the sugar would provide us with<br />
all the energy we needed, and there would be<br />
little chance of contracting scurvy. Needless to<br />
say, we needed no further encouragement.<br />
Our visit to São Francisco do Sul was a pit stop<br />
and aft er our leisurely lunch and a walk round<br />
the wet town we motored back out of the river<br />
and sailed overnight to Porto Belo 70 miles south.<br />
Just aft er dawn, as we were motoring in<br />
windless conditions, I was awoken by the sounds<br />
of panic on deck.<br />
“N o - turn left. He’s<br />
indica tin g us to turn left.”<br />
“We can’t turn left or we’ll<br />
run in to his n et!”<br />
I was on deck in half a second to see a small<br />
fi shing boat about 50 metres away with a man<br />
jumping up and down and frantically waving his<br />
arms. He had a long net out of the back of the<br />
boat and had been slowly motoring in a large<br />
circle, closing the net and trapping the fi sh.<br />
Th e crew had successfully navigated us right into<br />
the middle of his net circle. Th is would be the<br />
fi sherman’s biggest catch ever! But eventually<br />
we found a small gap between the fi shing boat<br />
and the end of his net and shot out to freedom,<br />
much to everyone’s relief.<br />
We arrived in Porto Belo at 06.45, a delightful<br />
bbay<br />
with a number of beautiful anchorages,<br />
where we dropped the hook for another chilled<br />
out day. Tom and Lawrence had been sharing<br />
the bunk cabin and Tom, who is fastidious in<br />
matters of personal hygiene, had his day spoilt<br />
by discovering that he and Lawrence had<br />
identical underpants and had inadvertently been<br />
sharing a pair. Meanwhile Lawrence had been<br />
in a state of excitement. It was his 68th birthday.<br />
What a fuss!<br />
We had to start the previous night at 22.00<br />
(midnight UK time) by singing “Happy Birthday”<br />
several times, followed by “For he’s a jolly good<br />
fellow” and drinking toast aft er toast to his<br />
health and happiness. Th e following morning<br />
Lawrence was up early, bouncing around like<br />
Tigger and opening all his presents. Richard,<br />
in his usual grumpy mood aft er being woken<br />
prematurely said “If he’s a 68 year old, why<br />
doesn’t he behave like a 68 year old?”<br />
We were scheduled to leave for the long<br />
three-day, 450-mile leg down to Rio Grande<br />
at midday. But by late morning the skies opened<br />
and the rain was hammering down in biblical<br />
proportions, so we decided to hunker down and<br />
leave at fi rst light the following morning.<br />
Th e passage to Rio Grande was 450 miles long,<br />
not just because we like a long passage, but<br />
down this stretch of coast there are no safe<br />
havens at all, so if you get caught out in thick<br />
weather – probably blowing you onto the<br />
inhospitable shore – you really have nowhere<br />
to go. Th e four day forecast was that for the<br />
fi rst 18 hours we would be beating into a<br />
moderate wind, and thereaft er we would have<br />
the wind directly behind us. Not ideal, but it<br />
wasn’t threatening.<br />
Aft er six hours of motoring, the wind fi lled in, as<br />
promised, bang on the nose. We were expecting<br />
around 20 knots of wind. We got it, and it was<br />
quite pleasant. Th e wind picked up to 25 knots<br />
and it started getting a little wet and lumpy.<br />
Th e sky all around us turned grey, then black.<br />
Th e wind continued to strengthen and the sea<br />
got higher. By this time we were more than<br />
30 miles off shore. We reefed right down until<br />
a full gale was shrieking through the rigging,<br />
spray whipping horizontally across the deck.
