Escapade’s Pacific Passage
Oyster News, Summer 2000
We have now owned an Oyster for four years, and we still are amazed at how great a boat it is. Escapade is an Oyster 55, launched in 1996. We have traveled 27,000 miles and visited 342 ports in 16 countries and many islands since receiving delivery in Ipswich. Now we are in the middle of our circumnavigation and we completed the 3000-mile leg from the Galapagos to the Marquesas in 18 days, two hours. All other cruising boats doing it at the same time took longer to cross. Two Amel 53's, one ahead and one behind, took 20 days plus. Boats arriving from Puerto Vallarta, at approximately the same distance, also were taking longer, except for a 103' Royal Huisman, which took 14 days. Bottom line, Escapade did the passage quicker and with more comfort than all other cruising boats arriving in the Marquesas, including Swans, Hinkleys, Hallberg-Rassys, etc. In one 6-day period, we did 1200 nautical miles- for a 200 mile per day average. The best day was 212 NM, an average of 8.83 kts. Our passage from Santa Cruz to Fatu-Hiva started 27 March 2000.
When we pull into a harbor, everyone notices THE OYSTER. When you meet someone around the harbor or where yachties gather, they will often say, "So you are from the Oyster."
We read in the yachting magazines that people often take years to prepare a boat for going offshore, but an Oyster is ready as soon as it is built. Other boats have jerry cans, dinghys, wind vanes and other stuff cluttering the deck and transom, while an Oyster does not need any of that. We look clean and pretty all the time.
Another thing about an Oyster is that they are easy to sail. Long passages are pleasurable, not trials to be endured. A crewmember, who has sailed on many boats, wrote me about the passage across the Pacific and said that "The Escapade is the best prepared and easiest boat I have ever sailed. The biggest challenge was selecting another book, putting up awnings, and deciding which seasoning was to be used for dinner."
Yes, Escapade continues to please us.
