Oyster is a celebrated name across the marine industry, synonymous with quality and innovation. Despite some difficulty in previous years, Oyster have established themselves as the world’s leading builder of Blue Water Cruising yachts, with their latest release the Oyster 565 being no exception. We sat down with Paul Adamson, their Chief Commercial Officer to talk about what has made Oyster so successful, even in the wake of big changes within the business.
“Every boat that we build is capable of sailing around the world, and that's why everywhere you go in the world, you will find an Oyster. As a business group, we’ve established ourselves as a dominant brand. It's then grown and grown again, so when Oyster changed hands two years ago to its current ownership, our job then is to grow the business again.”
When we asked what he thought are the key areas that are going to help them achieve this, Paul told us how two particular parts of the business aid Oyster’s evolution: “One side is [people] actually investing in an Oyster and the other bit is the family. Both are a really, really important part of what we do.”
“When you invest in an Oyster, you're not just investing in a yacht, you're actually joining a family. That family starts from all the guys that build the yachts, all the people that they meet throughout the whole of the business, all the way through to that when the yacht is handed over as well as all of the aftercare service that we provide. We really are the best in the world at this.”
We delved further into what Oyster do to stay at the top of their game, in terms of customer service: “Simple things like this, in the middle of the Atlantic, [our owners] can phone us up from the sat phone, we know every little detail about that yacht and therefore if something's not working on board, we can generally fix it over the phone. If not and it needs spare parts, we’ll make sure those spare parts are there on the dock wherever they’ve arrived in the world.”
“The aftercare service that we provide is second to none and many owners, once they find us, they stay in the family. Sailing should be fun, but maintenance is a routine part of yacht ownership so it’s making sure that we can support the owners in the field with that and make it easy.”
The second area they consider to be key to their growth is the Oyster Family - by purchasing one of their models, you are also buying into their ‘community’.
“We run incredible events. An example of that would be our regatta that we run every year in Palma. We tend to find that 30 to 40 yachts turn up for that. It's very much low key racing with amazing events in the evenings, wining and dining etc. It’s really cool, every two years, we do the same thing in the Caribbean.”
“Our flagship event is our Oyster World Rally. When people buy an Oyster, what they're really buying is an adventure machine. And part of that is that our owners are adventurous and they want to go off and explore the world. What better way to do it then to actually join a fleet of 30 Oysters and sail around the world over a period of just under two years?”
The 3rd World Rally leaves Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua on 12th January 2022. Highlights of the trip include: the Panama Canal, the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Fiji, the Whitsundays in Australia, Komodo National Park, Christmas Island followed by Christmas in Cape Town.
Learn more about the route here.
“Leading up to that event, we have a number of seminars where owners can train in terms of how to look after their systems on board the yachts, weather routing, safety on board, what medical training they should have, everything is covered.”
Oyster’s seminars are a great way of bringing their community together, allowing owners to train in sea survival, medical training, on-board systems, yacht preparation, ocean navigation and weather. This will allow all participants to be completely prepared for the journey ahead, another step of aftercare that makes Oyster’s family all the more special.
“There’s 30 places, 15 already gone. In terms of people wanting to do it, we've got a waiting list as long as our arms. But again, that's all about having the Oyster experience, but on the far side of the world.”
“I did the first Oyster World Rally, as the skipper of the first Oyster 805 and that was the most incredible life changing experience. Absolutely amazing.”
Learn more about how to sign up here.
Paul’s passion for Oyster is evident, speaking to him it seems that while the boats are industry leading and incredibly well crafted, the actual heart of the business is what happens once the real sailing begins.
“We help to create dreams, we just happen to also build yachts. The yacht is the platform to go off and have an amazing experience. Whether it’s quality time with the kids, friends and family or with just your other half, it’s going off and experiencing life at a different level.”
So what’s next for Oyster in 2020? Paul let us into this year’s plans: “In the next year we're going to release a new model, which will be a sub 50 footer. The 595 is going to be launched towards the end of this year, and also we're going to be announcing our 4XX project. [It’s called the] 4XX because we're not going to tell you the size, everyone’s speculating!”
“Hopefully we’ll be able to release her into the market by Southampton Boat Show. The next new model that will physically be on the water will be the Oyster 595, so we're very excited about her.”
View all Oysters for sale here.
