{"id":49945,"date":"2023-03-24T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=49945"},"modified":"2023-05-06T18:21:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T22:21:40","slug":"oyster-625-papillon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/people\/oyster-625-papillon\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Fly: Longtime Sailboat Racers Discover Cruising On Their New Oyster 625 Papillon<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Oyster <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Oyster owner Barry Parkin says that owning a cruising sailboat is \u201ccompletely different from the challenges of racing.\u201d Simply figuring out all the onboard systems is a major learning curve.<\/span>\n Pedro Martinez\/Courtesy Oyster Yachts<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

Barry and Sue Parkin had already lost one sail. They were really, really<\/em> hoping that they wouldn\u2019t lose another as they screamed toward the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their No. 3 jib tore straight across and blew apart the second time they took the helm of their recently purchased Oyster 625, Papillon<\/em>. It was a 2013 build, and the sails that came with it were probably a decade old, with levels of wear and tear that they were still sussing out during September\u2019s Oyster Palma Regatta off Spain\u2019s Balearic Isles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time we did a sail maneuver, it was the first time we\u2019d done it on that boat,\u201d Barry says. \u201cWe were working on how to get these sails up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, it was the last of three days of racing, and Papillon<\/em> was in a battle for first place with the Oyster 625 Peregrine Falcon<\/em>. With their r\u00e9sum\u00e9s as Olympic sailors, the Parkins certainly had their competition worried, but what had started out as a 5-knot breeze had whipped up to a 20-knot blow. As they pushed the boat on the last leg of the course, they didn\u2019t know if the old genoa would hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese were laminate racing sails,\u201d Barry says, adding that they had deteriorated just by being stored. Still, the Parkins kept the pressure on. \u201cThey have some good crew on Oysters. Some of the other boats had professional sailors on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had asked the couple a few decades ago whether they would likely find themselves in that kind of a race, aboard that kind of a sailboat, they both likely would have said no. But now that they\u2019re both 58 years old, with three of their four children out of school, they\u2019re starting to think about sailing a lot differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the 1980s and \u201990s\u2014when you didn\u2019t have to be a full-time sailor to compete in the Olympic Games\u2014Barry and Sue were both good amateurs. He\u2019d grown up in southwest England, in Falmouth, while she was raised in Brightlingsea on Britain\u2019s east coast. They both learned to sail and race as kids and continued racing through college, until they graduated and got jobs. Sue became a math and physical education teacher, while Barry became a graduate trainee as an engineer with Mars Inc., building and designing production lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Oyster <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Oyster Regatta Palma 2022<\/span>\n Pedro Martinez\/Courtesy Oyster Yachts<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cWe both then carried on racing at the highest level we could, using all of our vacations and weekends,\u201d Barry says. \u201cSue went to the Olympics very young. She went to the 1988 Olympics in the 470, then again in \u201992 and \u201996. She did that while continuing to do women\u2019s match racing in keel boats between each of the Olympics while still working full and part time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took him a bit longer to get to the Games, but while working his way through different jobs with Mars and \u00adracing all over the world, he kept at it. \u201cI really had a serious attempt at the Olympics at the end of \u201994, when I was 30,\u201d he says. \u201cI got together with a team, and we went to the Olympics in \u201996 and 2000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during the run up to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta that Barry and Sue became really good friends as teammates. They married soon after. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Barry\u2019s career at Mars kept advancing, all the way to global head of procurement and sustainability, the job he holds today. \u201cI\u2019ve worked for them for 37 years now,\u201d he says. \u201cDuring the period when I was training for the Olympics, I was at director level, and they supported me by giving me a lot of time off to train. But the week after the Olympics finished, I went back to work and carried on with my career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, both he and Sue have continued to race\u2014now for Uncle Sam, as US nationals who split their time between Connecticut and Florida. Ahead of the Oyster regatta in September, Barry competed in the International Etchells Worlds in Cowes, England, and he\u2019s planning to compete in the Etchells World Championship in April on Miami\u2019s Biscayne Bay. Some of their kids too have caught the bug; 24-year-old Jack was a world youth champion who\u2019s now an investment banker at JPMorgan in New York, sailing in his spare time, while 16-year-old Freddie\u2014still in high school\u2014became world youth champion on the 420 in July 2022 on the North Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Oyster <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n \u201cSusie\u2019s always had this dream that once the kids are gone, we\u2019ll head off and do some cruising, see parts of the world we\u2019ve never seen. We have this idea of sailing around the world.\u201d\u2014Barry Parkin<\/span>\n Tom\u00e0s Moya\/Courtesy Oyster Yachts<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Sometimes, just for fun, they all head out on Long Island Sound to race against one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRiverside Yacht Club in Connecticut, where we live in the summer, has the biggest frostbiting fleet in the country,\u201d Barry says. \u201cThese are singlehanded, and on any given Sunday in the winter, you\u2019ll have about 50 boats on the start line. It\u2019s all weight-equalized, so we can all race each other. We\u2019re very competitive. [My sons] generally beat me now\u2014not always, but generally. I say, \u2018Sure, you can beat me in a 10-foot boat, but maybe not in a 30-foot boat.