The Oyster World Rally is not a simple regatta. It’s an extraordinary event, an adventure that opens the eyes of those who wish to discover a new world. The fleet of this round the world voyage, the only fully supported one organised by a shipyard, from the planning stage to the arrival at the finish line, is made up of 30 boats that participate in the Rally, which visits 27 destinations throughout 16 months, covering more than 27,000 nautical miles.
The forecasts for taking part in the next edition (2026-2027) of the Rally organised by the British shipyard Oyster Yachts are spectacular. The number of applications has already exceeded the number of registrations that were initially considered, and for the following edition, scheduled for 2028 and for which entries will open in June 2024, there are already more than 9,000 people interested. The question is inevitable: what’s the secret of its great appeal? The answer is clear: the Oyster World Rally format delights sailors from all over the world, including the Spanish, who have two participating yachts: Oyster 595 Mastegot and Oyster 575 Ahlam.
In first person
Mastegot and Ahlam sail together with the fleet, which departed Antigua last January. They are living this adventure with their families and we had the opportunity of chatting to them shortly after their arrival into the Marquesas Islands, in French Polynesia.
Both families have the same desire of exploring the world, and for them it is essential to do so together as a family.
“We are a family from Barcelona. I always had the dream of sailing around the world, this is where the name of the yacht Ahlam comes from, which means dream in Lebanese, the country where I was born” says Toni-Nicolás Salame, who together with his wife Ana and sons Carols and Nicolás, are taking part in this edition of the Oyster World Rally.
For them, this type of navigation is an opportunity to circumnavigate the globe exploring places, experiencing situations, discovering cultures. The Oyster World Rally allows them to travel without risk, to carry out this type of journey with absolute guarantee of support, before and during the passages.
Pau Serracanta and Helena Sempere, a couple also from Barcelona, had a similar dream: to sail the world. “It was very clear to me that I wanted to sail around the world and with the Oyster World Rally you have the flexibility to do what you want and discover, so to speak, a new world,” says Pau.
The opportunity to explore each destination without rushing is another attraction for this new generation adventurers.
This couple's point of view is somewhat different since, in addition to being sailors, they are surfers and explore unknown wave spots, about which there is little information. “It’s an extra, but it adds a lot of magic to the trip, and Oyster provides you with added security because you are going with an organisation, but you can do what you are passionate about, like surfing, in our case,” says Pau. Helena claims she doesn’t consider herself a typical tourist. “We have visited places that you can’t reach by plane and we have discovered waves on the San Blas Islands and the Chichime Keys that were all to ourselves. We consider ourselves sailors who explore and discover wonderful places that, otherwise, would be very difficult to reach.”
Advantages of sailing in a Rally
One of the advantages that the organisation provides is the flexibility when planning the route and the places to visit and explore, depending on the tastes, desires and also the agenda of each crew. To do this, they receive professional support from Oyster in every phase of the project, from before the start and during each and every one of the stopovers, receiving support with technical, touristic, legal aspects, etc.
Helena Sempere adds: “You realise that we know very little about the world. Although we have sailed a lot, it is incredible how much there is to explore, the amount of things we don't know and the things we have to learn in the world. You also realise that typical tourism is very 'packaged' and participating in a Rally like this helps open your eyes. We have the chance to experience places that a normal tourist does not see.”
The great adventure or a way of life?
At this point, many of our readers may have thought that only a few privileged can afford to take a “gap year” and disconnect from their lives and chores.
The truth is that the approaches of the sailors who participate in the Oyster World Rally are many and varied: those who consider this adventure as a “reward” for a lifetime of work; those who decide to take a break in their professional career before heading in new directions; and those who simply move the location of their office and continue with their usual work.
Realistically, for many it would not be feasible to participate in an event like this and disconnect from normal life for more than a year and a half. Precisely for this reason, the majority of participants continue to telework through the Starlink system. In that aspect, day-to-day life practically does not change. What does change is the fact of going from living in a house and working in an office to living on a boat having the possibility of doing your work on board, while exploring the world.
According to Pau Serracanta, “We are still active in business. Now this is our way of living, we travel, we discover and we have embraced a new lifestyle, we are the definition of digital nomads. Technically at work it’s the same, although obviously working from an apartment in Barcelona is not the same as working on board our boat here in the Marquesas. In addition, the social aspect is also something very interesting. Within the same fleet that participates in the Rally, you find people with concerns very similar to yours and of very diverse nationalities.”
Sailing the world with guarantees
The two points of view are very different; for the Ahlam family, the Oyster World Rally is living the adventure of a lifetime and doing so in complete comfort and safety; for the Mastegot family it is a way of living, finding adventures and exploring the world. Mastegot is Pau and Helena's seventh boat, and the previous one was also an Oyster, so they have a lot of experience with the brand. The important thing is that both families found in this way of sailing the possibility of traveling the world with guarantees of receiving assistance or advice whenever they need it.
