[Frank the Hammer]

Just found this on the BBC News site. Nice to see a true adventurer being brought back into the public eye and also good to see a "proper" yachtswoman with serious form at the ceremony........

"Princess rededicates famous yacht
Princess Anne is to rededicate Gipsy Moth IV, the yacht that adventurer Sir Francis Chichester sailed non-stop around the world in the 1960s.
The ceremony in Greenwich, south-east London, is due to be attended by Olympic gold sailor Shirley Robertson and a group of youngsters from Peckham.

It comes less than three weeks ahead of its second round-the-world trip.

The yacht was returned to its original shipbuilder for a £300,000 refit last year after 37 years in a dry dock.

The yacht had been on public display in Greenwich, but nearly four decades out in London's rain had taken its toll.

Amateur crew

An amateur crew is due to set sail in the Gypsy Moth IV from Plymouth on 25 September at the start of the Bluewater Round the World Rally.

It is part of the 40th anniversary of Sir Francis Chichester's epic 29,630-mile voyage, the first solo circumnavigation of the world by sea.

Sir Francis Chichester returned to Plymouth Sound on 7 July 1967, nine months and one day after setting sail round the world.

Thousands of small boats were waiting to accompany the 65-year-old yachtsman back to port, where he was given a 10-gun salute from the Royal Artillery.

The adventurer was later dubbed by the Queen with Sir Francis Drake's sword. "

[chrisba]

Gipsy Moth IV has been sailing around the Solent a lot recently. Lovely to see it sailing agin, but it is not the prettiest yacht ever built. The rig looks very short by modern standards, and there are some strange looking sails ( a very high clew jib, almost symmetric ).

It was flying a JOG burgee at the start of the Guernsey race a couple of weeks ago, but didn't actually do the race.

[wraith]

Frank the Hammer, on Sep 7 2005, 10:36 AM, said:

Sir Francis Chichester returned to Plymouth Sound on 7 July 1967, nine months and one day after setting sail round the world.

Thousands of small boats were waiting to accompany the 65-year-old yachtsman back to port, where he was given a 10-gun salute from the Royal Artillery.

I was there - my parents drove (about 6 hours) to pick me up from school, stayed one night (not much of a night, it was thoroughly dark when he landed, and we had a two hour sail back to the Yealm which was unlit). I was then driven back to school the following day. Whoever drove me there and back must have been a bit weary.

We managed to be right alongside the steps as he came ashore - almost crawling as he was so rubbery on his sea-legs.

[Potter]

QUOTE - The rig looks very short by modern standards, and there are some strange looking sails ( a very high clew jib, almost symmetric ).

The rig was shortened from its original to make it easier for Chichester to control. As for the sail pattern, I do not know, but they were trying out all sorts of wierd adn wonderful things back then. Esp people like Chichester adn Blondie Haslar.

It looks like they will have an UKSA skipper to do each leg, and the rest will be kids. What a great thing to be involved in. I also hear they are doing something similar with Sir Alec Rose's Lively Lady.

[Potter]

Frank the Hammer, on Sep 7 2005, 01:36 AM, said:

It is part of the 40th anniversary of Sir Francis Chichester's epic 29,630-mile voyage, the first solo circumnavigation of the world by sea.

Utmost respect for him and all, but wasn't the fist solo circumnavigation by Joshua Slocum?

[Frank the Hammer]

Potter,

I think that Blondie Hasler sailed across the Atlantic in a "junk" rigged Folkboat (26').

[Presuming Ed]

chrisba, on Sep 7 2005, 12:35 PM, said:

Gipsy Moth IV has been sailing around the Solent a lot recently. Lovely to see it sailing agin, but it is not the prettiest yacht ever built. The rig looks very short by modern standards

AIUI, result of a) Illingworth/ Primrose drawing a boat which was, what was it, 8' longer and several tons heavier than Chichester asked for, and b) Chichester refusing to allow sail areas larger than his original spec, for ease of handling. Result - the masts look a bit stumpy.

Quote

and there are some strange looking sails ( a very high clew jib, almost symmetric ).

A yankee. Very common at the time for cutters (and many boats were cutters) to fly a deck sweeping /low clewed staysail and yankee - means that the maximum chord of the staysail and jib aren't in the same place, and intefering with each other.

