Oyster 495 Carpe Diem yesterday won its class (ISC4) in the 91st edition of the Round the Island Race and was second overall in ISC, a class comprising 478 entries.

This was the first competitive foray for Oyster Yachts' newest, and smallest yacht in its new generation fleet. Carpe Diem was skippered by Paul Adamson, Oyster Yachts' Chief Commercial Officer, with Deputy CEO, Becky Bridgen and a team from Oyster Yachts as crew, including the Oyster 495 Project Manager, Mark Watkinson and Product Development Manager, Will Lane.

"The Round the Island race demonstrated just how competitive the Oyster 495 is on the race course – she is fast, really fast! It's yet more evidence that our new generation Oysters are equally at home crossing an Ocean as racing in a competitive fleet," comments Adamson.

"Our key strategy was to not get wrapped up in close quarter sailing battles, and to sail in clear air and race against the clock. We had a clean start, which made for good progress, and then a fast leg up to the western point of the Solent, which we followed with a slightly more conservative leg to St Katherine's Point before putting up the spinnaker and flying downwind to the finish," concluded Adamson.

The Oyster 495 was officially launched at the London Luxury Afloat show in April, and since then has been on a World Premiere Tour of northern Europe, before returning to Southampton in early June.

This was the first competitive racing outing for the new Oyster 495 and the win has demonstrated both her performance credentials and the fact she can hold her own against more thoroughbred racing yachts. The Humphreys-designed hull shape, twin rudders, precisely balanced displacement and sail plan make for high-speed passage making capabilities and her excellent sailing characteristics are echoed across Oyster's new generation fleet.

Early next month the 495 will make her way to the Mediterranean on the second leg of her World Premiere Tour. She will visit Barcelona on the 30th-31st July, before attending the Cannes and Genoa Boat Shows.