Few boats would merit a glance from a savvy, experienced skipper looking to consolidate the best qualities of his performance cruiser and his motoryacht into just one boat.

Someone might even ask: “Are you kidding me? Can you do that?”

Enter the Oyster 495.

As the smallest yacht the company has developed from concept since 2005, the 495 is rigorously detailed. It is true to the heritage of a builder where a 50-footer has become the entry-level model. 

For this latest raised-salon offering, Oyster created a new facility in Hythe, on the Southampton shores of southern England. The aim is to build 12 boats a year, and sales to date suggest that this figure is not overly ambitious. 

I encountered Genevieve, the well-traveled Hull No. 1, in Southern California, where the boat had been delivered to the owner in Santa Barbara after being shown extensively in Europe. She was purchased to replace a performance cruiser and a powerboat. 

First impressions count, and the 495 makes a great one. If you’re switching over from a different brand, forget about bringing along your plates and glassware. All of that is provided, with subtle logos and fitted stowage. Mood lighting is available at the touch of a button. The TV raises and disappears with another button. In the guest stateroom forward, hatches overhead open in opposite directions. The queen berth in the owner’s stateroom could be a boat-show sales tool, but the cabin top is equipped for the lee cloths you will need when the boat is doing what it is meant to do: go places. 

To that end, an aluminum mast with electric furling is standard, but Genevieve is equipped with a Seldén carbon rig with in-mast electric furling and a hydraulics package including a mainsheet, vang, outhaul, backstay, and ­in-boom ram. In operation, it was whisper-quiet. 

The twin wheels offer clear sightlines from secure footing, along with command posts that have buttons to deploy and furl sails, and to adjust everything adjustable without straining a finger or risking a hangnail. Lewmar EVO primaries are handy, just outboard of the helm stations. Optional dual thrusters make everyone a hero going and coming to the dock, and smaller items such as pre-rigged preventers speak to that shadowy concierge who seems to have been everywhere. 

With four of us aboard, the cockpit was more than ­generous. I imagined many sociable scenes to come as the sails came out. The Yanmar saildrive was so quiet, it had to go off for me to even notice it had been on. Put that down to sandwich insulation glued, not screwed. 

The breeze was single digits, not enough to make the boat light up under a 105 percent jib, and we were dragging a wide transom and two rudders. Nevertheless, it was enjoyable sailing. I also appreciated seeing the cabin house square to the seating, to make a comfortable backrest looking aft, stretched out on passage. Rounding the forward backing the way some manufacturers do may work when you’re not going anywhere, but what is a boat for? 

The cockpit is laid out to walk on a single level back to a full-beam lazarette, which has ample stowage and access to the steering, backstay, exhaust and seacocks. Step back farther, and you are stepping down a reverse transom to a shower and an electronically operated swim platform. When the boat is stern-tied, that will be the boarding ladder. 

Belowdecks is bright, with close attention to ­ventilation. The opening coachroof windows in the salon will delight passengers in a tropical anchorage with the breeze wafting through. Batteries and tankage are centered under the salon sole, focusing the weight where it belongs. A U-shaped galley, two steps down to port, places most of the cook’s needs at hand in a space where it will be easy to brace underway, and the cook is not isolated from crew and guests. The twin sinks are on centerline for efficient drainage. 

The saloon table lowers to bed height for those who are overblessed with kids or grandkids, and the step-down nav station is separated but not isolated. A swing-out computer screen is here, along with CZone control and monitoring instead of fuse panels. A freezer is abaft the nav station, where it won’t see a lot of traffic unless it’s stocked with ice cream for those kids. 

Opposite the nav station, twin doors open wide to an engine compartment thoughtfully laid out to be serviced without provoking naughty words. Clear labeling matters, and I liked seeing the Panda generator within a sound-­insulated compartment.  

All the way aft, the owner’s stateroom has 6 feet, 4 inches of headroom, a sofa, cedar-lined lockers, escape hatches, and Oyster’s signature vertical portlights for a special view of the world. Forward of the salon is a cozy over/under double that shares a head and shower with the bright and airy forward stateroom. Nowhere above or belowdecks does the level of fit-and-finish fall short. 

Oyster describes the hull as an “overspecified laminate resin structure with a combination of stringers and frames for extreme strength and durability.” I believe it. Genevieve had the L-shaped standard keel and a draft of 7 feet, 5 inches. A shoal-draft keel is an option. 

