About Sir Francis Chichester
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| Sir Francis Chichester - Thanks to PPL |
As a Young Man, Chichester was a pioneering Aviator. making his first solo flight in 1929 to Australia. In 1931 he became the first man to fly solo across the Tasman sea from East to West, in a Gypsy Moth Aircraft fitted with floats. His attempt to circumnavigate the world in his Gypsy Moth plane ended in disaster and almost resulted in his death then his plane flew into overhead cables coming in to land enroute. During the war, Chichester wrote navigation instruction manuals for the Air Ministry, and pioneered fighter pilot flying navigation techniques that did not require the use of maps.
Recovery
In 1958 Chichester was diagnosed with cancer. Surgeons recommended the removal of one of his lungs and gave him 6 months to live. His wife refused to let them operate and helped to nurse Francis back to health. Her nursing was successful and in 1960 Francis Chichester took part in and won the first Solo Transatlantic Sailing race in Gipsy Moth III claiming that entry into the race was part of his recovery plan. Entering into the race again in 1962 he then beat the record he had set on the first race completing the journey in just 33 days.
The Voyage of a Lifetime
Chichester first started making plans for the voyage following
his research for his book "Along the Clipper Way" which charts the voyage taken by the great 19th century australian
wool clippers who could make the passage followed by Chichester
in an average of 123 days. Inspired by this, Chichester started
making plans in 1962, and as a result of these plans commissioned Camper and
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Sir Francis Chichester.
This image is courtesy of PPL. |
Nicholson to build Gipsy Moth IV. The boat's design
was to incorporate the maximum amount of sail for the minimum
amount of rigging, whilst employing self steering gear that
could enable steerage from the skippers bunk. In total preparations
took over 4 years. Sir Francis was 64 years old when he set
out on his epic voyage from Plymouth on the 27th August 1966.
The objective for Gipsy Moth IV was to beat the times set by the Victorian clipper ships for their yourney to Australia - Sir Francis' goal was to be there in 100 days. To put this in context the maximum speed of a yacht is directly related to its wetted length, Gipsy Moth IV is only 53 feet overall, whereas a clipper ship such as the Cutty Sark was 212 feet. In addition Sir Francis was on his own and would often have to set in excess of 1,500 square feet of sails to keep the yacht making good speed.
Sir Francis had Gipsy Moth IV designed specifically for the challenge by John Illingworth and Angus Primrose. She was built by Camper & Nicholsons at Gosport and launched in March 1966. She is 38ft 6in (11.8m) on the waterline and 53ft (16m) overall and of cold-moulded Honduras mahogany construction. Ketch rigged, she has a sail area of 854sq ft (79.4sq m).
Gipsy Moth IV entered Sydney iafter 107 days, an amazing achievement. By the end of the voyage Sir Francis had established a number of records:
- Fastest voyage around the world by any small vessel
- Longest non stop passage that had been made by a small sailing vessel (15,000 miles)
- More than twice the distance of the previous longest passage by a singlehander
- Twice broke the record for a singlehander's weeks run by more than 100 miles
- Established a record for singlehanded speed by sailing 1,400 miles in 8 days
Asked why he embarked on his circumnavigation in Gipsy Moth IV, Sir Francis Chichester
was quoted as saying:
" Because it intensifies life"
About Gipsy Moth IV Historic Achievements.
With his record breaking circumnavigation, Sir Francis Chichester broke a number of records and went down in history with a number of significant achievements:-
- Fastest Voyage around the world by a small vessel.
- Longest passage that had been made by a small sailing vessel without entering a port of call (15500 miles - more than double the previous record of 7400).
- Established a new record for single handed speed sailing by sailing 1400 miles from point to point in just 8 days.
- Twice exceeded the single handed speed record for long passage. Gipsy Moth IV's speeds where 131 3/4 miles per day for 107 days and 130 1/4 miles per day for 119 days.
- Achieved the first true solo Circumnavigation (where track passes over two points antipodean to each other) via the three capes of Good Hope, Leewin and Horn, making only one stop.*
| She was never sailed again after returning home but took up her concrete dry dock in Greenwich next to The Cutty Sark, only to leave it briefly for some restorative work in 1997. After nearly 40 years in dry dock, the ravages of fresh water ingress and a lack of funds to look after this iconic yacht, had left her in a sad state of repair. |
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Sir Francis Chichester.
This image is courtesy of PPL.
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Sir Francis Chichester Returns
Upon
his return, Chichester was a national hero. Newspaper reports
from the day quote crowds of 250,000 turning out to welcome
him back into Plymouth, together with a ten gun salute from
the royal artillery, and a complement of fire boats spraying
red, white and blue coloured jets of water from their water
cannons. Such was the degree in which Gipsy Moth IV's voyage had ignited
the nation's passion in Sir Francis' achievements that in July
of 1967 Chichester was knighted publicly by the Queen in Greenwich
on the same spot and with the same sword that had been used
to knight Sir Francis Drake on his return in the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth I.
Our thanks to Giles Chichester's very informative CV of Sir Frances Chichester
http://www.gileschichestermep.org/francis-chichester-cv.htm |
