Wednesday, February 18, 2009

MOST FAMOUS YACHT IN UK

There have been many famous yachts in the UK, but the most well-known of the lot if the Gipsy Moth IV. It was commissioned by Sir Francis Chichester in the 19th century as a 54 feet ketch boat. The yacht is the 4th boat made by Chichester. The yacht had a unique ability created by Blondie Haster, enabling this famous yacht to be steered from the skipper’s cabin directly. This came in very handy especially for sailing solo in the high waters.


This famous yacht was originally launched in March of 1966, from the Plymouth port. The yacht measured 38 feet inside the water-lines, and a complete 53 feet otherwise. The sail size of the yacht is 854 square feet, which can be expanded up to a huge 1500 square feet. The hull of the famous yacht is made out of a cold-mould of the Honduras mahogany, which is extremely durable, having lasted all these years till today.


The famous Gipsy Moth IV yacht gained a lot of records in its first voyage itself, like being the fastest small yacht to make a voyage around the world; the longest passage made by a yacht, non stop; it was double the distance covered by the last solo voyager; and also the record for the fastest single-handed sailing by any vessel. In august of 1972, Sir Chichester passed away, leaving this famous yacht abandoned. It never sailed again, and was displayed permanently in England. For some years it was open to the public, who were eager to get on board the famous yacht, but after a while, this was also stopped due to the deterioration of the decks.


After 40 years of being on land on display, the most famous yacht of all time was finally taken back into waters recently. This marked the 40th anniversary of the famous voyage of this famous yacht with Sir Chichester as its skipper.

No comments:

Post a Comment