Dear Friends,
I hope you enjoyed the summer season and every moment on the water as much as I did.
We wrapped up the season with the Oyster Palma Regatta. After a two-year pause, it was a truly eclectic Oyster event, with a fun variety of bay and coastal racing with 23 Oysters and owners from ten different nationalities. Oyster 655 BLOW won the new Oyster Cup and everyone enjoyed the relaxed dock parties and gala dinner. You can see what we got up to here.
Boat shows were back and we were there, with record numbers touring our boats. The 495 World Tour took in the Nordics, northern Europe and the Mediterranean, enabling visitors to experience her for themselves. We have exceeded expectations with 20 495s now sold, 18 going to new members of the Oyster family. She has also been nominated for European Yacht of the Year 2023 – 13 journalists put her to the test in Barcelona last month, so fingers crossed for the results in January!
We showed a beautiful 595 at the Southampton Boat Show. Her impressive interior volume, shorthanded sailing set-up, outstanding quality and attention to detail were much admired – see her for yourself at boot Düsseldorf in January. We also unveiled the new shallow-draft centreboard option for the Oyster 745. This versatile, go anywhere yacht, with discrete multi-function crew quarters, has attracted lots of interest.
In other news, our Brokerage team have continued their busy run, with the market for pre-loved Oysters remaining strong. Examples of virtually all our new generation models made brief appearances in the listings – reassuringly, they didn’t stay up for long, demonstrating their strong residual value.
Find out more
The Oyster World Rally fleet arrived at the halfway point at Hamilton Island in Australia. They’ve had some amazing life-changing adventures over the 9,000nm covered so far. Follow their progress on the Rally Live page.
With the 2024-25 fleet already in preparation, a few places have unexpectedly become available, so it could be the chance of a lifetime if you want to experience this epic adventure. There are still spaces for the 2026-27 Rally too – contact the Rally Team here.
Next year is a very special year for Oyster. 2023 marks our 50th anniversary. We will celebrate at the Antigua Regatta on 6th April and Palma Regatta in September, along with an event in the UK in November. We welcome all Owners and hope one location will work best for you – please register your interest here. At the Antigua Regatta, we will be welcoming home the Oyster World Rally Fleet, so it will be a very special occasion with multiple celebrations. For more information on this and other family events, including the Rendezvous and 50th anniversary celebrations, you will find it here.
If you’ve signed up for the ARC, you’ll be reassured to know that our legendary service and technical team will be there for complimentary yacht health checks, enabling you to enjoy a memorable, trouble-free passage.
Thank you to everyone who join us at the Greenwich Maritime Museum for our Owners' Trafalgar Dinner. It was a great pleasure to share my passion for Nelson artefacts and memorabilia. As we huddled around Nelson’s book of sea charts used in his cabin before the battle of Trafalgar, it was sobering to think that the last time this happened was on the eve of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805!
As many Oysters come out of the water for the winter, we wish all of you in the southern hemisphere a wonderful summer of sailing. I hope to see many of you in Antigua in early 2023.
Fair winds.
Richard Hadida
CEO and Owner
Oyster Yachts