Th e wind speed over the deck was gusting<br />
nearly 50 knots. One thing that Mina 2 is good<br />
at is shouldering her way into strong winds<br />
and big seas, but for all of us it was distinctly<br />
uncomfortable. I was becoming a little nervous.<br />
Th is hadn’t been forecast at all. What if it stayed<br />
like this? What if it got even worse? But we<br />
toughed it out and aft er a few hours the wind<br />
began to abate slowly.<br />
A consequence of these unexpected conditions<br />
was that none of the crew had felt inclined to<br />
drink any alcohol for 24 hours and they were<br />
now showing signs of withdrawal symptoms –<br />
crashing headaches, vomiting, and the shakes.<br />
Th e vomiting was actually suff ered by only one<br />
of the crew, and that may have had more to do<br />
with the sea conditions. But no names, not least<br />
because I’ve been paid quite a lot of money by<br />
Richard not to expose the suff erer’s identity.<br />
Th e following morning, conditions could not<br />
have been more diff erent. Th e wind had eased,<br />
the waves had subsided, the sun was shining<br />
and the wind had backed round to the east<br />
allowing us to romp merrily along on a beam<br />
reach. Perfect conditions – for the moment.<br />
OWNER REPORT – MINA 2<br />
Th e cherry on the cake was that we caught,<br />
what we thought to be, a large plump dorado,<br />
which would probably feed us for about three<br />
meals, starting at lunchtime.<br />
I had appointed Richard as ‘Entertainments Offi cer.‘<br />
Due to a deep-seated insecurity he likes titles<br />
and took his responsibilities seriously. At home<br />
he’s very keen on Am Dram (or, in his case, Ham<br />
Dram) and he had brought along the score and<br />
libretto of HMS Pinafore for us to perform. I was<br />
lucky enough to be given the role of the Captain<br />
of the ship, Captain Corcoran. At rehearsals,<br />
all the crew sing jolly songs about what a good<br />
Captain I am, and give me three cheers. It’s<br />
brilliant – the only time I’m treated with any<br />
respect on board. Shame it’s all play-acting!<br />
We were now about 100 miles into the 450-mile<br />
passage – the one with no safe havens – nowhere<br />
to go if there was unexpected trouble! And<br />
unexpected trouble was on its way. I had picked<br />
up the latest forecast by satellite email and all<br />
of a sudden very strong southerly winds were<br />
being forecast to reach Rio Grande in a couple<br />
of days. Th ese southerlies sweep up from<br />
Argentina and are oft en preceded by the<br />
Admiral of<br />
the wa tch<br />
legendary Pampero; the killer wind that hits<br />
you like a mallet and with speeds up to 100 miles<br />
per hour. Th is coastline and the River Plate are<br />
strewn with wrecks, victims of the Pampero.<br />
Get caught up in one, and all you pray for is<br />
that you survive.<br />
When we received this news, we had reached<br />
the point of no return – there was no way we<br />
could fi ght our way back 100 miles against the<br />
strong winds and waves. So we were now<br />
rushing at the maximum possible speed with<br />
the wind right behind us in a desperate dash<br />
to get into Rio Grande before the front arrived.<br />
Th e boat was slewing around, surfi ng down the<br />
fronts of the waves at terrifi c speeds. We were<br />
rolling heavily and sleep was diffi cult.<br />
Over the two days and 22 hours we were<br />
screaming along for most of the time at 8 knots<br />
or more in big seas. Apart from the ghastly fi rst<br />
night when we were beating into a gale in<br />
heavy pounding seas, we had the wind from our<br />
side or behind us, so it wasn’t too wet. Th ere<br />
were some scary moments, but on balance it<br />
was an epic harum-scarum roller-coaster ride.<br />
Great fun.<br />
SUMMER 2011 97
98<br />
We stopped at Rio Grande for two reasons: fi rst,<br />
it was the only safe haven in 700 miles of coast,<br />
and secondly to go through the tortuous<br />
bureaucracy of clearing us and the boat out of<br />
Brazil. Aft er just three hours sleep (making, for<br />
me, a total of about fi ve hours sleep in two days)<br />
we all trudged off in the scorching heat to do<br />
the rounds of Immigration, Customs and Port<br />
Captain – all located at diametrically opposite<br />
ends of the town. Th e total exercise took more<br />
than fi ve hours.<br />
Once the front had passed through, the following<br />
aft ernoon we slipped our lines and set the sails.<br />
Th is was to be our last long passage of 250<br />
miles southwest to Punta Del Este in Uruguay.<br />
Th e forecast was for more moderate to fresh<br />
winds from the northeast.<br />
It was a beautiful evening gently sailing down<br />
the coast with the sun setting on our starboard<br />
bow. Aft er dark, we saw a bright light on the<br />
horizon – within minutes it was clear that,<br />
whatever it was, it was moving towards us very<br />
fast! We have a clever bit of kit on board, which<br />
told us that he was travelling at nearly 25 knots.<br />
We were doing nearly 10 knots. Our closing<br />
speed was close to 40 mph. Impact would be<br />
within fi ve minutes. By now we had a very strong<br />
following wind, big seas, poled out foresail and<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
“We had en joyed grea t sailin g for more than<br />
1,000 miles, and ver y little motorin g. It had<br />
been a brillian t cruise.”<br />
strapped down mainsail, and we would not be<br />
