THE LIFE OF THE FIRST OCEAN RACER
A dozen FACTS about Gipsy Moth IV.
DID YOU KNOW THAT GIPSY MOTH IV …
- is the first sailing boat to be raced solo around the world in 1966/67?
- was sailed by Sir Francis Chichester who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for this first ever solo-round the world voyage?
- despite Gipsy Moth IV’s small size of 53 feet, she beat the times of the great tea clippers like the Cutty Sark?
- was designed by Illingworth and Primrose and is the first ever specifically designed round-the-world ocean racer?
- is a very light composite yacht made of Honduran mahogany and epoxy weighing 13 tons?
- was visited by more than 1 million people by 1977?
- has been either visited, inspected or sailed by the British royals on 5 official occasions?
- was out of the water on display at the British National Maritime Museum as Greenwich, London for 37 years?
- has a song written over her by the band DIRE STRAITS (“Single-handed sailor”)?
- has been restored twice to sailing condition in 2005 and 2022 and cumulatively more than 2 million pounds have been spent on her?
- was run aground on a reef, during her second circumnavigation in the South Pacific in 2006 and she was repaired by the Emirates America’s Cup Team New Zealand in Auckland?
- is the origin of ocean racing – and has inspired more than 45 round-the-world ocean races since her first voyage ?
