The End of the Oyster World Rally

The Oyster World Rally is over! The culmination of this stupendous circumnavigation was celebrated first on Tuesday, 4^th April and second on Wednesday 12^th April. On the 4^th, all the Oyster circumnavigators sailed their elegant yachts, which have served as home for a year and a half or more, across the finishing line (between Berkeley Point and the Oyster 82 foot yacht Midnight). A canon was fired from the deck of Midnight and the Oyster Support staff congratulated each yacht on the VHF radio as we soared across the line in the plentiful wind. On Irene IV, we had donned our crew gear, red polo shirt and red cap emblazoned with the Irene IV logo and the Royal Irish Yacht Club harp, bust head, and crown. Crossing the line marked a momentous triumph for each of us onboard. We cheered and hurrahed in unison, deeply gratified at a victorious achievement accomplished. It was poignant, it was powerful, and above all a touching testament to courage and faith – courage to say yes and take the plunge, and faith in the success of the trip and in the prowess of our constant care giver, Irene IV. 

At 11:00, on the 12^th, on the lawn at the Admiral’s Inn in the renowned Nelson’s Dockyard, prizegiving and acknowledgements commenced. The day was characteristically bright and sunny. Spirits were high, and excitement palpable. Bodies were scrubbed and shirts ironed. It was the day that our circumnavigation was to be officially recognized. Each boat received a blue globe sitting atop an oval wooden plaque engraved with the Oyster logo, as well as a photo album, and a wine decanter etched with Oyster World Rally 22-23 and the boats name. There were prizes for the spirit of the rally, the oldest and the youngest circumnavigators, for able crew, the 100^th Oyster to circumnavigate, and more. Sipping Buck’s Fizz, we honored each other’s success.

That night we partied well into the night at Catherine’s restaurant on Pigeon beach. We sat with friends, who have become family, we vowed to stay in touch, how can we not, we have become so close, bound by a common experience which is so rare. Michael from Seabird gave the speech on our collective behalf. He spoke of the anomaly of being a circumnavigator. 600+ people climbed Mount Everest in 2022, whereas less than 200 people sailed around the world. It is an unusual and unique quest. As such, he continued, we are outsiders. We took a step outside the norm to follow a path less travelled. Michael then quoted a passage from the speech given by President Theodore Roosevelt, on the 23^rd April 1910 in Paris:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Michael contended that we have lived life, we have had the experience, we have stood, not in the arena, but on the boat deck of life and faced it full on, warts and all, failures and successes, hearts and heads bursting with enthusiasm. Never again will we be in a room of about 70 circumnavigators. We are amongst those special few who understand the feeling of spending time alone on watch in the South Pacific, a sky littered with stars, when a dolphin glides past lit up by multitudinous phosphorescence. He concluded, we are anomalous outsiders, who have had the courage to stand on the deck of life, to feel and experience deeply all the glories of nature and the closeness of friends who have shared it all with us.

We recognize how fortunate we are to have had this opportunity. We are profoundly grateful to Louis for including us in his adventure, allowing us to weave our own unique pattern in the rich fabric of the journey thus enriching the experience for all.