Gipsy Moth IV

The Gipsy Moth IV, the yacht, the Sir Francis Chichester in 1966 undertook a single-handed circumnavigation. When the ship is a 54 -foot ketch - is equipped with a tiller, which is unusual for a boat of this size - because of the need for autopilot. The yacht was designed in 1962 by John Illingworth and Angus Primrose and built by Camper & Nicholsons in Gosport.

Sailing around the world launched in Plymouth and ran through the Atlantic and around the Cape of Good Hope to Sydney; from there it passed back to Cape Horn to Plymouth. With a duration of 274 days (net 226 days ) it was the first single-handed circumnavigation of the globe with just one port of call, at the same time reached Chichester so his goal is to be faster than the best clippers.

After Chichester's death the boat on the right bank of the River Thames at Greenwich was issued ( London), in the immediate vicinity of the tea clipper Cutty Sark. In 2004, the slowly decaying boat from the United Kingdom Sailing Academy was purchased for the symbolic price of £ 1 and brought to the restoration in a shipyard.

In September 2005, launched a new circumnavigation, which should be changing crew members the opportunity to sail with the historic boat. This was completed in June 2007. Since then the boat in Cowes represents tours.