Bluedome - Gipsy Moth IV restoration and world voyage

Gipsy Moth IV will complete a full refit by her original builders, Camper and Nicholson and then return to the environment for which she was created - the sea.

In 1967 Gipsy Moth and her single crew member Sir Francis Chichester sailed into Plymouth Harbour and into the pages of history. The amazing voyage took nine months and one day and logged 29,630 sea miles.

The only stop during the voyage was in Sidney, Australia 119 days before Gipsy Moth IV reached her home waters. In all Francis Chichester spent almost 226 days sailing her alone through some of the most dangerous seas on the planet.

It was estimated that a crowd of over 250,000 people turned out to see Gipsy Moth IV's return. The Royal Artillery fired a 10 gun salute, ships sounded their hooters and the fire boats sprayed huge arches of water coloured red, white and blue.

Chichester, who had beaten cancer and had set out to prove that long distance voyages could be achieved by small craft. His achievement paved the way for others to carry the tradition of great voyages further.

Gipsy Moth IV became something of a national treasure and as with all things precious she was sent in to safe retirement alongside other great ships. Gipsy Moth IV was placed in a concrete base at Greenwich and became a visitor attraction. And there she remained in spite of offers to restore and sail her again. Until David Green, the unstoppable head of the United Kingdom Sailing Academy managed to persuade the people who needed persuading that boats go to museums to die, and Gipsy Moth IV was indeed dying.

Gipsy Moth IV was constructed using overlapping strips of thin mahogany glued together at diagonal angles. The result of this construction is a lightweight, strong and elegant hull. This is all fine if the mahogany remains in salt water where the sea has an antiseptic effect and helps preserve the timber. When Gipsy Moth IV went on display the rain and the footsteps of visitors started to take it's toll.

As David Green explained to me "over a very large gin or two we took on a very large gamble!" Gipsy Moth IV was going to sail again, that should be Gipsy Moth IV will sail again.

Soon to emerge from her birthplace with Camper and Nicholsons a renewed and restored Gipsy Moth IV will re-enter her true element - the sea.

The plans are in place for her to voyage around the globe once more with young people crewing the different legs of the journey. BlueDome is pleased to be supporting the project and we plan to sail with her during the final refit before she begins another fantastic journey.

You can donate or become involved with this great project in a number of ways. A simple cash donation will go towards her upkeep, other levels of sponsorship are available. Follow the link at the foot of this page for more details.