So there you are lounging around on your Hallberg-Rassy 64 but starting to feel a wee bit cramped. Time to move up, and this new 88-foot, 10-inch Oyster looks good. The design is by Rob Humphreys. This is a big boat, and to help you get a feel for the size increase over the H-R 64, consider that this Oyster, while 23.87 feet longer than the H-R, roughly 33%, displaces 163,142 pounds, more than twice that of the H-R 64. So when you think of "size," remember that volume is a cubic function on length. The Oyster 885 will most certainly be a boat that will require a paid crew or a large, very skilled sailing family.

The L/B is 4.28, and using the Oyster numbers the D/L is 146. There are two keel configurations, the standard drawing 11 feet, 6 inches and a "Supershoal" keel drawing 7 feet, 1 inch with the board up and 16 feet, 7 inches with the large centerboard down. There are twin rudders. This works in two ways. With two rudders you can have far less rudder depth, for shoal draft, as there will always be one blade immersed when the boat heels, and it frees up the centerline area aft so that you can have dinghy stowage under the deck with room for your toys to slide between the two rudder posts.

With chartering in mind the 885 is laid out with a palatial owner's cabin aft and three more essentially equal guest staterooms, two aft and one forward. There is direct access from the owner's stateroom to the "terrace on the sea." Most of us call this the "swim platform." The main saloon is arranged with a huge seating area to starboard and settee and nav station to port. Forward of the main cabin is the galley and crew's quarters. Forward of the crew's quarters is a large fo'c'sle.

The rig is tall with an "I" dimension of 114 feet, 4 inches. So you'd better figure on a bridge clearance of at least 125 feet to be safe. The SA/D is 20.3 with an in-mast furling mainsail, although most of the renderings show a Park Avenue style trough boom. The triple spreaders are swept 19.56 degrees with the chainplates out at the bulwark.

This is a very interesting deck. Starting aft there is that "terrace" that I presume has access to the area below for toy stowage. But the drawings do not show anything in terms of a large opening except for one hatch off to starboard. The drawings show two companionways leading off the platform but I'm not sure why there are two. One leads to the owner's stateroom. The cockpit is a divided affair with the guest area being forward of the twin wheels with a large dinette to starboard and settees to port. Aft of the twin wheels the renderings show recliner lounges but they are right in the way of the winches so they may be an artist's touch. I suppose you could push the button to bring the jib in while reclining. Forward of the mast things get really interesting, as there is what appears to be a well or a hot tub perfectly contoured to house the dinghy with only half the dinghy protruding above the deck.

LOA 88'10"; LOD 85'6"; LWL 79'4"; Beam 20'9"; Draft 11'6" (standard), 7'1"-16'7" (Supershoal); Displacement 163,142 lbs.; Ballast 46,300 lbs.; Sail area 3,789 sq. ft.; SA/D 20.3; D/L 146; L/B 4.28; Auxiliary Cummins QSB.9 355-hp; Fuel 924 gals.; Water 528 gals.

Oyster Marine USA
Newport Shipyard, One Washington St., Newport, RI 02840
(401) 846-7400
www.oystermarine.com

Our Best Estimate of the sail-away price
o.b.e. $9 million