Oyster News 49 - Oyster Yachts

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38 www.oystermarine.com ‘ Thank you and the Oyster team for a very memorable week. Having organised a few customer activities myself in the past I appreciate how much effort and work is needed and we really enjoyed it ’ TERRY KING-SMITH, OYSTER 62, DORADO OF BEAULIEU Rasmus, Hannes and Steffi Fehring's Oyster 61 won the UBS Class 1 Trophy ‘ It wasn’t the racing that took its toll…the real challenge of the week was the array of gourmet dining that had been planned ’ At sunset the dinghies began landing on the beach. The generators were humming; the Mount Gay bar opened for business, and it was all on once again. Wednesday was a lay day, spelled g-o-l-f. It rained, of course, but just long enough to soften the sun-baked fairways of the Jolly Harbour Golf Club. Many went off on sight seeing and shopping expeditions, but 42 showed up for a Texas Scramble tournament with a shotgun start. Carts and clubs were lined up, and three balls apiece and tees were provided by Chartering International Limited, one of the event’s sponsors. A local golfer chuckled when he was handed his pack of balls. "These should last about 4 holes," he said, and headed for the pro shop for more. Several of us thought it prudent to follow him. Gourmet dining at Harmony Hall
I teamed up with Andrew Orr, owner of the Oyster 55, Magically Happens. Our foursome included Don Jeffers and Gary Jacques, Andrew’s crew. Andrew said the name of the boat came from the oil and gas software company he and Don had put together. "I was the ideas guy. I used to tell them if we did this and that, the rest would magically happen," Andrew said. "And it did." Don, the software creator, laughed. "The magic only took five years." The Jolly Harbour course is flat, short, and hazardous with mud flats, sand traps the consistency of concrete, lots of water, and noisy sheep in the gallery. We lost a bunch of balls, as promised. Andrew and I managed an 82, while Don and Gary zapped us with a 79. Don’s 24 handicap – 24!!?? Yep, he’s a software creator – helped net them a 65, but it wasn’t good enough to win. Rosemary Harding and her son Neil (Oyster Rose II, a 56) won with a net of 49. Thursday the fleet motored half way around Antigua to Great Bird Island. It was a singlefile procession through a narrow, winding coral channel led by Andy Burridge on Altair (68). The day was overcast, and the wind continued to howl over 25, which made the serpentine formation of 30 Oysters even more impressive. Other cruising boats paused to marvel at the sight. That evening the third beach picnic was compressed by high tide, which didn’t leave much terra firma. But by now we were old hands at simultaneously balancing plates of delicacies, managing a drink, and making amusing conversation. The previous Sunday someone had turned the wind on high and forgot to shut it off. Friday it was honking out of the north, providing more, good reaching for the race around the buoys starting off Boon Point, the northernmost tip of Antigua. The first leg of race 3 was marred by a collision between the Oyster 68, Altair and the 56, Avolare. Fortunately crews escaped serious injury but Avolare’s owner, Jim Siepiela, did spend a night ashore under observation with broken ribs. Both Siepiela and his wife, Marina, shrugged it off in the name of sport, and Photos: Tim Wright Oyster 41, Gallivanter II The Tug-of-War, Green Island received a huge round of applause from the fleet at the prize giving party, a class act. On the plus side, both boats took the hit without major damage, a tribute to the strength built into Oysters. The course took the fleet around Sandy Island, a tiny lump of sand just off the coast of the capital St. Johns, still marked by the wreck of a small coaster that decided to take the overland route into town. The finish was in azure blue water just off Dickenson Bay, followed by a surprisingly good party and dinner at the Sandals Hotel resort on the beach. Saturday’s final race around the island from north to south – Boon Point to Curtain Bluff – featured more spray flying in a brisk northeasterly. I sailed on Rasmus (61) with owners Hannes and Steffi Fehring, and Oyster commissioning and customer care representative, Will White. Will, at the wheel, put Rasmus across the starting line with good speed at the weather end. We were first to the short weather mark, and off like a shot for the turn at Pelican Island on the southwest corner of Antigua with the fleet in hot pursuit. We hardened up at Pelican, and so did the wind. Puffs registered over 30 knots true several times. We played the beach for smoother seas and port tack lifts, exciting stuff as Rasmus sailed alongside breaking reefs for minutes at a time. At the finish off Curtain Bluff we mingled briefly with some of the eye-popping classic yachts whose Antigua meeting overlapped the Oyster regatta by one day. That night we gathered at Abracadabra's restaurant in English Harbour for dinner and awards. The fact that the last revelers stayed into the wee hours of the morning was testament to a week that no one wanted to end. Conversation focused on two elements. One was the racing. This bunch of cruising sailors, who love to joke about how tacking more than once a week is bad behavior, were all showing the early symptoms of race fever. Some were overheard talking about rudder sizes and shapes, while others UBS Oyster Regatta Antigua 2003 contemplated weight that could be eliminated by draining tanks. The other discussion was an appreciation of the children at the regatta. Everyone found their presence entertaining, lively, and totally charming at times. Several of the girls, aged around five to seven, lent considerable sparkle to prizes-of-the-day ceremonies by dressing in tulle and sequined ball gowns. Their good mothers had these beauties stowed aboard for just such occasions. The parents admitted being a bit nervous about bringing their children to the regatta. But after communicating with one another, they developed security in numbers. Mike Gerrard-Pearse (Iona Bess, 45) said the Regatta had been a big hit from a parent’s point of view. At week’s end he said that while he didn’t score well in the racing, he figured the first, second, and third registered by him and his crew (wife Jane, daughters Emily, 7, and Annabel, 5) in the Green Island Games should have gotten Iona Bess first overall for the week. Racing in the Trades upon Antigua’s striking turquoise waters is a joy recognized around the world. Combine that with a dazzling array of dinners and beach parties, the camaraderie enjoyed by the Oyster family of owners and staff, and – well – it’s a whole lot better than what the brochure offers. Roger Vaughan www.oystermarine.com 39
Page 1 and 2: NEWS O YSTER® NEWS FROM THE WORLD
Page 3 and 4: Welcome to the 49th edition of our
Page 5 and 6: OYSTERS TO BERMUDA Four Oysters hav
Page 7 and 8: Regatta FACT BOX • See the Antigu
Page 9 and 10: Chris Smith and Fiona Campbell's Oy
Page 11 and 12: Just to help matters, our staysail
Page 13 and 14: FACT BOX • For more information a
Page 15 and 16: The new Rob Humphreys and Oyster De
Page 17 and 18: ‘ I knew Tamoure was the one the
Page 19 and 20: All around us boats were dragging,
Page 21 and 22: Sail American Airlines with mostly
Page 23 and 24: deregulation wouldn’t last. So in
Page 25 and 26: seas, without an autopilot, and wit
Page 27 and 28: The headsail develops a larger forc
Page 29 and 30: We believe your wealth management p
Page 31 and 32: Half Shell Pearls provided by Oyste
Page 33 and 34: Oyster 45, Taboo Oyster 66, Sarita
Page 35 and 36: Green Island Each celebrant held tw
Page 37: The barbecue on Barbuda’s south b
Page 41 and 42: Hannes and Steffi Fehring with the
Page 43 and 44: Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2003 A
Page 45 and 46: A LIST OF 'OYSTER' DATES FOR YOUR D
Page 47 and 48: The Oyster Fleet Review CHOICE NOT
Page 49 and 50: Cartagena repeated attacks both fro
Page 51 and 52: Cartagena was lit up spectacularly
Page 53 and 54: Seven sunny days preceeded by a thr
Page 55 and 56: Marlies and Klaus Schuback OYSTER 4

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