Lunch waited ashore, ­creating an opportunity to ­observe how magically the sails disappeared and how comfortably the boat motored at 9-plus knots. It’s replacing a powerboat, remember. There was also a moment to ­demonstrate that, under power, the Oyster 495 will spin in its own length. That gave me a grin too.

Oyster 495 Specifications

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In the realm of extraordinary adventures, the thrill of a circumnavigation stands tall, offering an unparalleled opportunity to experience by boat some of the most mesmerizing places on the planet. It is a voyage that redefines the boundaries of exploration and leaves an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all who undertake this amazing odyssey. Combine the allure of such a voyage with the comforts of cruising in a group of like-minded sailors, and you have the Oyster World Rally. Over the course of nearly 16 months, 25 Oyster yachts’ owners and guests traversed ­approximately 27,000 nautical miles, ­visiting awe-inspiring destinations, creating cherished memories along the way, and forging bonds to last a lifetime through shared experiences, laughter, and the pursuit of a common dream. From the vibrant shores of the Caribbean to the secluded islands of the South Pacific and beyond, participants witnessed firsthand the sheer diversity and beauty of our planet, all with the assurance of safety and comfort, knowing that fellow participants were nearby to lend a helping hand or share in the joy of discovering ­remarkable locations. In the pages that follow, we invite you to join us on the ­voyage of a lifetime, as Oyster World Rally participants share the magnificence of sailing and exploration that can be experienced only in a ­circumnavigation.

These were among the most ­beautiful places we have visited, completely remote and untouched by tourism. 

There were so many highlights on this trip ahead of us, but it was the prospect of adventure we were most looking forward to.

One of the magical things about sailing around the world is that you can reach places other people can’t in cruise ships; places that are tiny, with no infrastructure, and you get to experience these things that others simply cannot. 

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Barry and Sue Parkin had already lost one sail. They were really, really hoping that they wouldn’t lose another as they screamed toward the finish line.

Their No. 3 jib tore straight across and blew apart the second time they took the helm of their recently purchased Oyster 625, Papillon. It was a 2013 build, and the sails that came with it were probably a decade old, with levels of wear and tear that they were still sussing out during September’s Oyster Palma Regatta off Spain’s Balearic Isles. 

“Every time we did a sail maneuver, it was the first time we’d done it on that boat,” Barry says. “We were working on how to get these sails up.”

Now, it was the last of three days of racing, and Papillon was in a battle for first place with the Oyster 625 Peregrine Falcon. With their résumés as Olympic sailors, the Parkins certainly had their competition worried, but what had started out as a 5-knot breeze had whipped up to a 20-knot blow. As they pushed the boat on the last leg of the course, they didn’t know if the old genoa would hold.

“These were laminate racing sails,” Barry says, adding that they had deteriorated just by being stored. Still, the Parkins kept the pressure on. “They have some good crew on Oysters. Some of the other boats had professional sailors on board.”

If you had asked the couple a few decades ago whether they would likely find themselves in that kind of a race, aboard that kind of a sailboat, they both likely would have said no. But now that they’re both 58 years old, with three of their four children out of school, they’re starting to think about sailing a lot differently. 

Back in the 1980s and ’90s—when you didn’t have to be a full-time sailor to compete in the Olympic Games—Barry and Sue were both good amateurs. He’d grown up in southwest England, in Falmouth, while she was raised in Brightlingsea on Britain’s east coast. They both learned to sail and race as kids and continued racing through college, until they graduated and got jobs. Sue became a math and physical education teacher, while Barry became a graduate trainee as an engineer with Mars Inc., building and designing production lines.

“We both then carried on racing at the highest level we could, using all of our vacations and weekends,” Barry says. “Sue went to the Olympics very young. She went to the 1988 Olympics in the 470, then again in ’92 and ’96. She did that while continuing to do women’s match racing in keel boats between each of the Olympics while still working full and part time.”

It took him a bit longer to get to the Games, but while working his way through different jobs with Mars and ­racing all over the world, he kept at it. “I really had a serious attempt at the Olympics at the end of ’94, when I was 30,” he says. “I got together with a team, and we went to the Olympics in ’96 and 2000.”

It was during the run up to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta that Barry and Sue became really good friends as teammates. They married soon after. 

Meanwhile, Barry’s career at Mars kept advancing, all the way to global head of procurement and sustainability, the job he holds today. “I’ve worked for them for 37 years now,” he says. “During the period when I was training for the Olympics, I was at director level, and they supported me by giving me a lot of time off to train. But the week after the Olympics finished, I went back to work and carried on with my career.”