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple did have boats of their own before buying the Oyster 625, with their biggest previously being a 36-foot Sessa powerboat for cruising in the Northeast (because, Barry says, \u201cthere\u2019s not a lot of wind in the summer up there\u201d). But with Freddie now looking at colleges and the other three kids well into adulthood, they have a vision of setting a course much farther into the distance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSusie\u2019s always had this dream that once the kids are gone, we\u2019ll head off and do some cruising, see parts of the world we\u2019ve never seen,\u201d Barry says. \u201cWe have this idea of sailing around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, the shopping began for a boat that would let them do it. Oysters are built near where Sue grew up in Britain, and the couple knows people who work for the yard. They always liked Oyster yachts\u2014a premium brand made for shorthanded, comfortable, bluewater cruising<\/a>\u2014but what really sold them was the Oyster owners\u2019 association and the company\u2019s Oyster World Rally, a fully supported, global circumnavigation<\/a> that starts and ends at the Caribbean island of Antigua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re cruising in company with the technical support and the peer support,\u201d Barry says. \u201cThey train you, and you have great social events. So it lowers the bar on doing that trip considerably, versus heading off on your own. It makes it accessible to people who don\u2019t have a lot of experience, which is us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest challenge, he says, will be learning to make sense of such a complex boat. He\u2019s learning all the Oyster 625\u2019s systems\u2014generators, watermakers, ice makers, air conditioning, navigation equipment\u2014that never factored into the Parkins\u2019 racing lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s the challenge of being on a boat day after day after day,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of that is completely different from the challenges of racing on a small boat, where you\u2019re on the water for maybe six or eight hours, maybe an overnight race, but it\u2019s a sprint. You\u2019re concerned about what might break on the boat, but you have very different safety considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Oyster <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n \u201cThere\u2019s the challenge of being on a boat day after day after day. All of that is completely different from the challenges of racing on a small boat, where you\u2019re on the water for maybe six or eight hours, maybe an overnight race, but it\u2019s a sprint.\u201d \u2014Barry Parkin<\/span>\n Tom\u00e0s Moya \/ Courtesy Oyster Yachts<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

So far, they\u2019re happy with their choice of Papillon<\/em>. Buying Hull No. 5 (previously Lady Mariposa<\/em>) substantially reduced their required upfront investment, and they\u2019ve put the boat into the Oyster Yachts charter fleet at a weekly base rate of $22,000 to help offset their expenses. This winter, Papillon<\/em> will be in the Caribbean, where they plan to cruise in between charter use. For summer 2023, the boat will be in New England, and they hope to do the Newport Bermuda Race in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere along the way, they\u2019re \u00adeagerly anticipating spending their first-ever night aboard while sailing offshore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent many days and nights on boats in the past, but an Oyster is \u00adpretty luxurious,\u201d Barry says. \u201cYou\u2019re not \u00adslumming it. The owner\u2019s cabin in the back is full width. It\u2019s really, really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, they\u2019ll be racing Papillon<\/em> when the opportunity arises, as it did in the Balearic Isles shortly after they took delivery in fall 2022\u2014when they were in a battle for first place aboard their boat that they barely knew, and weren\u2019t sure if the genoa would hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their best efforts that day, the old sail gave out on them after about five hours of racing, just before Papillon<\/em> got to the finish. Peregrine Falcon <\/em>took the top spot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to put up a different one. It was just another older sail, but that cost us the win,\u201d Barry says. \u201cBut we were there to have fun, so we weren\u2019t that upset. We learned a lot about the boat, which sails great. It will do 9\u00bd knots upwind and 12 knots off the wind with an asymmetric up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barry, Sue and all their friends who were on board that day are eager for another shot at a win. Their next opportunity against the Oyster fleet will be the Oyster Antigua Regatta in April, based at Nelson\u2019s Dockyard in English Harbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s likely to be a sizable roster of skilled competitors there too, given that the regatta will include a celebration of Oyster\u2019s 50th year in business, as well as a welcome home for boats completing the 2022-23 Oyster World Rally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair notice to all: By then, the Parkins will have Papillon<\/em>\u2019s new sails. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barry and Sue Parkin, after a lifetime of Olympic-caliber racing, are learning the basics of cruising life and preparing for a circumnavigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":49947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Kim Kavin","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"165","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Sailboat racers switch to sailboat cruising on an Oyster 625. Olympic-caliber sailboat racers Barry and Sue Parkin prepare for a circumnavigation.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"ad_targeting":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true},"categories":[165],"tags":[617,1241,197,1948,195],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}