Oyster Regatta
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Richard Mathews who founded Oyster over 35 years ago was
a great marketing man and as well as making great seagoing boats he used his
marketing skills to sell a lifestyle dream to "make the world your
Oyster". Some years before we decided to buy an Oyster we received
DVD's and quarterly magazines showing the range of boats in exotic locations,
racing in clear turquoise waters and partying as the sun went down on white
sandy beaches.
It was very easy to buy into this dream and from the
outset we were determined to attend at least one regatta even though we did not
know the first thing about racing a boat. Having decided to miss the Mediterranean regatta held in
Palma, Majorca so that we could spend time in Morocco, the next opportunity was
here in Antigua over the Easter period. A record entry of 30 boats had signed up with boats from
Norway, Denmark, Italy, USA and the UK with sizes ranging from 43ft to 82 ft.
There were a total of 8 56's and we were given a class of our own making for
some very close and competitive racing.
Our crew consisted of myself, Trish who was hampered
throughout by a prolapsed disc in her back, Katie who had not sailed for a
number of years and had no racing experience, Yann who had no hands on sailing
experience having only made the passage from St Lucia, Adrian who had crossed
the Atlantic with me but had no racing experience and Helen who had come out
for a day sail before the start of the Arc and had no hands on experience
either. All in all a rookie crew!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With Adrian and Helen flying in the day before the
regatta we were able to get only about 3 hours on the water to teach the team
the basics. I had never raced a boat in my life before and had made a
point of keeping clear of other boats as well as the hard stuff like rocks,
reefs and any land we did not want to tie up to!!!!!
The regatta really lived up to expectations and there was
plenty of incidents with a 53 T boned by a 72, 2 boats going aground on a reef,
a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it was supposed
to be gentleman's racing!!!!!!! The dinners and BBQ's each night were excellent and in
some spectacular locations and the awards dinner was fantastic.
Jens the skipper off Flying Duckman got up singing with
the band and was really very good and also did a song he made up off the cuff
about Oysters sailing around the world with pretty girls on board. All in a
blues style…very, very good. We did not race on the last day as Tricia's prolapsed
disc was feeling the strain and Helen had come off the seasickness patches and
was feeling queasy. Both girls offered to get off the boat and let the four of
us race, but we came as a team of six so skippers decision said no we would
stay together. The upside was we got to see the start of one of the Classic
Regatta's races and got some fantastic shots. We picked up one award for our 3rd place and Astahaya
picked up an extra award for the 1st in the 2nd shortened race when we were 2nd
(only prizes for first place awarded for the two short races) They were also
3rd overall and pipped us by just ¾ of a point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a 4th in the combined day 1 races, 3rd in day 2,
5th in day 3 and 9th on the day we did not race. 4th overall. Not bad really but the competitor in me always explores
the what if’s. Too many mistakes on my part cost us the 3rd place
overall and better placings in some of the other races. e.g 6 minutes late over the line in the first race by
being FAR too cautious, missing the buoy at the end of the line in the 2nd race
because I was worried about a boat coming across the line although we had right
of way (we would have been 1st) and calling a tack too soon when rounding an
island losing us 2 places to boats that beat us by less than a couple of
minutes!!!!! You can see the great photos taken by Tim Wright on his
website www.photoaction.com
There are some truly memorable shots and should be
uploaded within a week or so. Still we all had a great time and I learnt a lot about
how to sail the boat better and most of the other boats had very experienced
crews with racing experience, so all in all we should be pleased with our
results. 1st Magrathea 8.5 2nd Blue Dreams 8.75 3rd Astahaya 14.75 4th Curious 15 5th Sea Mist 16.75 6th Stardust 17 7th
Zena 20
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