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Champagne Sailing for Oyster Fleet

Clear blue skies and an easterly breeze of fifteen knots provided champagne sailing conditions for the Oyster Fleet for the third day of racing at the Oyster Regatta in Grenada. The Race Officers opted for a 20-mile course starting with windward leeward followed by a tactical beat along the southern side of the island. The wind abated during the course of the race but the forecast light airs never really materialized.

Ray and Birgitte Charmak’s Oyster 53, Out of India had a great start, judging the line well and setting off at pace.

“I was determined to get a good start today.” Explained Ray. “We have been shy of the line on the last two occasions and as one of the smallest boats in the fleet, we always have most of the fleet in front of us. Before we decided to set off on our adventures with Out of India, Birgitte and I had hardly done any sailing at all, we really jumped in at the deep-end. Now we have sailed the yacht across the Atlantic and completed thousands of miles together, it has been a wonderful experience. After considering several options, we decided to go for an Oyster, for blue water cruising, it was a very good choice. We prefer a smaller yacht because it allows us to get away from it all and sail the boat by ourselves. But Out of India is not set up for racing, our main aim at Oyster Regattas is to have fun and we are certainly doing that in Grenada.”

“When we heard that Oyster were organising the regatta in Grenada, we were delighted.” Commented Birgitte. “It is a wonderful island with really fascinating and breath taking scenery. It is somewhere that we have enjoyed coming to before and to have all of our friends from the other Oysters here makes it even more special.”

Dolphin Race Day provided the fleet with a tricky passage race back to Port Louis. Special attention had to be paid to negotiating the Porpoise Rocks on the southwest tip of Grenada.

In Class Two, Alan and Sue Brook’s, Oyster 56 Sulana was once again victorious, with John McTigue’s Oyster 56, Blue Dreamssecond and Harvey and Sue Death’s Oyster 56, Sarabi third.

With just one race scheduled tomorrow, Sulana is the clear leader in Class Two having scored a perfect three bullets. However, as no race can be discarded, they can still be overtaken. Scott Bickford’s Oyster 56, Contingency has scored two podium finishes but could not keep up the performance and scored a 6th in the penultimate race. However Contigency still lie second in class. Ian Galbraith’s Oyster 53, Jigsaw remains in third place overall, even though they accepted a penalty in the Dolphin Sails Race, for touching the finish mark. In a great act of sportsmanship, they alerted their error to the race committee.

In Class One Jonathan and Jane Mould’s sporty Oyster 72, Kolukatook line honours and won on handicap by a significant margin from Chris and Susan Shea’s Oyster 72, Magrathea. Eddie Jordan racing Oyster 655, Lush was third.

Class One looks likely to be decided between two yachts. The Dolphin Sails Race was Koluka’s second win of the regatta. However, Koluka is just 1.5 points ahead of Magrathea. The final race will settle the outcome. Eddie Jordan on board Lush lies third overall.

The evening festivities took place at The Aquarium restaurant and beach bar. A stunning location for the Oyster family to enjoy the cool sea breeze and twilight views of Grenada's picture-perfect historical centre St. Georges. Set amidst tropical gardens with Koi carp ponds and a waterfall, Oyster owners and their guests enjoyed a barbeque of local fayre and a night under the stars at a fabulous location.

A photo gallery of the Regatta is available to view in the events section of the website.

Article by Louis Habib