36mmthick

Alas Britain’s 150 yearlosing streak mustcontinue as the BritishTeam GBR was an earlycasualty in the LouisVuitton challengerelimination series.America’s Cup UpdateNevertheless the British took part withhonour and had some great results, atsome time or other beating some ofthe really hot contenders.This was the first British entry sincethe 12 Metre yacht, now owned byOyster’s Chairman Richard Matthews,raced for Britain in the 1987 series offFreemantle, Western Australia.It would appear that only teams thathave experience of multiplechallenges can gather enoughmomentum to be capable of actuallywinning the Cup. The upcoming 2003event has become something of afinancial arms race, but also providesa stage for some of the world's bestracing sailors.There was much British support inevidence for Team GBR, two of themost noticeable being the Oyster 62Oystercatcher XXIV and RestlessFarewell the Oyster 56 owned byMike Mayhew. Both yachts, whichhad sailed from the UK on their ownbottoms, carried huge, and we reallymean huge, Union Jacks.Oyster News will bring a ‘Brits eyeview’ of the Cup races themselves(best of nine series starting 15February 2003) in our next edition.www.oystermarine.com17Flying the flag 'Restless Farewell', Mike Mayhew's Oyster 56, was onthe racecourse supporting Team GBR for every race, Photo: Jon Nash