Well it’s back to work as usual for LUSH and her new crew. After we said our farewells in Antibes the crew got straight onto preparing LUSH for potential viewing at the Monaco Boat Show. Yes that’s right folks LUSH is for sale. A couple of weeks later the crew sailed LUSH back to Palma where Paul had previously booked her into the yard there, to complete all the necessary warranty work with Oyster.

 

Thankfully over our two years at sea there weren’t any ‘showstopper’ issues onboard, however as with any boat, there was a couple of bits and pieces to get sorted along the way. LUSH is the first of the Oyster 885s and normally you’d expect a bigger ‘snag’ list especially with a yacht that’s first of a new design. There are a few reasons why LUSH sailed so successfully around the world. Oyster Yachts Southampton, where LUSH was built have an exceptionally super team of boat builders and craftsmen and women, who worked tirelessly to have LUSH in pristine condition for our departure in November 2012.

 

Eddie got Paul involved with the project a year previous to the launch. Paul and I both agree with Eddie that if you want a boat ready for a trip like this you need the captain, who’ll be running the yacht, involved in decisions of build and more so deciding what systems he wants onboard. I think a lot of issues people have with their luxury yachts is that they don’t get their crew involved early enough. Paul will go into his decisions on the build side at a later stage, he has some very interesting insights on this. Paul and the project manager, Alan Harmer, worked well together and Alan had an excellent handle on what Eddie and Paul’s objectives were.

 

Alan Coker and a couple of guys from the commissioning team sailed with us on our maiden voyage to Las Palmas. We were met by an Oyster team there to iron out any teething issues. Sailing in a Rally around the world also made a massive difference because you had the Oyster Team, Eddie Scougal and Debbie Johnson, nearby if you needed. Alan Canavan, our great engineer, moved to Southampton a few months before our departure, which meant he too was clear and happy with all the systems onboard giving him ample time to get all the necessary tools, spare parts etc for the circumnavigation .

 

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Last month, after two weeks in Palma, LUSH set sail for the Canaries and has just completed another transatlantic. She is now back in the Caribbean moored on our beloved island of Antigua. She is still for sale however Eddie will sail her in the meantime and (drum roll..) she is available for charter over the Christmas and the coming Caribbean season. At the moment the crew are busy getting her shipshape to show at the Antigua Charter Show next week (5^th-11^th Dec) Here’s a link to the show

https://www.antiguayachtshow.com/generalinfo.php

She is a superb charter yacht, with her forth guest cabin meaning she can take up to 8 guests. She stands out from all other yachts her size and up to 120 feet. You would be astonished with the amount of volume she on and below deck. Tim and Sibylla have run numerous charters over the years and will run an awesome holiday for their charter guests along with the deck/engineer Alvie and their new stewardess.  Drop us a line if your interested in chartering LUSH at info@sailingwest.com

 

In the meantime Paul and I are busy writing a book on our epic adventure and have had a few speaking engagements, where we “wowed” the audience with our story inspiring them to achieve their dreams too! We’re going to do a load more speaking in the new year mainly between the UK and Ireland. If you are running an event and are looking for some inspiring speakers, please get in touch on info@sailingwest.com

 

Paul is in the middle of a really cool new project, which will make a massive difference to a lot of sailors and skippers! He will be announcing this to our mailing list over the next month, so if your not on our list, Get on it!!

Click Here to Join Us Now!

One Life … living it, writing it and now speaking about it!!!

 

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