Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

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THE WEATHER WAS DECIDEDLY WINTERY WITH SNOW SHOWERS FORECAST AND A BITINGLY COLD 20-KNOT NORTHERLY WIND BLOWING. Cygnus, the first of five Oyster 82’s on order, is no stranger to North Sea waters as she had already passaged from Southampton to Rotterdam under power, on route to the Düsseldorf Boat Show. Due to very low rainfall there was insufficient water in the Rhine to motor her to Düsseldorf, so Cygnus was craned onto a huge barge for the voyage up river. By the end of the show, the rain had fallen and there was just enough water for Cygnus to get back down the Rhine and make a very rough crossing of the North Sea back to Oyster’s HQ at Ipswich for rigging and commissioning. For the first Builder's trials on Cygnus, the Oyster commissioning team was joined by Paul Bennett, who will skipper the yacht for her owner; Alan Boswell from the Oyster design team; Alan Brook Joint Managing Director of Oyster and designer Rob Humphreys. When not behind the camera lens, I was also onboard, having never missed the first sea trial on any Oyster yacht in the last thirty years. It’s crunch time, time to get off the pot, it’s the $64,000 question and at this stage talk is cheap! 18 www.oystermarine.com
The sails are set and Cygnus goes bow down into the breeze to load up the rig on a broad reach. She’s off and our little photo launch is already on the plane to hold station. We haven’t calibrated the log yet but the GPS is showing SOG, that’s speed over the ground, of 10.2 knots and we have 1.5 knots of spring flood tide against us - Wow! The weather is deteriorating by the minute but I get a few snaps of Cygnus passing under the Orwell Bridge. Not exactly your tropical atoll background, but it does help to get some sense of scale. At 82 feet this is a big yacht. More luff tension is called for on the headsail and a half turn put on the Stoway mainsail to flatten the outhaul, which hasn’t been set up properly yet. Once outside Harwich Harbour we are into open sea, I hop off our photo launch and now have my first trial on the helm. We are hard on the wind in 23 knots of very cold apparent wind. Cygnus knows it’s time to deliver and we shoulder our way upwind at a very respectable 8.5 knots, jammed hard up to the breeze. Bow down she will easily pick up to 9 knots but these are Builder's trials and we need to check helm balance; not so easy to get right with our protected skeg-hung rudder. Now for the good news – this yacht's balance is one of our best ever. I actually manage to steer this yacht of 65 tons, hard on the wind, with just two fingers. Rob Humphreys is so impressed that he snaps a photo for his own collection. While being light on the helm the 82 is stiff too, carrying her powerful rig with no problem. To be fair, at 23 knots apparent, we probably have as much heel as most owners will want, THE OYSTER 82 FIRST TIME OUT 24 FEBRUARY 2004 but this is biting, cold, winter wind and I’d expect 23 knots of warm, summer wind to feel a good deal lighter. On the way out of the river, on a fetch, we went through a few quite fierce squalls; despite this there was no tendency to head up to the breeze. Fair enough, this is a big yacht, but she really does track well. At present we are carrying very little fuel and by the time tanks are topped up and gear stowed the yacht could easily weight another 3 to 4 tons. This will put the bow down a little, which Rob Humphreys says will give us even better tracking, but right now I’d say we don’t need it anyway. We make a few tacks and deliberately hold the yacht into the breeze until over 8 knots of forward momentum fades away. Bearing away in full control is no problem. A few more tacks followed by a gybe or two and we are convinced – the Oyster 82 is exceeding all our expectations in the sailing performance and handling departments with ease. This is a good moment, since we know that there is no hiding from lacklustre performance and if we love the yacht our owners and future owners will too. Powering back up the River Orwell on a close fetch the wind is down to 17.5 but we are still showing 10 knots on the clock and 11.5 on the GPS, indicating we still have some tide assist. It’s been raining hard most of the morning and it looks like the rain will soon turn to snow. For the final leg up the river we are under power and I try stopping the yacht with a judicious, but careful, slide into reverse. Our big 3-blade Maxprop grabs Cygnus like an invisible hand and, in not much more than a boat's length, we are at full stop. Running gently astern we can turn to port or starboard without difficulty and here the 'just right' gearing of the steering system gives full authority, while keeping the helm gentle. This manoeuvre isn’t going to be needed very often, since all slow speed handling under power will be assisted by our 30 horsepower retractable bowthruster. But these are Builder's trials and we have to check the 82’s ability to handle and steer going astern without thruster assist. The pitch on the Maxprop has already gone up a notch and, given that we are topping out at just over 10 knots, I suggest to the commissioning team that we should try WE HAVEN’T CALIBRATED THE LOG YET BUT THE GPS IS SHOWING SOG, THAT’S SPEED OVER THE GROUND, OF 10.2 KNOTS AND WE HAVE 1.5 KNOTS OF SPRING FLOOD TIDE AGAINST US - WOW! another notch up, maybe two. I expect this will give the yacht a little more pace at the top end, while helping to optimise low rpm cruise. Unsurprisingly, in this weather, there are no other yachts on the river or we’d be surging past them even at half throttle! Inevitably with her clean lines and long waterline the 82 has long legs under power. We are chilled to the bone and, by the time we are alongside our berth at Fox’s Marina, it’s raining hard and the weather is truly foul but it’s been a really good trial. We have crossed an important hurdle and can say with confidence that the Oyster 82 really is a great sailing yacht.
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Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

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