Still, both he and Sue have continued to race—now for Uncle Sam, as US nationals who split their time between Connecticut and Florida. Ahead of the Oyster regatta in September, Barry competed in the International Etchells Worlds in Cowes, England, and he’s planning to compete in the Etchells World Championship in April on Miami’s Biscayne Bay. Some of their kids too have caught the bug; 24-year-old Jack was a world youth champion who’s now an investment banker at JPMorgan in New York, sailing in his spare time, while 16-year-old Freddie—still in high school—became world youth champion on the 420 in July 2022 on the North Sea.

Sometimes, just for fun, they all head out on Long Island Sound to race against one another.

“Riverside Yacht Club in Connecticut, where we live in the summer, has the biggest frostbiting fleet in the country,” Barry says. “These are singlehanded, and on any given Sunday in the winter, you’ll have about 50 boats on the start line. It’s all weight-equalized, so we can all race each other. We’re very competitive. [My sons] generally beat me now—not always, but generally. I say, ‘Sure, you can beat me in a 10-foot boat, but maybe not in a 30-foot boat.’”

The couple did have boats of their own before buying the Oyster 625, with their biggest previously being a 36-foot Sessa powerboat for cruising in the Northeast (because, Barry says, “there’s not a lot of wind in the summer up there”). But with Freddie now looking at colleges and the other three kids well into adulthood, they have a vision of setting a course much farther into the distance. 

“Susie’s always had this dream that once the kids are gone, we’ll head off and do some cruising, see parts of the world we’ve never seen,” Barry says. “We have this idea of sailing around the world.”

Hence, the shopping began for a boat that would let them do it. Oysters are built near where Sue grew up in Britain, and the couple knows people who work for the yard. They always liked Oyster yachts—a premium brand made for shorthanded, comfortable, bluewater cruising—but what really sold them was the Oyster owners’ association and the company’s Oyster World Rally, a fully supported, global circumnavigation that starts and ends at the Caribbean island of Antigua.

“You’re cruising in company with the technical support and the peer support,” Barry says. “They train you, and you have great social events. So it lowers the bar on doing that trip considerably, versus heading off on your own. It makes it accessible to people who don’t have a lot of experience, which is us.”

The biggest challenge, he says, will be learning to make sense of such a complex boat. He’s learning all the Oyster 625’s systems—generators, watermakers, ice makers, air conditioning, navigation equipment—that never factored into the Parkins’ racing lives. 

“Then there’s the challenge of being on a boat day after day after day,” he says. “All of that is completely different from the challenges of racing on a small boat, where you’re on the water for maybe six or eight hours, maybe an overnight race, but it’s a sprint. You’re concerned about what might break on the boat, but you have very different safety considerations.”

So far, they’re happy with their choice of Papillon. Buying Hull No. 5 (previously Lady Mariposa) substantially reduced their required upfront investment, and they’ve put the boat into the Oyster Yachts charter fleet at a weekly base rate of $22,000 to help offset their expenses. This winter, Papillon will be in the Caribbean, where they plan to cruise in between charter use. For summer 2023, the boat will be in New England, and they hope to do the Newport Bermuda Race in 2024. 

Somewhere along the way, they’re ­eagerly anticipating spending their first-ever night aboard while sailing offshore.

“I’ve spent many days and nights on boats in the past, but an Oyster is ­pretty luxurious,” Barry says. “You’re not ­slumming it. The owner’s cabin in the back is full width. It’s really, really nice.”

And, of course, they’ll be racing Papillon when the opportunity arises, as it did in the Balearic Isles shortly after they took delivery in fall 2022—when they were in a battle for first place aboard their boat that they barely knew, and weren’t sure if the genoa would hold.

Despite their best efforts that day, the old sail gave out on them after about five hours of racing, just before Papillon got to the finish. Peregrine Falcon took the top spot. 

“We had to put up a different one. It was just another older sail, but that cost us the win,” Barry says. “But we were there to have fun, so we weren’t that upset. We learned a lot about the boat, which sails great. It will do 9½ knots upwind and 12 knots off the wind with an asymmetric up.”

Barry, Sue and all their friends who were on board that day are eager for another shot at a win. Their next opportunity against the Oyster fleet will be the Oyster Antigua Regatta in April, based at Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour.