able to react quickly enough to get out of their<br />
way. Th e kit also gave me the name of the<br />
vessel. It was my old friend MSC Musica, a<br />
rather upmarket cruise ship that I had come<br />
across many times at sea and in harbours<br />
throughout the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.<br />
We now had four minutes to impact. I called<br />
them on VHF radio. No response. Th e profi le<br />
was much bigger now and we could clearly see<br />
their large bow wave. Th ree minutes to impact,<br />
I called them again. Th is time the radio crackled<br />
back “Mina 2 this is MSC Musica, go ahead,<br />
over”. I explained that I was the tiny pinprick of<br />
light two miles dead ahead of him, and I had<br />
neither the time nor ability to get out of their<br />
way. “I see you and understand the situation.<br />
I am altering course to starboard now. I will pass<br />
you red to red, port to port”. A wave of relief<br />
came over me. His bow slowly turned away from<br />
us. I thanked the captain who wished us all a<br />
good cruise. Th e incident was over as he rushed<br />
past us less than half a mile away. It would have<br />
been ironic to have seen and admired the ship<br />
so many times before, and then to be run<br />
down by her.<br />
Punta del Este in Uruguay is the St Tropez of the<br />
South American Riviera. It is on a small peninsula<br />
on one side of which are the surfi ng waves of the<br />
South Atlantic and on the other the placid waters<br />
of the River Plate. Both sides are fringed with<br />
spectacular beaches of clean white sand<br />
stretching for several miles. But the crew had<br />
little time to enjoy this holiday paradise as they<br />
packed their bags, caught the fast ferry to<br />
Buenos Aires, 200 miles across the River Plate,<br />
and fl ew back home to the UK.<br />
In the two weeks that Richard, Lawrence and<br />
Tom were on board for the big push south, we<br />
had travelled from the tropics where the high<br />
mountains were covered with lush rain forest,<br />
from which came the sounds of parrots and<br />
monkeys, and the long sandy beaches were<br />
fringed with palm trees. In the sky above circled<br />
magnifi cent frigate birds and vultures. As we<br />
moved south they were replaced by petrels<br />
of every variety that swoop over and round the<br />
waves, their wingtips almost touching the water.<br />
Th e landscape along the southern Brazilian and<br />
Uruguayan coast is of low undulating hills.<br />
Yes, less dramatic but, in its own way, equally<br />
beautiful. I had been surprised at the relative<br />
strength of winds that meant we had enjoyed<br />
great sailing for more than 1,000 miles, and very<br />
little motoring. It had been a brilliant cruise.<br />
Tim’s account of their trip to Uruguay is adapted<br />
from his blog, which can be found at:<br />
www.blog.mailasail.com/mina2
OWNER REPORT – MINA 2<br />
SUMMER 2011 99
100<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> BROKERAGE<br />
AUTUMN BOAT SHOW<br />
Saxon Wharf, Southampton – 16-25 September 2011<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage off ers a wide range of luxury pre-owned <strong>Oyster</strong> yachts.<br />
Don’t miss the annual <strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage Autumn Boat Show which runs at<br />
the same time as the PSP Southampton Boat Show.<br />
Saxon Wharf, Lower Brook Street, Southampton, SO14 5QF.<br />
16-25 September 2011, 10.00-18.00 daily.<br />
Also on berths M338 and M340 at the PSP Southampton Boat Show
2005 <strong>Oyster</strong> 72 Spirit of Montpelier<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> BROKERAGE – <strong>THE</strong> SPECIALISTS IN PRE- OWNED <strong>OYSTER</strong> YACHTS<br />
Originally specifi ed for the Chairman of <strong>Oyster</strong>, this is<br />
a very special high performance 72. Her fully battened<br />
mainsail and barely overlapping jib, cored interior<br />
joinery and soles and deep keel make her hard to beat.<br />
She retains comfortable cabins with a luxurious feel.<br />
£2,000,000 ex VAT<br />
Lying: West Med<br />
NEW LISTING<br />
Sistership<br />
2009 <strong>Oyster</strong> 54 Love<br />
Love is only the second <strong>Oyster</strong> 54 to hit the brokerage<br />
market. She has a fast hull, great living space and<br />
incorporates <strong>Oyster</strong>’s latest design and technology.<br />
Naturally Love has been well looked aft er and is only<br />
for sale to make way for the owner’s brand new <strong>Oyster</strong>.<br />
£775,000 ex VAT<br />
Lying: West Med<br />
NEW LISTING<br />
1999 <strong>Oyster</strong> 485 Sound of Breagha<br />
Sound of Breagha is a wonderful example of a yacht<br />
which has received great maintenance, love and care.<br />
She is a very capable cruising yacht, easy to handle,<br />
and very rewarding to sail. Th e equipment list is very<br />
high. Owner is selling to upgrade to a larger <strong>Oyster</strong>.<br />
£350,000 VAT paid<br />
Lying: East Med<br />
2006 <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 Tramp<br />
Tramp is a great example of the <strong>Oyster</strong> 46. She is<br />
extremely well-maintained, and perfectly suited to<br />
short-handed long distance sailing. Her beautiful maple<br />
interior enhances the light and airy saloon. Owner is<br />
making way for a larger <strong>Oyster</strong> so keen to sell.<br />
£435,000 VAT paid<br />
Lying: UK East Coast<br />
