Keel damage capsizes Oyster 825

Sailing into its 41st year, Hamilton Island Race Week is Australia’s largest offshore sailing regatta, with the 2026 edition attracting 194 entries for racing on August 16-22 through the turquoise waters of the Whitsunday Islands.

The event press releases paint a pretty glorious picture, but they also tend to gloss over anything negative, like when one of the competing yachts sink.

Americans Barry and Susie Parkin’s Oyster 825 Viva La Vida was launched in 2019, and had raced in the Caribbean 600 and the Les Voiles in St Tropez. They were sailing around the world as part of the Oyster World Rally, and Hamilton Island Race Week lined up as a mid-way stop. But that came to an end on August 21.

According to other news reports, the 82.5-footer was sailing downwind under spinnaker when it ran aground and began taking on water. When the ingress of water could not be brought under control, all ten people were successfully transferred to another boat. The lower part of the keel separated from the stump, and the boat turned over and sank.

Clarification: Viva La Vida is actually owned by four friends from Riverside Yacht Club/ New York Yacht Club: Barry Parkin, Edward Keller, Jens Mufflemann, and Christopher Church. The boat was bought with the intention of sailing around the world on the Oyster rally.

Design: The Oyster 825 was designed by Humphreys Yacht Design with a standard draft of approximately 11 feet, 3 inches. Previously, the Oyster 825 Polina Star lll lost its keel in 2015.