In its 40 year history, Oyster sold over a thousand yachts.
Their blue water cruising yachts were renowned for their exceptional levels of luxury, reliability, and build quality.
Yet now, that reputation lies in tatters and the blame has fallen on what went on after the yacht Oyster 825 Polina Star III was lost on Friday 3rd July 2015
Spanish coast of the Mediterranean, about 5 nautical miles South off Torrevieja.
Every story has two sides and now Alexander Ezhkov the owner of that yacht has published his own first-hand account of what happened to his yacht and how, in his view, the ailure to handle the dispute properly, caused for the liquidation of the shipyard
On a special website made to the order of Rugiero Universal Inc. and Mr Alexander V. Ezhkov he asks, “How could it ever be possible, then, that a new Oyster boat, delivered less than a year ago, literally fell apart in the open sea for no apparent reason, putting in grave danger not only the brand’s prestige, but the lives of its customers as well?”
Alessio Cannoni, the yacht’s captain had first raised his concerns regarding the suspected keel dislocation with Andrew Martin the shipyard’s project manager. He did so in the summer of 2014 after the yacht had made its maiden voyage to the Baltic.
The captain first visited the the boat when she was was around 80% complete. He says, “I couldn’t witness the build from the very beginning. At first, I was delighted at the prospect of captaining a boat built by such a respected yard. However, a week into the project, my euphoria was replaced by very different feelings – those people simply didn’t seem to know how boats are built! The list of lapses, big and small, that occurred during the build process, is endless. Yet, the shipyard has been quite arrogant in refusing to take responsibility for any of these faults.”
Little did he realise then that in July 2015 he would recount the loss of that yacht thus “”I ran to the cockpit and looked down to see water splashing above seat level. That was at 14:12. It became clear that the pumps were not coping and it was time to tell the crew to abandon ship. We pulled the life raft out of its recess; I signaled Mayday over the radio, reporting our coordinates (standing knee-deep in the water, literally), and grabbed a couple of life vests. At that instant, the keel fell off completely, and the yacht started to heel over. Barely five minutes passed between the first sounds of laminate tearing and the yacht capsizing…”
Read the whole story here. http://oysterstory.info/