Please see our website for the full range of yachts available through <strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage Ltd: Fox’s Marina Ipswich Suff olk IP2 8SA UK<br />
T: +44 (0)1473 695100 F: +44 (0)1473 695120 E: brokerage@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage USA: Newport Shipyard One Washington Street Newport RI 02840 USA<br />
T: +1 401 846 7400 F: +1 401 846 7483 E: info@oystermarine.com<br />
SAIL | BROKERAGE | CHARTER | REFIT<br />
www.oysterbrokerage.com<br />
2007 <strong>Oyster</strong> 655 Acheron<br />
Beautiful <strong>Oyster</strong> 655 with eight berths in four cabins.<br />
She benefi ts from a hydraulic in-mast furling mainsail,<br />
cutter rig complete with twin hydraulic furling systems<br />
for both head sails. A very easily handled yacht that has<br />
been skipper maintained since her launch in 2007.<br />
£1,790,000 VAT Paid<br />
Lying: West Med<br />
NEW LISTING<br />
2007 <strong>Oyster</strong> 53 Golden Pearl<br />
Th e g5 deck design of this <strong>Oyster</strong> 53 gives a sleek and<br />
modern look. Fully equipped with all the mod cons for<br />
long distance cruising, with an interior fi nished in classic<br />
teak for a warm and traditional feel. Accommodation for<br />
eight in four separate luxurious cabins, plus the saloon.<br />
£590,000 ex VAT<br />
Lying: <strong>Oyster</strong> UK<br />
Sistership<br />
2002 <strong>Oyster</strong> 62 Golden Gate<br />
Th is <strong>Oyster</strong> 62 excelled herself at the 2007<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Regatta in Valencia winning overall in Class 1<br />
and Concours d’Elégance Trophy. An exceptional<br />
example of this powerful, but easily handled,<br />
world cruiser.<br />
£1,195,000 VAT Paid<br />
Lying: Newport, RI. USA<br />
NEW LISTING<br />
2005 <strong>Oyster</strong> 49 Autumn Dream<br />
Autumn Dream is a stunning <strong>Oyster</strong> 49 fi nished with<br />
beautiful dark blue topsides. American light oak joinery<br />
provides a light and airy interior. Her extensive equipment<br />
list ensures ease of handling and superb performance.<br />
She has benefi ted from an ongoing care programme.<br />
£495,000 VAT Paid<br />
Lying: UK South East Coast<br />
1999 <strong>Oyster</strong> 42 Alpina<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 42 is a compact but well-appointed and<br />
capable cruising yacht. Th e forward owner’s cabin with<br />
en suite is huge and very comfortable. Th e cockpit is<br />
also very large for a 42ft yacht. Alpina is a beautiful,<br />
well-maintained yacht.<br />
£195,000 VAT paid<br />
Lying: <strong>Oyster</strong> UK<br />
SUMMER 2011 101
GONE<br />
with the wind...<br />
PART TWO<br />
<strong>THE</strong> FRENCH POLYNESIAN ISLANDS TO VANUATU<br />
SOUTH WEST PACIFIC<br />
BY STEPHEN HYDE, <strong>OYSTER</strong> 56 A LADY
WHITE- SAND BEACHES, VIBRANT MARINE LIFE,<br />
LUSH VOLCANIC PEAKS AND A COLOURFUL HISTORY.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> <strong>WORLD</strong> ARC RALLY FINDS ITSELF IN PACIFIC PARADISE.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> MARQUESAS ISLANDS<br />
As part of the World ARC rally fl eet we enjoyed a period<br />
of free cruising during our visit to the French Polynesian<br />
Islands. For us, that was from the date of our arrival in<br />
Porto Ayora, Hiva Oa, on the 24th March 2010 until we all<br />
gathered ready to leave Bora Bora on the 13th May 2010.<br />
Th e Marquesas Islands are truly beautiful and, bizarrely,<br />
one of our lasting memories of the area are the cocks<br />
crowing all night, every night, Th ey became part of our<br />
daily choir in the background and, on land, they run wild all<br />
over these beautifully maintained and manicured islands.<br />
We spent a few days exploring the Island of Hiva Oa<br />
and visiting all the sacrifi cial sites, where they buried the<br />
skulls of their human prey or sacrifi ces amongst the<br />
roots of the adjacent Banyan trees. We also visited Paul<br />
Gauguin’s House and Museum and had dinner at the<br />
French operated Hanakee Pearl Lodge Hotel.
104<br />
A few days later, we headed 42 miles southeast to<br />
Fatu Hiva. We had a great sail, a very stiff breeze on<br />
the port side made for a very diff erent type of sailing<br />
to what we had become used to. We dropped anchor<br />
in ‘Th e Bay of Virgins’, a famously beautiful anchorage.<br />
A small group of us from four diff erent yachts booked<br />
dinner ashore, in what turned out to be a family home<br />
and one of the more interesting meals we experienced<br />
anywhere on the trip. Most of the food was raw marinated<br />
fi sh in coconut oil, with a variety of locally grown fruits,<br />
including the famous ‘bread fruit’. When dinner was<br />
fi nished, the owner, his wife and their children brought<br />
out their guitars and, with some of our own guitar players,<br />
gave us a great night’s entertainment. Refreshments<br />
consisted of homemade juices – no alcohol. It was<br />
defi nitely a night to remember.<br />
Th ree days later, we set sail again, north this time to Tahuata<br />
where we spent one night before moving on to Ua Pou,<br />
a very mountainous island, which proved to be very<br />
diff erent to the others in the group. It was Easter when<br />
we arrived and the churches of all denominations were<br />
clearly trying to out do each other when it came to church<br />
décor and singing. Th e choirs were simply wonderful!<br />
We discovered that church music and choirs got bigger<br />
and better as we sailed west through all the diff erent<br />
