In an amazing few days of competing at the 2014 Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta, which was hosted by the fabulous Sardinia yacht charter destination – Porto Cervo in early June, the Oyster 885 super yacht Karibu provided an excellent performance. Luxury sailing yacht Karibu shone among the super-lightweight competitors in the same Class C.
Oyster 885 Yacht Karibu under sail - Photo by Ingrid Abery Photography
Swapping places daily – each day just seconds apart on corrected time – with superyacht Selene, the stripped out, lightweight Swan 80, and holding her own against sailing yacht Grande Orazio, a Southern Wind carbon special just a couple of feet shorter than Karibu but less than half her weight, Karibu raced with a mainly Corinthian and family crew. In fact, Karibu’s owner was one of very few in the fleet enjoying living aboard his yacht in comfort with his guests throughout the regatta.
Having pulled a remarkable 2nd and two 3rds against such stiff competition in the first three races, after the final light airs race on day four Karibu settled on 4th in class overall behind the Cookson 80 luxury yacht My Song owned by Mr Loro Piana himself, and ending still ahead of the 24m Hoek-designed sailing yacht Drumfire and three other Southern Wind yachts in her class. An impressive display.
With the 19 boat fleet split between three classes and sailing with staggered starts, superyacht Karibu captain Tim Corrie said of their showing: “The first few days were favourable to us as the breeze was stronger. On the final day when they called a last-minute course starting after 14:00 we were a little surprised due to the light conditions but nevertheless we went for it. We had a small gear failure which left us with just a main up for around three to four minutes which cost us but we had a fantastic time.”
The event throughout played a testing weather hand with on Day 1 the classic Porto Cervo serving of 12 to 20 knots with tactical duels testing nerve and teamwork, while Day 2 laid out two competing weather systems for challenging sailing in moderate then light winds on a 30 mile course shortened under a scorching sun.
Aboard Karibu, guest crew Jesper Bank said of the day’s sailing: “We had sensationally good conditions for 9/10ths of the race today. It seems we beat Selene yesterday by 18 seconds and they beat us today by 30 seconds, so something tells me that the International Super Yacht Rule is not too bad – we’ve got a race on! Given the conditions it was a good call by the race committee to shorten the course, and it was a good day in the office.”
Light winds again on Day 3 led to a battle of tactics upwind and then heavy traffic and loud banter on every rounding before stealthy nipping and tucking downwind.
As former Olympic helm and regatta commentator Shirley Robinson said: “The racing was spectacular… with breath taking passing moves keeping the tacticians busy and honest!”
So, a good event all round and, showing the versatility of the Oyster 885 at its best – comfort, style with now proven options to take part in the Superyacht Circuit – Oyster are proud to confirm that six of these great yachts, and four of her smaller sister the Oyster 825 yacht, have been sold in the past two years, with all built at the company’s wholly owned shipyard in Southampton.
