Oyster Yachts has announced that it is to build catamarans – probably in France.
The move was unveiled during the Cannes Yachting Festival this week, where Richard Hadida – Oyster’s chairman and owner – says he’s delighted to see his dream coming true after finally being given permission by strategic director Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
Hadida has been hatching the catamaran plan since 2022. When Müller-Ötvös, of Rolls-Royce fame, came on board, Hadida laid out his plan but was strategically rebuffed. He believed Hadida had to get his house in order first. This continued for several years, while the company worked through large deliveries and other complicated facets of the business. Then, with Stefan Zimmermann Zschocke appointed as CEO in 2025, Müller-Ötvös finally gave the go-ahead.
Oyster C60 catamaran to offer ‘more comfort and more space’
Now, the company is launching a bluewater cat, the C60. Zimmermann Zschocke says it is about customer demand – he has been listening to what they want – as well as the market, which is seeing growing catamaran sales.
“When you look at owners, they want to have stability, they want to have space and they want to have the connections between interior and exterior,” he says.
The design is built to a three-part brief: to be a recognisable Oyster, able to explore and to create a balance between space and being truly bluewater.
“We feel there’s no one else but us who can do that,” he says.
Zimmermann Zschocke says the catamaran is for Oyster owners who want more comfort and more space. The company is well known for its dedicated owners, who stay in the family long term, so as owners look for easier sailing that appeals to the wider family – young and old – the market is arguably already there.
At 60ft (18.3m), it has 110 square metres of living space. “When you have done long passages, and even if you’re on a hundred-foot boat, the square metre shrinks by every week, by every month you are sailing, because the space also generates constraints,” Zimmermann Zschocke says.
This means the company is looking to create optimum areas where people can relax, with different spaces for living. It will feature foldable platforms on both sides and a “huge terrace”.
‘The next chapter’
Oyster is partnering with French naval architecture and yacht design firm Berret Racoupeau, drawing on the latter’s 30+ years of experience. “They are sitting in the centre of where catamarans are being built and engineered in La Rochelle. And as you all know, ninety per cent or even more of all catamarans are coming from France.”
Zimmermann Zschocke name-checks the new centre of excellence in Wroxham, where it has recently consolidated its manufacturing (the company ‘optimised its footprint’ in Southampton in May 2026), but says Oyster cannot build a catamaran there because it is far from the coastline.
“As you can imagine, the beam and transporting it by the street might not be easy. Therefore, the catamaran project will be steered by the Oyster team, but it will not be built in the UK, probably in France.”
But much remains to be decided.
“It’s not only about manufacturing, it’s about everything around it,” Zimmermann Zschocke says. “We would still need to decide on what we do with the joinery. We would still need to do all the engineering – all the supply chain, all the quality, all the logistics coming from Southampton. There will still be a lot of employment because of that. And we will continue with our product launches. So there will come even more.”
He continues: “The reason why everyone else is doing it in France is that you need to launch it from a manufacturing site where you can then deliver it as well to the customers. And France is really perfect for that.
“France for us is very easy because we just take the ferry. It is actually back to the old model of [Oyster founder] Richard Matthews, where he subcontracted most of his yachts.”
As it is the first time in the company’s history that it is building catamarans, the bluewater capabilities will be under scrutiny.
Zimmermann Zschocke lists the fundamentals needed to make it truly bluewater, including a low superstructure, trampolines at the front and a lot of clearance in the boat, and says “the whole setup will be, from a freeboard point of view, safe and easy to travel in.”
Oyster is calling this its next chapter. Currently, that means taking the process forward with Berret Racoupeau to finalise the design and make sure all the details and questions are answered, including technical matters, delivery and price.
“A sixty-foot catamaran is a bit like an eighty-foot monohull, give or take,” says Zimmermann Zschocke. “And that sixty feet, for us, is a sweet spot.”
Investigation into Oyster 825 capsize continues
It’s been a drama-packed few weeks for Oyster, after the 25-metre Oyster 825 sailing yacht Viva La Vida capsized during the 2026 Hamilton Island Race Week in Queensland, Australia, after suffering severe damage to its keel.
“I guess what is important is that Viva La Vida joined the World Rally, and they paused to make sure that they can join the Hamilton Race,” explains Zimmermann Zschocke.
He can’t say for certain what happened on 21 August, but notes that the Hamilton Race Committee confirmed Viva La Vida was sailing downwind with the genoa up in winds of 20 knots when it hit a charted rock.
“Then we have seen certainly that it capsized. I’m very happy that all the 10 people on board were actually able to leave.”
He is waiting for confirmation on its current situation, but believes it will continue to sail in the Oyster World Rally.
“The only reason why we believe in that is that the Mayday was 2.7 miles later than from the position of the rock.
“I guess we would need to wait for the investigation,” he concludes, pointing out that Oyster is “overachieving that ISO norm.”
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