islands throughout the Pacifi c. If these choirs represent<br />
a taste of ‘Heaven’ then we want to go there, but just<br />
not right now...<br />
Aft er three nights in Ua Pou we headed north again to<br />
Nuka Hiva, this is one of the designated islands for<br />
clearing in or out of the Marquesas Islands, and as we<br />
were about to head southwest to the Tuamotus Islands,<br />
we needed clearance and to fi ll up with diesel.<br />
We spent a relaxing few days in Nuka Hiva and eventually<br />
sailed south on the 8th April. Th e weather for our three<br />
days at sea was simply perfect with a very light south<br />
easterly breeze and fl at sea. We slept on deck most<br />
nights and enjoyed gazing at all those twinkling little<br />
stars dancing out all night especially for us (well that’s<br />
what we thought at the time).<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
TUAMOTU ISLANDS<br />
We had never heard of these islands or ‘archipelago’<br />
(a total of 76 atolls or islands) until we arrived in the<br />
Marquesas Islands. We soon discovered that they are<br />
beautiful and well worth a visit.<br />
Th e fi rst island we chose to explore was Manihi. However,<br />
the cruising guides that we read on the way there very<br />
nearly put us off . Th e book said that the sand bar at the<br />
entrance was only 2 metres deep (we draw 2.5 metres)<br />
and the current through the narrow entrance was so<br />
strong that most yachts would not get inside the lagoon.<br />
However, we never had less than 2.5 metres under our<br />
keel and the maximum current we encountered was a<br />
mere 3 knots as we sailed into the lagoon before rolling<br />
up the sails. And, what an experience! Th is huge coral<br />
reef, covered in palm trees surrounding a big lagoon<br />
was just perfect. We motored over and dropped anchor<br />
outside the ‘Manihi Pearl Beach Resort’ where all the<br />
guest rooms stand on stilts in the deep blue waters of<br />
the lagoon. We really felt we had arrived in paradise.<br />
We had a number of cruising guides on board for the<br />
Pacifi c and the other oceans we planned to cross, but<br />
the Pacifi c in particular, as this was our fi rst long distance<br />
trip and in some respects was a venture into the
unknown for us. Th e books were a great support, but<br />
you have to make up your own mind about what to do<br />
and where to go. If we had taken the advice of the<br />
cruising guides, we would never have gone near Manihi<br />
and would have missed a near perfect paradise. Another<br />
thing the guides implied was that we would be devoured<br />
by mosquitoes and sand fl ies if we went ashore. In fact<br />
we hardly came across any of these pests and certainly<br />
not enough to bother us... if you want to see mosquitoes,<br />
then take a trip to Scotland in the autumn!<br />
Everyday we went swimming in paradise, always being<br />
mindful of the strong currents that fl ow through all these<br />
atolls. Th e coral heads were great for snorkelling and<br />
there were plenty of these, usually surrounded by<br />
hundreds of beautifully coloured fi sh. However, great<br />
care needed to be taken to avoid getting the anchor<br />
stuck in one.<br />
Our next stop was Rangiroa, another paradise where<br />
Donal and I took diving lessons. One evening we went<br />
ashore with some crews from some of the other rally<br />
yachts ashore, to a restaurant called ‘Les Relais de<br />
Josephine’, where we enjoyed an excellent meal of crab<br />
and lobster. However, it was as expensive as eating out<br />
in London. In fact, the whole of the French Polynesian<br />
Islands were very expensive. No wonder nearly all the<br />
cars on the islands are brand new!<br />
From Rangiroa, we sailed 45 miles or so south in a very<br />
fresh breeze to the Island of Tikehau. Navigating our<br />
way through Tikehau was tricky with all the shallow corals,<br />
but they had plenty of markers, which made life much<br />
easier. We eventually dropped anchor at dusk and<br />
admired the beautiful pink beach of Tikehau Pearl Lodge.<br />
We spent two nights at Tikehau, before sailing southwest<br />
to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti and a mere 188 miles away.<br />
We had 25 knots of wind on our port beam and it was<br />
a sheer pleasure to sit on the transom seat and soak up<br />
the silent power of our beautiful boat as she surged<br />
through the seas, with only the sound of the babbling<br />
water as it rushed out from under the transom.<br />
Papeete was the same as any other capital, but nonetheless,<br />
very enjoyable. We spent a couple of weeks in Tahiti<br />
whilst the boat was lift ed out, cleaned and antifouled.<br />
Donal looked aft er this task while Aileen and I spent a<br />
wonderful weekend in the Hilton Hotel on the adjoining<br />
OWNER REPORT – A LADY<br />
island of Morea. A wonderful lush green paradise island<br />
that I would highly recommend.<br />
It is worth mentioning that Aileen and I chartered a boat<br />
roughly 14 years ago and sailed around the Society<br />
Islands, therefore it was interesting to look at all the<br />
changes that have taken place since then. Back then we<br />
had felt it was the most expensive place in the world,<br />
now it is only as expensive as London or Paris!<br />
We departed Tahiti and sailed overnight to Raiatea,<br />
where we had entered A Lady in the Tahiti Pearl Regatta.<br />
Th e place was buzzing, full of excitement for the event.<br />