There’s likely to be a sizable roster of skilled competitors there too, given that the regatta will include a celebration of Oyster’s 50th year in business, as well as a welcome home for boats completing the 2022-23 Oyster World Rally. 

Fair notice to all: By then, the Parkins will have Papillon’s new sails. 

The post Learning to Fly: Longtime Sailboat Racers Discover Cruising On Their New Oyster 625 <em>Papillon</em> appeared first on Cruising World.

With high hopes of sparking a love for sailing, Chris Shea first took his wife, Susan, on a holiday in Scotland in a 32-footer. They spent a week beating round Mull. “I thought we would live the dream,” he laughs.

Shea’s family never quite shared his enthusiasm, he says, until 2014 when they decided to charter an Oyster 66 in the Caribbean. “I had been interested in Oysters for many years and when I started to be at the point where I thought I might be able to buy, I decided to charter.”

The moment Susan stepped aboard, he says, “she felt entirely confident in the crew running it. The hostess/cook and crewmate were lovely, entertaining women and it was great fun.” The level of luxury and comfort was a game changer. “The family thought: if this is what we are going to do, that is fine.”

Once bitten by the Oyster bug there was no going back. The following year an order for a new Oyster 56, Magrathea, was on the books, followed two years afterwards by an Oyster 72. Both were immediately and continuously marketed for charter through the Oyster Charter service until the Sheas sold Magrathea in 2015.

Charter allows owners to offset the costs of running their boat and employ crew to maintain it year round. That can keep a yacht in prime order and provide extraordinary value in terms of carefree, luxury sailing and boat ownership.

After crossing the Atlantic in his Oyster 54, Alan Parker found his horizons expanding. “I wanted to travel further, sailing in the Caribbean in the winter and the Mediterranean in summer, and maybe even further into the Pacific,” he says. He owned a property in Mallorca and thought that an Oyster 82 “could be the same as having a villa but be mobile”, so he sold the villa and bought the five-year-old Dama de Noche for charter and his own use.

“It has turned out to be a great combination. I have a large boat for my personal use but at the same time I have an income from the chartering business,” he says.

Having a full-time professional crew means Parker and his family get to use their boat perhaps more than they might otherwise do. “Being a charter boat it is used much, much more, doing the Caribbean season in winter and the Med season in summer so we are chartering 12-20 weeks a year. But we use it ourselves for about ten weeks a year and we’ve crossed the Atlantic twice,” he says. “Our experience with charter is that you tend to have bigger horizons and go more places.”

Why Charter a Yacht?

Oyster’s charter management service was set up in 2005 by the then company owner Richard Matthews and Molly Marston. Why charter a yacht? Chartering is something to be considered by anyone who is thinking of buying a yacht large enough to require crew, says Marston, Head of Oyster Charter.

A full-time crew will establish a consistent maintenance schedule, deliver the yacht to where it should be and look after the day-to-day minutiae. Working together with the crew to coordinate the charter and schedule details, Marston’s aim is to alleviate ‘ownership angst’. “You shouldn’t have to think about your yacht except when you’re using it,” she says.

Richard Matthews owns an extended Oyster 82, Midnight, which he charters through Oyster for about eight to ten weeks a year. “We give charter bookings a priority and then use the time around it,” he explains.

But he emphasises: “The key to the whole thing is understanding that most owners don’t expect to turn a profit, they do it as a way of offsetting running costs. For me, going back 30 years, I have always taken the view that it keeps the boat in better condition and I have the boat moved around. Chartering makes sense, otherwise a boat is like a horse in a stable: it continues to eat.”

The Right Formula for Charter

So what is the right size of yacht for chartering and what are the costs and income that you could expect? Molly Marston says that “56ft and above” is ideal. Yachts of between 60ft and 70ft would need two crew and from 80ft upwards you would need three: a skipper, mate and stewardess.

The Oyster 885 is something of a sweet spot, in that it borders on superyacht territory yet stays within the 24m ruling for charter coding. Above this size, additional crew, such as an engineer and another stewardess, would be required.

Typical rates for charter vary from €18,000 a week for an Oyster 625 to €45,000 a week for an Oyster 885. If using the Oyster charter service, the owner will net 80% of that.

A yacht has to be available in the right places at peak times, typically in the Caribbean over the winter, and the Mediterranean or New England in the summer. During the winter season from December to April, it is possible for an owner to sail for three weeks and charter their yacht for between four and eight weeks (the latter if the yacht is new) before heading across the Atlantic to Europe.

