Review of Oyster 48 Lightwave

Basic specs.

The Oyster 48 Lightwave is a large sailboat designed by the maritime architect Carl Schumacher in the late eighties. The Oyster 48 Lightwave is built by the British yard Oyster Marine Ltd..

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Hull

The hull is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season.

Rig

The boat equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Oyster 48 Lightwave is 1.89, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 8.6 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.

Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Oyster 48 Lightwave is about 367 kg/cm, alternatively 2058 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 367 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 2058 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Oyster 48 Lightwave is 3.39.

Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 58% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.

D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Oyster 48 Lightwave is 166 which categorizes this boat among 'light racers'.

76% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A light displacement requires less sailarea and has higher accellerations.

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Oyster 48 Lightwave with ISO 8666 reference sail is 18.8, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 22.3.

The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 46% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.

Maintenance

Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

**Guiding dimensions of running rig**
Usage	Length		Diameter
Mainsail halyard	43.0 m	(141.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard	43.0 m	(141.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Spinnaker halyard	43.0 m	(141.2 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Jib sheet	14.6 m	(48.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Genoa sheet	14.6 m	(48.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Mainsheet	36.6 m	(120.0 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet	32.2 m	(105.6 feet)	16 mm	(5/8 inch)
Cunningham	5.6 m	(18.3 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Kickingstrap	11.2 m	(36.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)
Clew-outhaul	11.2 m	(36.6 feet)	14 mm	(0.55 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's changes, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

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References

[Ref 1]: ISO 8666 Small craft — Principal data.
[Ref 3]: ISO 12215-5 Small craft — Hull construction and scantlings.