Unfortunately, a local boat, on loan to some French<br />
sailors for the event, caused some damage to A Lady,<br />
however this didn’t dampen our spirits and we enjoyed<br />
the few days racing and the prize-giving in Bora Bora.<br />
“It was a sheer pleasure to sit on the<br />
transom seat and soak up the silent<br />
power of our beautiful boat as she<br />
surged through the seas”<br />
We sailed onto Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and then<br />
to Niue. Th e one thing that will stick in our minds about<br />
Niue were the nights, the starry nights in the Pacifi c<br />
were spectacular, and in particular the Milky Way which<br />
was always a pleasure to study. On the way to Niue<br />
we had a full moon which shone down the mast like<br />
champagne fi zzing down the side of a glass.<br />
Niue was very interesting in that there was only a pier<br />
sticking out into the bay, so when we went ashore in the<br />
RIB, we had to use the crane on the pier to lift the RIB<br />
out of the water while we explored this interesting<br />
island. We enjoyed our brief stay, where we even<br />
managed a game of golf on what must have been the<br />
roughest golf course in the world! We also had some<br />
interesting food here, mostly marinated raw fi sh, it all<br />
tasted great and was really healthy, however we were<br />
disappointed to learn that these people do not live any<br />
longer than us Europeans, so much for a healthy diet!<br />
SUMMER 2011 105
106<br />
On the 4th June we arrived in Vava’u (Tonga) a perfect<br />
spinnaker run all the way. Our fi rst impressions of the main<br />
island... a very poor place and very untidy in comparison<br />
to the French Polynesian Islands or the Cook Islands.<br />
Th e island was the fi rst place we saw fruit bats, although<br />
they looked more like fl ying cats than bats and it was<br />
fascinating to watch them devour the fruit. Th is was one<br />
of the best cruising grounds we ever sailed, a sailor’s<br />
paradise, hundreds of small sandy islands surrounded by<br />
coral reefs, which made them very attractive anchorages<br />
for swimming, diving, snorkeling and generally relaxing.<br />
Of course, we had to be extra careful with navigation,<br />
as well as being a sailor’s paradise, it could easily turn<br />
into a sailor’s nightmare if one hit one of the thousands<br />
of corals scattered throughout the islands.<br />
We spent about 10 days in Vava’u and in some respects<br />
this was just not enough, however we did manage to<br />
stay overnight at six diff erent islands or locations, and<br />
we only explored a small portion of this beautiful place.<br />
Th ere was always a lovely cool trade wind blowing about<br />
20-25 knots day and night across and through the boat.<br />
Snorkelling in the corals here could be compared to<br />
fl oating through Gaudi’s cathedral in Barcelona in a<br />
vacuum… the gleaming and colourful corals, all set close<br />
to the surface in Prussian blue warm water, with all<br />
diff erent chambers of various sizes, together with<br />
thousands of equally colourful fi sh.<br />
We sadly had to say goodbye to this wonderful<br />
place and headed northwest towards Fiji, a distance of<br />
420 miles, the sailing was great as usual as we scooted<br />
along our merry way. However, we did get a fright early<br />
one morning as dawn broke, we could see the hulk of a<br />
ship sitting almost in front of us. It soon became obvious<br />
that this ship was sitting on a reef and, as we were<br />
sailing close by, we made a few alterations to the course<br />
to avoid meeting with the same fate. Th ey say about Fiji,<br />
that there are two types of boats here, the ones that hit<br />
a reef and sink, and the ones that are about to hit a reef<br />
and sink!<br />
Th e entrance to Savu Savu (the island we selected for<br />
our inward clearances) was very narrow and through<br />
a right angle bend surrounded by coral reefs on all<br />
sides. It was 22.00, pitch black with 46 knots blowing<br />
up our transom and breaking waves running along<br />
the decks.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
Everyone on board loved the excitement, except the<br />
skipper, who was having a nervous breakdown. We<br />
relied totally on the E120 and sure enough we got into<br />
the lagoon without a hitch.<br />
Eventually, as always, things have to come to an end and<br />
so the fl eet of 23 rally yachts set sail westwards towards<br />
a small island called Tanna in Vanuatu. Th is little island has<br />
one of the few live and active volcanoes in the world and,<br />
of course, we all had to go there at dusk one evening to<br />
view the fi reworks for ourselves – spectacular!<br />
Th e island was very defi nitely the poorest place we visited.<br />
We had a meal ashore one night, the food was the usual<br />
raw marinated fi sh, but this time it was served on<br />
banana leaves as plates and we used our fi ngers to do<br />
the eating. Dinner cost about one Euro each. It was so<br />
diff erent, that we really enjoyed the whole experience,<br />
before being led back the two miles to the harbour<br />
through the jungle by locals carrying fl aming torches to<br />
light the way.<br />
From Tanna, we sailed north to Port Villa. Th is seemed a<br />
popular spot and has the world’s only underwater post<br />
offi ce, (or rather a letterbox). We visited some beautiful<br />
resorts and restaurants here and fattened ourselves up<br />
ready for the next leg to Australia, a 1,200-mile trip.
