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PYRA is about having fun and enjoying our sailing.
“For me that means going somewhere new, over the horizon, push the limits a bit, go faster, go further, stretch yourself, your crew and your boat and when you get there lap up the sense of achievement and have a Laugh. Camaraderie, banter and support when you need it”. Says Ken Morgan
Its good to win and certainly there’s some hard nosed competition, but that is only part of it. Shebeen isn’t the fastest boat on the dock (usually we’re on the outside of the trot and last in the bar) but we do PYRA to put a feisty edge on weekend cruises. We have won a few races, usually when the wind gets up and our old fashioned weight starts to count -when the going gets tough, the Ballads get going,
For me the 2005 highlight was the Night Race - two up, 2100 hrs start in the Bay, beating down to DZ off St Albans in a fresh breeze and black as pitch, port rounding crazy bright flashes in the darkness, kite up, accelerate away down the waves, thwack at the masthead as the halyard parts and the ghostly beast floats down over the bow, regroup, spare halyard and small kite, next problem is how to gybe short handed in lively conditions and dark, chew it over, say a prayer and the wind shifts taking us straight down to Needles Fairway, round within yards of Quartet, quietening down, working the tide and dying wind shifts to a bleary eyed finish off Stakes, Last on the water but a bloomin’ good breakfast laid on for all the crews at the Jazz Café.”
Ken manouvring the Avon in Omonville at a picnic during a lay day at Cherbourg
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