Owners who want to maximise income have to be reasonable about the use they make of it themselves, says Molly Marston. “But that won’t compromise your enjoyment with reasonable use,” she says.

“As a business, it depends how much personal use you are going to get out of the boat – that is the 64,000 dollar question,” agrees Richard Matthews. “Where and when are you using it and does it leave enough capacity to have a viable business as well?”

“In most cases, I would say yes, but it depends on family circumstances. It works really well provided you don’t have expectations to use your yacht continuously in the high season. You will need to be realistic. Christmas, Easter and the high season of July and August are prime times and if you want to use it then yourself, you may be disappointed,” he advises.

“With the right crew, you offset potentially 50% of maintenance costs with a hands-on approach, ongoing work that would otherwise need to be paid for. And it is a huge advantage that you can turn up and your boat is totally ready to go and the menu planned.”

How Does Yacht Charter Work?

Oyster Charter advises on everything from the best layout and models when considering a new build or buying a brokerage yacht for charter, to what equipment and guest amenities are popular. It will also recommend a management company to help with corporate set-up and regulatory requirements, such as MCA coding and MLC compliance, which may be needed to ensure the vessel is legal to charter.

So, how does yacht charter work and how can Oyster Yachts support? Oyster Charter markets the yacht worldwide to clients and industry brokers, puts together all the contacts and charter schedule, handles funds and is the liaison between owner, crew and guests. A starting point is always understanding how much an owner wishes to use their own boat, and where.

“The service means you don’t have to worry about all the contractual and payment issues,” says Chris Shea. “Much more significantly, Magrathea was marketed with full knowledge of my own plans for her use. Prospective customers were matched with the way we liked the boat and the crew to be used.”

“It is totally flexible and I adapt a programme to meet the owners’ views,” says Molly Marston. “If someone only wants to charter two weeks per year, that is fine. If they want as much as possible, that is also fine. The goal is to make chartering a good fit with each owner. We are one of the only companies with in-house charter management and it’s like a boutique – it is customised for the owner and it has to feel right.”

Most owners operate their yacht as a business and offset business costs, which means that they pay the charter fee and VAT in the country where they use their boat. “You can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds,” cautions Richard Matthews. “People fall into the trap of trying to have the best of both worlds and that is not realistic. EU countries have different rules pertaining to charter and a lot require a licence and undertake safety checks.”

He counsels that a good crew is fundamental in making charter work. Finding the right people is also something Oyster undertakes through its introduction and vetting service. “It’s all about having the right crew,” he says. “You are in a confined space and the crew have to strike the right balance as people have different expectations. They could want fine dining or hands-on sailing, or a party, or family time with swimming, snorkelling and paddleboarding.”

But he believes that running as a charter business actually helps with getting a suitable skipper and crew. “Good crew don’t want to sit on the dock. They are there because they love the sailing,” he says. Owner Alan Parker agrees. “You tend to find people who are more experienced and like being charter skippers and that opens up new possibilities,” he says.

Try it Out by Chartering a Yacht

If you want to know whether owning and chartering a yacht is for you, there is no better way than chartering someone else’s yacht first to experience how it works. It enables people who are not expert sailors to learn from professional crew. Guests don’t need any sailing knowledge at all, or they can be super energetic, do lots of miles and get hands on.

Even if you decide to buy an Oyster, chartering can be worthwhile. Chris Shea did exactly that while his Oyster 72 Magrathea was being built. “Building times are substantial so there is plenty of sailing to be done before delivery. There is also the issue of deciding on the options. What better way than to review them on real boats?

Better yet, why not quiz the crew mercilessly about what should and should not be added. The skipper of our third charter must have been climbing the wall with my incessant questioning as we sailed the Croatia coast.”

Now he has sold his yacht and is back to chartering on other people’s, he looks back on the experience as entirely positive. “Our crew were very careful and respectful of our feelings. It was extremely good, the boat was never damaged, the crew were happy and we had all the charters we wanted.”

Alan Parker says: “It has turned out to be a great combination having a large boat for our own personal use and at the same time an income. I am retired now so I could possibly squeeze in more time in terms of long distance trips and potentially go around the world or to New Zealand. That is going into a different phase of usage, though. For now, I have got a very happy medium.”

For more information, visit the Oyster Yacht Charter website.

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The sumptuous interior includes a fullbeam master suite, two double guest cabins and a midship sea-berth cabin. The galley can be either linear or U-shaped.

For more information, visit www.oysteryachts.com.

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