Maybird ( ex- Maya ) was designed by Fred Shepherd for Lt Col W C W Hawkes DSO, Indian Army (Ret), and built by Jack Tyrrell at Arklow, Co. Wicklow in 1937. Maybird’s various roles have included being a gentleman’s auxiliary yacht, an ocean passage maker and a Greenpeace coastal support vessel – Maybird’s story is truly compelling.
Maybird slipped her lines at Lymington in April 1972 bound for New Zealand. The picture above was taken on passage whilst in the Caribbean by Sandy Mill with David Armstrong helming. A video of their passage is included in the Voyages and Gallery sections. She was returned to the Solent in 2007 and has since undergone an extensive restoration over the last two years. A video of the restoration in included in the Restoration and Gallery sections
We relaunched her in December 2009 and she has sailed over 5000 miles during 2010 and 2011. Maybird won the Iolaire Block awarded by the Royal Ocean Racing Club for the oldest yacht to successfully complete the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race.
In October 2011 Maybird returned to Arklow where she was built by Jack Tyrrell back in 1937. She regularly cruises around the Irish and the west of Scotland’s coast. Generally she winters at Crosshaven, County Cork, where her first owner, Lt Col W.C.W. Hawkes DSO (1872-1947) learnt to sail as a child and lived from 1921 to 1934.
