British boatbuilder Oyster Yachts has announced its first-ever sailing catamaran, the Oyster C60, unveiled at the Cannes Yachting Festival. It's a significant pivot: the company has spent five decades and 1,300 hulls building monohulls exclusively, and its bluewater yachts have long been a byword for ocean-crossing luxury.
The new cat is designed by French studio Berret Racoupeau, best known for the Fountaine Pajot range, and stretches to around 60 feet with a 30-tonne displacement. Owner and chairman Richard Hadida was candid about the motivation: plenty of buyers simply don't want to heel at 20-30 degrees, and for years they've been asking Oyster for the space and stability of a catamaran. The firm has finally answered, positioning the C60 as versatile enough for both coastal cruising and serious offshore passages.
Space is the headline figure — 110 square metres of connected interior and exterior living area, with a flybridge, a large forward cockpit and foldable transom platforms that open onto the water. Buyers can choose galley-up or galley-down layouts, and the boat works for private owners or crewed charter. Signature Oyster styling shows up in wraparound coachroof windows and triple 'seascape' hull portlights that give athwartships berths a view out.
Oyster insists it hasn't forgotten its offshore roots. The C60 carries 1,200 litres of fuel (with an optional 600-litre top-up), a metre of bridgedeck clearance, and the heavy-duty tankage and rigging the brand is known for. CEO Stefan Zschocke, appointed in July 2025, claims no rival cat offers this blend of luxury and bluewater capability — though rivals like Privilege and Discovery might argue.
There's a neat commercial parallel here. Former Rolls-Royce CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös, now an Oyster advisor, compared the move to Rolls-Royce launching its Cullinan SUV in 2019 — a decision that initially drew criticism but now drives over half the brand's car sales. His framing: 'An Oyster first, a catamaran second.'
Production logistics are interesting too. Oyster's main yard sits inland at Wroxham in Norfolk, which makes shipping out a wide catamaran impractical, so the C60 will likely be built in France, managed from the UK. A new Oyster monohull in the 50-foot range is also in development.
For travellers eyeing a serious cruising future, the ownership package matters: buyers get Oyster's usual support, aftersales network, regattas and its popular world rally, plus a new multihull training scheme to prepare owners for ocean passages. Who's it for? Experienced sailors wanting space without giving up seaworthiness, and monohull loyalists curious about the two-hulled life — a growing crowd in modern cruising.
