From the Caribbean to Australia’s east coast, Oyster’s latest world rally promises a bluewater voyage designed for owners seeking ultimate sailing experiences.
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British luxury yacht builder Oyster Yachts has announced plans for its next flagship global adventure, the Oyster World Rally 2030–31, a fully supported circumnavigation designed exclusively for owners of its bluewatersailing yachts.
The 16-month voyage will cover about 27,000 nautical miles across three oceans, beginning in Antigua in January 2030 and taking participants through some of the world’s most celebrated cruising destinations, including Australia’s east coast.
Limited to just 30 yachts, the rally is positioned as both a structured and flexible experience, allowing owners to explore independently while benefiting from comprehensive logistical, technical and safety support from a dedicated Oyster team.
Richard Hadida, Owner and Chairman of Oyster Yachts, said: “The Oyster World Rally represents the very essence of our brand.
“Oyster yachts are built to cross oceans in safety, comfort and style, and the Rally is the ultimate expression of that capability.
“But beyond the yachts themselves, it is about enabling extraordinary life experiences.
“To see owners commit to a dream that may have been decades in the making, and to support them as they realise it, is something very special. The Rally embodies our belief that time is the greatest luxury of all.”
Unlike competitive sailing events, the rally is non-racing and does not require yachts to travel in close formation.
Participants are free to diverge from the main fleet to explore remote anchorages or sail in smaller groups before reconnecting at designated ports.
Preparation begins well before departure, with an extensive training programme launched 18 months in advance.
Workshops, masterclasses and online seminars cover meteorology, navigation, yacht systems, medical and safety readiness, provisioning and passage planning, helping crews build the confidence required for a full circumnavigation.
Allie Smith, Director of Oyster Rallies and Training, said: “The Oyster World Rally is about community above all else.
“Every owner joins for a different reason, and every Rally develops its own character shaped by those taking part.
“Our team are all experienced sailors, from logistics to technical support, and that shared experience builds real trust.
“What makes this Rally so special is the balance it offers: complete freedom to explore at your own pace, combined with the reassurance that our team is with you every step of the way.
“Watching owners grow in confidence, form lifelong friendships and complete a circumnavigation remains one of the most rewarding parts of what we do.”
Owners planning to commission a new yacht for the rally are advised to allow a three- to four-year lead time, reflecting Oyster’s limited production capacity and the importance of a thorough shakedown period before departure.
Entries for the Oyster World Rally 2030–31 opened on March 3, with strong demand anticipated following the success of previous editions and growing momentum behind the brand’s global circumnavigation programme.
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Meta is betting on a human-first AI future, but growing legal battles and declining public trust are putting Mark Zuckerberg’s vision to the test.
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“Call us optimists. Call us dreamers. Call us whatever the hell you want, but we’re betting on people, and we like those odds. The future is for everyone.”
That ad copy is from the voice-over of a July Meta Platforms META -3.38%.
spot that’s been part of a public-relations blitz to position Meta as the humanist AI company. The message was undercut by the ad’s inclusion of David Bowie’s “Five Years,” a brooding 1972 song about an impending apocalypse. But this week CEO Mark Zuckerberg left no ambiguity, publishing a 6,500-word manifesto—about 10 times the length of this newsletter—with a title that echoed the ad: “The Future is for Everyone.”
That seems to be Meta’s new tagline. In light of sinking public opinion and the company’s thousands of lawsuits from states, school districts, parents, and users, Meta’s public relations have been defensive. This push represents a return to offense, with a chance to distinguish Meta’s approach to AI from other labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, or SpaceX SPCX +9.65%.
“It is surprising that the discourse from many developing AI is so filled with doom,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future.”
Zuckerberg frames what sort of future we build with AI as the central issue of our time. “We believe that delivering superintelligence to everyone is the way to answer this question,” he says. “This has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests, and improve their lives and the world more than ever before.”
The flood of words belies the situation on the ground in mid-2026. Americans, at least, have a love-hate affair with social media. A November Pew Research Center poll reported that 71% of U.S. adults used Facebook, and 51% used Instagram. Worldwide, 3.6 billion people use at least one Meta app every day.
But in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in July and August, 61% of respondents said they wanted more government oversight of social media, and two-thirds supported laws to keep children under 16 years old off the platforms. When it comes to Meta in particular, in the 2026 Axios Harris 100, an annual poll about corporate reputation, Meta placed 96th out of 100. It’s only above two other social media companies, Chinese ultracheap retailer Temu, and Spirit Airlines, a defunct air carrier. Regarding ethics, Meta came in last, and it was only ahead of TikTok in trust.
The steady drip of headlines in the teen social media trials isn’t helping. Last week, Meta lost a judgment in New Mexico state court that raised their liability in that relatively small jurisdiction to nearly $1 billion dollars. On Wednesday, jury selection began for a federal case with four states suing Meta over addictive product design, and false marketing that said its platforms were safe for teenagers. In July, Meta claimed that the states are asking for a total of $1.4 trillion in damages, in addition to design changes in the apps. This is part of a multidistrict litigation, where thousands of federal trials with social media defendants are coordinated in Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ district courthouse in Oakland, Calif.
There is a separate such group of thousands of cases in California state court, mostly with individual plaintiffs. The steady drip of bad headlines from the courts will continue unless Meta decides to settle en masse.
Meanwhile, in the second quarter, Meta booked “$2.40 billion of charges related to legal proceedings,” according to its quarterly filing. That may be just the beginning.
Zuckerberg spent 6,500 words getting his utopian message out, but I can sum it up in two: Trust us. The evidence is that Meta has a long way to go to win back that trust.
