Oyster News 52 - Oyster Yachts

ROLLS
the
ROYCE
of yachts
BY BRIAN LONG
OYSTER 56 CHINOOK
44 www.oystermarine.com
“ TODAY, WE ARE ANCHORED
SNUGLY IN THE INNER BAY
OF PORTOFERRAIO, THE MAIN
AND BEAUTIFUL PORT OF
ELBA, JUST OFF THE WEST
COAST OF ITALY”
There is a Mumm 30 World Championship Regatta this week and the
marina has been taken over by a fleet of 40 or so 30 foot one-of-a-kind
racing yachts. Paul McCartney’s US Tour CD is playing on the stereo and
a warm sun is shining through the cockpit windows. However, the
barometer is sitting at 1001-1002 mb’s and the anemometer is measuring
gusts well over 30 knots.
Yesterday we sailed from Capraia, in the Italian Tuscan islands. We had
started out for Calvi, on the east side of Corsica, where Doreen and I
expected to pick up a vital part for our onboard computer, we had
arranged to be shipped there. On route, seas started building and the
wind gradually increased to sustained mid thirties, with gusts into the mid
40 knots. We were in a tough beat and, as I adjusted the sail trim and
course to accommodate the 5 to 6 metre waves, Doreen looked a little
tense. I sought to relax her by remarking how smooth Chinook was riding
and apart from the odd thump, here and there, we were dry and quite
comfortable. I recalled a conversation, which took place the day before in
the Village of Porto Capraia.
We had located the only Internet point on the Island, in a Pizzeria/Bar, high on the hill overlooking
the bay and were checking our emails, when a very big guy, with a pigtail, approached me as he
was leaving with a group of friends, after a good lunch. "Is that your Oyster in the marina" he said
with a strong accent. It sounded almost like a challenge and I wondered if I had inadvertently
transgressed his sea room at some time or perhaps splashed him with water as I washed the salt
off Chinook’s decks the day before. "Yes" I quietly admitted somewhat reluctantly, trying to
squeeze a smile.
"I told them!!" He chortled! "I told them it was an Oyster!!". I relaxed a little. "My friends, they
don’t know too much about boats" He gestured to them "but I told them it was an Oyster".
"I told them Oyster’s are the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of yachts" he bellowed.
"They’re the best sailing boats in the World ". "They’re Fantastico" He continued to sing the
praises of Oysters in the loudest of voices, until Doreen and I became slightly embarrassed by
him telling the Bar patrons, now focused entirely on us, how lucky we were to own such a fine
yacht. We were relieved when they finally left but now I wore a different kind of smile!
Back on board and checking our position on the chart plotter, I could see our tacking point was
well over an hour ahead and, as the wind and waves continued to rise, the reality of making Calvi
in daylight continued to fall. In fact, the chances of making even the East Coast of Corsica were
correspondingly disappearing.
Our Raytheon Chart plotter showed our reverse course was a direct line to Portoferraio, on the
island of Elba, about 32 nautical miles to the south and downwind. We had managed without our
computer for about three weeks and another few more days couldn’t hurt. Anyway we were
planning on spending a few days exploring Elba, where the little General had been exiled by the
British. A reverse course also afforded some lee shelter from Capraia and Corsica. So we turned
around and enjoyed a great sail in diminishing winds and waves until the wind quit altogether
about nine miles from Portoferraio.
The inner bay here is amazingly well protected and Chinook, fresh from an overnight shower, is
dancing gracefully on a long anchor chain in only five metres depth, where there are hundreds of
tiny whitecaps, but little chop despite massive howling gusts. The 40 or so racing boats never left
the dock today and although the centre of town is only a very short distance away and looks
agonizingly attractive in the sunlight, I think I’ll leave the tender on the davits today, sit back and
enjoy our ‘Rolls-Royce’ of Yachts.