YOU ARE NOW PRECISELY ONE<br />
MILLION MILES AWAY <strong>FROM</strong> WORK.<br />
Where will your imagination take you? To the end of the boardroom table? Or to the<br />
place of your dreams? Of course, how you get there is important. Perhaps you should<br />
consider one of the world’s fi nest yachts with proven performance and an unsurpassed<br />
build quality, designed to take you as far away from routine as possible.<br />
For more information please email molly.marston@oystermarine.com or visit us online.<br />
SAIL | BROKERAGE | CHARTER | REFIT<br />
www.oystercharter.com<br />
SUMMER 2011 107
108<br />
On their way...<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 575 Sophistikate<br />
Another new yacht planned with<br />
a circumnavigation in mind,<br />
Sophistikate is Richard and Angela<br />
Parkinson’s second new <strong>Oyster</strong>,<br />
replacing their <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 of the<br />
same name.<br />
Th ey will cross the Atlantic with the<br />
2011 ARC followed by a season in the<br />
Caribbean, before joining the <strong>Oyster</strong><br />
World Rally fl eet, which will depart<br />
the Caribbean in January 2013. Fitted<br />
out in a very pale American Oak,<br />
Sophistikate has all the essentials<br />
required for a world cruise, including<br />
air-conditioning, watermaker and<br />
heating, plus a few luxuries such as<br />
an icemaker, dishwasher, underwater<br />
camera and lighting.<br />
Sophistikate has been built to an<br />
exceptionally high specifi cation and<br />
her owners took a great deal of<br />
interest in the build process and<br />
visited the yard many times during<br />
her build. She was on display at<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong>’s Private View in St Katharine<br />
Docks, where she was much admired.<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 575 Patrice<br />
Th e <strong>Oyster</strong> 575 Patrice is Joan and Ian Menzies’s<br />
fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong>, and will be based in Largs on<br />
Scotland’s west coast. Th eir berth in Largs is very<br />
tight, so Ian opted for a retractable stern thruster<br />
as well as the standard bowthruster, making<br />
manoeuvring simple. Patrice is also unusual in that<br />
she has hydraulic primary and mainsheet winches.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 625 Rachel of London<br />
Owners Tony and Rachel Whitby have owned<br />
many yachts, their most recent being a 72'<br />
Sunseeker, which was the inspiration behind<br />
some of the detailing to be found on Rachel, in<br />
particular the blue spreader and cockpit lights,<br />
that really give the yacht a ‘wow’ factor. Equally<br />
striking is her bespoke interior. Styled by ‘Design<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 72 Infiniti<br />
Owned by Ken and Diana Randall, Infi niti was<br />
on show at the <strong>Oyster</strong> Private View in London.<br />
Her already beautiful interior was styled and<br />
accessorised specially for the event by the<br />
Interior Design Studio at Harrods and was<br />
much admired by visitors to the show.<br />
Following the show, Infi niti completed handover<br />
in Cherbourg before heading to the Mediterranean.<br />
She will make her fi rst transatlantic crossing in<br />
the autumn and will spend the winter cruising in<br />
the Caribbean.<br />
With some of the most beautiful cruising grounds<br />
anywhere in the world right on their doorstep,<br />
Patrice will mainly be used for cruising around the<br />
Firth of Clyde and surrounding Lochs, with some<br />
longer passages planned to the Outer Hebrides<br />
and Norway.<br />
Interiors’ a company Tony has worked with on<br />
many of his property developments, their expertise<br />
has resulted in a stunning Maple and Teak interior<br />
with plush leather upholstery and luxurious soft<br />
furnishings. With her sleek grey painted hull,<br />
chrome lines and black mast, Rachel really is<br />
a ‘super’ yacht in every sense of the word.
<strong>Oyster</strong> 625 Blue Jeannie<br />
Th e fi rst of the new <strong>Oyster</strong> 625s was launched in fi ne style<br />
during a party at <strong>Oyster</strong>’s annual Private View, held at<br />
St Katharine Docks in London. On a beautiful spring evening,<br />
owner John Bowley, for whom the new 625, Blue Jeannie,<br />
is his second <strong>Oyster</strong>, carried out the formalities with the<br />
traditional smashing of a bottle of champagne on her bow,<br />
assisted by his parents and family. Also present was <strong>Oyster</strong> 625<br />
designer Rob Humphreys and his wife Jo, who had styled the<br />
interior furnishings. Now on her way to the Mediterranean,<br />
Blue Jeannie has a busy charter season ahead of her, before<br />
she is displayed at the Cannes and Genoa Boats Shows.<br />
Blue Jeannie is available for charter from <strong>Oyster</strong> Charter.<br />
For more information please contact Molly Marston at<br />
molly.marston@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 82 Mathilda Sound<br />
Th e new <strong>Oyster</strong> 82, Mathilda Sound, departed<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong>’s Ipswich HQ for Malta with Will White<br />
from <strong>Oyster</strong>’s US offi ce on board as part of her<br />
delivery crew. Mathilda Sound has a Maple<br />