Much better to see her sailing than rotting at Greenwich, though.

http://www.ybw.com/albums/gipsy_moth_IV/adt.sized.jpg

[Potter]

Frank,

Yes, sorry, wasn't being clear. I meant that he tried out loads of different types of sails (outside of the norm). Not that he sailed around the world.

[Presuming Ed]

Frank the Hammer, on Sep 7 2005, 03:17 PM, said:

Potter,

I think that Blondie Hasler sailed across the Atlantic in a "junk" rigged Folkboat (26').

Jester. Did every Transat until she was lost at sea while under tow; so they built another.

Mind you, fairly mad ideas from Blondie Hasler weren't unique. Anybody who goes ocean racing in a 30 square metre is either a sandwitch short of a picnic, or has a different definition of uncomfortable, (but then again, anybody who canoes up the Gironde in 1942 to attach limpet mines to ships in Bordeaux must be a little eccentric to begin with).

[amolitor]

Francis was apparently the first solo circumnavigation with only one port of call.

[Frank the Hammer]

Then you have Uffa fox, sailing to France in his 14 for a regatta (in a shedload of breeze).

We could do with a few more Uffa Foxs, Ted Turners, Blondie Haslers, Chichesters etc. They brighten up any game.

[chuso007]

Potter, on Sep 7 2005, 04:15 PM, said:

Frank the Hammer, on Sep 7 2005, 01:36 AM, said:

It is part of the 40th anniversary of Sir Francis Chichester's epic 29,630-mile voyage, the first solo circumnavigation of the world by sea.

Utmost respect for him and all, but wasn't the fist solo circumnavigation by Joshua Slocum?

Slocum was the first, but it wasn't a non stop trip.

I have to say, that in that race the MAN was Bernard Moitessier, he was leading the race by a month (after passing Cape Horn) when he decided that in order to save his soul, he could not go back to Europe, so he went again under Cape Good Hope, Leewin and headed to Tahiti after 10 months at sea.

For me, he was the first to sail solo around the world....



(BTW, I don't consider him French, as he was raised in Indochina)

[Potter]

I agree about Moitissier, but Sir Francis did not do the Glden Globe, you are thinking of Sue Haili and Sir Robin K-J.

SIr Francis was before that, adn he stopped as well. So although Irespect all that he did, I do not know why he is given the title of 'First' to circumnavigate solo.

Can anyone shed some light?

[Presuming Ed]

Potter, on Sep 7 2005, 06:01 PM, said:

SIr Francis was before that, and he stopped as well. So although I respect all that he did, I do not know why he is given the title of 'First' to circumnavigate solo.

He's not.

He stopped once, in Sydney, for repairs and modifications to Gipsy Moth. IIRC, he always planned to stop - he was aiming to beat the time of the Clipper ships to Australia and back? At the time, his was the longest non-stop single handed voyage, and set up the idea for the Golden Globe.

Mind you, IMHO, his RtW voyage wasn't half as amazing as his trans Tasman flight. Taking sunsights while flying his plane with the stick between his knees (half standing in the cockpit), and then working out where he was - with no margin for error, given that he was aiming for some tiny islands half way across. Crashes on the islands, fixes the plane up himself (takes a good few weeks), and carries on.

[Presuming Ed]

chuso007, on Sep 7 2005, 05:42 PM, said:

Potter, on Sep 7 2005, 04:15 PM, said:

I have to say, that in that race the MAN was Bernard Moitessier, he was leading the race by a month (after passing Cape Horn)

Interesting definition of "leading", given that at Cape Horn he was actually 20 days behind, and never overtook Suhaili.

[wraith]

Frank the Hammer, on Sep 7 2005, 05:41 PM, said:

Then you have Uffa fox, sailing to France in his 14 for a regatta (in a shedload of breeze).

We could do with a few more Uffa Foxs, Ted Turners, Blondie Haslers, Chichesters etc. They brighten up any game.

UF also had the distinction of being stopped for speeding through a village on the Isle of Wight during WWII.

The element that made it noteworthy was that he was simply out for a hack on his favourite hunter, not in a car.

Different generation, different view of risk after the war years. My old man used to race his I14 quite regularly from Plymouth to Fowey and back in the early 1950's - and then crusie back to Newton Ferrers afterwards.

[chuso007]

Thanks for the corrections, I was speaking by memory and obviously I read those books too long ago. As soon as I get home I'll check them out again. (Although I'm leaving today for a three days race and won't have time until next week.