Adventure tourism is on course to reach $2 trillion by 2032, and the reason is clear: travellers with the freedom to choose are increasingly trading stillness for discovery. Oyster Yachts, the British shipyard famed for its ocean-going vessels, has long recognised this appetite. Its sold-out circumnavigation rallies have proved that the lure of bluewater adventure is alive and well.
The new Oyster Explorers Club Rallies offer a different rhythm that doesn’t require stepping away from life for extensive periods of time. These are ocean passages are self-contained expeditions that carry all the grandeur of long-haul voyaging, but shaped to fit contemporary schedules. Four months beneath the midnight sun of the Arctic Circle. Four months tracing the wake of Viking explorers across the North Atlantic. Nearly a year following the great sweep of the Pacific, or twelve months testing your nerve against Cape Horn.
Expertise Anchored at Sea
Each passage combines the exhilaration of offshore sailing with encounters ashore that feel like discoveries in their own right: a fjord-side village, a cooking lesson with islanders, a volcanic landscape revealed after days at sea.
Oyster’s team manages the planning, logistics, and technical details that might otherwise weigh heavy on an ocean voyage. Participants sail in the company of a curated fleet companions who understand the lure of open water and the camaraderie forged in such places tends to outlast the journey itself. Even on shore, a dedicated coordinator ensures that safaris, hikes, and cultural encounters are seamlessly woven in, so the adventure extends well beyond the deck.
Preparation begins long before the lines are cast. At the Bluewater Academy, seasoned instructors and local skippers share the kind of knowledge that books cannot capture: how to navigate weather windows, negotiate with harbourmasters, or read a coastline at dusk. It’s the kind of insight that transforms participants from passengers into sailors.
An Expedition into the Arctic
The Arctic Rally runs for four months, starting in Bergen, the route climbs north through Tromsø and the Lyngen Alps before reaching Svalbard, where the world feels untouched. With only eight yachts in the fleet, the experience is intimate, and feels almost secret.
The rally takes advantage of the brief Arctic summer when ice conditions permit access to these remote locations. You’ll experience the midnight sun whilst navigating glacier-carved fjords and ancient settlements that have witnessed centuries of maritime history. It’s sailing at its most raw and beautiful.
Retracing Viking Routes
The Viking Rally takes four months to trace the old Norse pathways across the North Atlantic. Eight vessels maximum. From Newport to Halifax, then St John’s in Newfoundland before heading north to Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and finally the Shetland Islands. You’re following the same routes that Viking explorers navigated centuries ago, though admittedly with rather better charts.
As you progress, the landscapes shift dramatically. Massive icebergs give way to volcanic terrain and wildlife appears when you least expect it. These waters have challenged sailors for generations, and they’ll challenge you too.
Pacific Islands at the World’s Horizon
The Pacific Rally takes eleven months to explore some of the most remote islands on the planet. Twenty yachts join this one, following a route similar to the company’s established World Rally. Antigua to the Panama Canal, then onwards to the Galápagos Islands, French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and finally New Zealand.
This is where the Pacific reveals its secrets. The unique wildlife of the Galápagos and the stunning atolls of French Polynesia that still feel impossibly remote. Each destination offers something different, culturally, ecologically and visually. These are places that simply don’t exist anywhere else, and most of them can only be reached by boat.
Chasing the Legend of Cape Horn
The Cape Horn Rally is not for the faint-hearted. Spanning twelve months, it begins in Antigua, threads through the Panama Canal, lingers at the Galápagos, then turns south through Easter Island and Pitcairn before reaching Chile’s wild fjords.
Patagonia greets sailors with mountains that seem to rise straight from the sea, glaciers that crack and thunder into the water, and channels that feel impossibly remote. Beyond lies the Beagle Channel, the Drake Passage, and finally Cape Horn itself is a name that resonates with every sailor who has ever dreamed of the sea’s farthest edges.
The rally combines challenging sailing conditions with the fellowship of ten participants who understand the appeal of such endeavours. Full training, logistical support, and technical assistance throughout allow participants to concentrate on navigation and seamanship rather than administrative concerns. The voyage offers an opportunity to test capabilities in some of the planet’s most remote waters.