interior with Walnut soles and dark brown leather<br />
upholstery. With her dark blue hull she is a really<br />
stunning and contemporary new yacht.<br />
ON <strong>THE</strong>IR WAY<br />
Recently launched <strong>Oyster</strong>s<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 575<br />
Serendipity<br />
Serendipity is owned<br />
by David Caukill and<br />
is his second new<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong>, his fi rst being<br />
an <strong>Oyster</strong> 46 of the<br />
same name. David<br />
will keep Serendipity<br />
on the south coast<br />
before heading south<br />
to the Canaries<br />
where she will be<br />
based until the start<br />
of the 2011 ARC.<br />
Following a season<br />
in the Caribbean,<br />
Serendipity will slowly make her way across the<br />
Pacifi c to New Zealand where she will join the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally fl eet for the second leg of<br />
the circumnavigation back to the Caribbean via<br />
South Africa and South America.<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> 46 Callisto<br />
Callisto is the fi rst <strong>Oyster</strong> to be owned by the<br />
Voigt-Firon family from Austria, having previously<br />
owned a Halberg Rassy 43. Th e boat set sail<br />
from Ipswich to sail around the west coast of<br />
England and up to Scotland with <strong>Oyster</strong>’s Senior<br />
Commissioner, Mick Hart, on board as skipper.<br />
Th e family are looking forward to joining the<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> World Rally fl eet in 2013, once they have<br />
gained more experience with their new yacht.<br />
Callisto is another superb example of<br />
an <strong>Oyster</strong> 46, with a beautiful Maple interior.<br />
SUMMER 2011 109
110<br />
<strong>OYSTER</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong><br />
We are grateful to our marine industry suppliers for not only helping us<br />
to build great yachts but also for supporting our events and regattas.<br />
Bespoke quality sails and<br />
canvas work, UK manufactured.<br />
Matthew Vincent<br />
T: +44 (0)1255 243 366<br />
E: sails@dolphin-sails.com<br />
www.dolphinsails.com<br />
Th e world leading provider<br />
of sailing clothing.<br />
Alistair Munro<br />
T: +44 (0)203 479 4615<br />
E: alistair@musto.com<br />
www.musto.com<br />
Th e world’s leading<br />
manufacturer in recreational<br />
marine electronics.<br />
Andy Davies<br />
T: +44 (0)23 9271 4700<br />
E: andy.davies@raymarine.com<br />
www.raymarine.com<br />
Performance Masts,<br />
Engineered to Perfection.<br />
T: +31 (0) 527 29 1989<br />
E: info@formula-marine.com<br />
www.formula-marine.com<br />
Optimal coverage for your yacht,<br />
your assets and your paid crew.<br />
John McCurdy, OBE<br />
T: +44 (0)1752 223 656<br />
E: info@pantaenius.co.uk<br />
www.pantaenius.co.uk<br />
Reefi ng systems<br />
and hydraulics.<br />
Marcus Schuldt<br />
T: +49 (0)41 013 849 27<br />
E: m.schuldt@reckmann.com<br />
www.reckmann.com<br />
Leading sailboat and<br />
powerboat hardware supplier<br />
for the leisure marine industry.<br />
Roger Cerrato<br />
T: +44 (0)23 9247 1841<br />
E: rcerrato@lewmar.com<br />
www.lewmar.com<br />
International yacht consultants<br />
specialising in yacht management.<br />
Declan O’Sullivan<br />
T: +44 (0)1624 819 867<br />
E: dos@pelagosyachts.com<br />
www.pelagosyachts.com<br />
Truly global satellite tracking<br />
for yachts and yacht races.<br />
T: +44 (0)845 619 8252<br />
E: sales@yellowbrick-tracking.com<br />
www.yellowbrick-tracking.com
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine Ltd<br />
Tel: +44 (0)1473 688 888<br />
Sales Team: Tel: +44 (0)1473 695 005<br />
Customer Support: Tel: +44 (0)1473 690 198<br />
Email: yachts@oystermarine.com<br />
www.oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine USA<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage USA<br />
Tel: +1 401 846 7400<br />
Email: info@oystermarine.com<br />
www.oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine Germany<br />
Tel: +49 40 644 008 80<br />
Email: yachten@oystermarine.com<br />
www.oystermarine.de<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Representatives<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine in Asia<br />
Bart Kimman<br />
Tel: +852 2815 0404<br />
Email: bart.kimman@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine in Australia<br />
Michael Bell<br />
Tel: +61 (0)2 9997 7133<br />
Email: michael.bell@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine in Russia<br />
Oscar Konyukhov<br />
Tel: +7 925 771 29 91<br />
Email: oscar.konyukhov@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Marine in Ukraine<br />
Alex Krykanyuk<br />
Tel: +38 (0)512 580 540<br />
Email: alex.krykanyuk@oystermarine.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Charter<br />
Tel: +1 401 846 7400<br />
Email: molly.marston@oystermarine.com<br />
www.oystercharter.com<br />
<strong>Oyster</strong> Brokerage Ltd<br />
Tel: +44 (0)1473 695 100<br />
Email: brokerage@oystermarine.com<br />
www.oysterbrokerage.com<br />
Southampton Yacht Services Ltd<br />
Saxon Wharf, Lower York Street,<br />
Northam, Southampton, SO14 5QF UK<br />
Tel: +44 (0)23 8033 5266<br />
Fax: +44 (0)23 8063 4275<br />
Email: sales@southamptonyachtservices.co.uk<br />
www.southamptonyachtservices.co.uk
www.oystermarine.com