Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

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.