The story of the keel loss of S/Y POLINA STAR III and the liquidation of the Oyster Yachts from the owner's view.

It is a big image disaster when a sailing yacht loses a keel – the result is no stability and mostly leaks with water inflow. But the casket nail is the communication with the owner. The spontaneous liquidation of a good and big brand in the sailing and superyacht industry raises many questions. At the end of 2017, Oyster Yachts announced a full order book.

The owner of POLINA STAR III, Mr. Alexander V. Ezhkov and his team investigate also in the reasons of the liquidation on their website.

“This website was launched on 16 February 2018, following the liquidation announcement of Oyster Yachts. It was created to shed light on the practices of the Oyster Yachts owners and management.”

The price of an Oyster 825 is about 5 Mio. EUR. Pictures via the owner’s team of POLINA STAR III.

I met great people at Oyster. Marketing and PR supported me at any times and also the members of the yacht crew they sailed yachts to exhibitions were very kind. It was a pleasure and I hope to meet the people with other brands again.

New chapter for Oyster Yachts?

Update March 20th, 2018: Sailing Today reported, that Richard Hadida (co-founder of Evolution Gaming Group) will save the Oyster Yachts from liquidation.

“I believe we must save this great British brand and nurture it for the long term. But it needs to be a sustainable business: hard, quick decisions need to be taken. The boatbuilding industry needs to evolve like every other industry.”

Update March 29, 2018: Oyster Yachts published a statement by the new CEO Richard Hadida:

“As the new owner of Oyster Yachts, my immediate priorities are with our valued staff and loyal customers. I intend to get our team back to work, reemployed as soon as possible, and to recommence yacht production to fulfil the orders we have promised.

As a passionate advocate of Oyster Yacht and a lifelong sailor, I’m firmly committed to reestablishing Oyster as the premium designer and manufacturer of yachts in the word. I’m excited about the challenges ahead and look forward to sharing this journey with you.”

New life as CHAMPAGNE HIPPY

POLINA STAR III has been rebuilt and sails now under the new name CHAMPAGNE HIPPY.