Chichester, by
Eileen Ramsay62 CLASSIC BOAT AUGUST 2016
Contradictory design parameters mean she’s an
interesting case study, but not such a pleasant sail
THEO RYE
H
aving just won the fi rst singlehanded
transatlantic race in 1960, Francis
Chichester wrote: “I think my yacht is too
big for singlehanded sailing... A 9-tonner is
the ideal size, in my opinion.” His yacht for that (and the
1964 race) was the Robert Clark design Gipsy Moth III
which was 13 tons (Thames), so Chichester was
advocating a considerably smaller boat. When he had the
opportunity to build a custom yacht in 1965 specifi cally
to sail around the world singlehanded, he commissioned
the design from the partnership of John Illingworth (who
had redesigned Gipsy Moth III’s mast) & Angus
Primrose. The design and build process was diffi cult. The
fi nal design was stretched to 10.4 tonnes displacement
(and 18.5 tons Thames, more than twice what
Chichester had originally asked for); when Chichester
protested, Illingworth explained that due to her length
she would be easily driven.
Chichester also complained about the proposed
separate rudder, so it was agreed to extend the keel so
the rudder could hang off the sternpost. It sounds like a
most curious way for the design to evolve, and things did
not improve. When she was launched she proved
horribly tender. Forced into adding a ton to the keel, she
was eventually 11.5 tonnes displacement. A whole
chapter of his book Gipsy Moth Circles the World is
devoted to a detailed discussion of the problems.
In Further Offshore (1969) Illingworth replied to
Chichester’s version of events. Illingworth had
advocated a schooner rig, but Chichester insisted on
ketch, and limited the maximum size of the working
sails for handling reasons (Chichester was 64 and had
a long history of health problems). Working from the
sail plan to derive the hull shape, Primrose went for
length to generate speed potential, but was
handicapped by Chichester’s resistance to a larger
boat; the result was very narrow and, with insuffi cient
ballast, tender. The extra ton of ballast rectifi ed things,
in Illingworth’s opinion, so the result was “very
adequately stable”; but Chichester was still far from
happy with her stability and (with the rig size by then
fi xed) felt she was also now under-canvassed.The parameters are telling. A beam/length ratio of
0.27 is narrow, and ballast ratios associated with this
length/beam ratio are more usually approaching 50% (or
more) to provide the necessary righting moment; in any
event, waterline beam effectively determines initial
stability, so this was always going to be a boat that
tended to sail at a large angle of heel. Comparison to
Sparkman & Stephens Dorade (which Stephens
acknowledged was herself too narrow) is instructive:Gipsy Moth IV Dorade
LW L 38.5ft 37.25ft
Beam 10.5ft 10.25ft
Beam/length ratio 0.27 0.27
Draught 7.75ft 7.63 ft
Displacement 11.5 tonnes 17.3 tonnesBy keeping her light, Primrose was evidently trying to
minimise wetted surface area, but Chichester’s insistence
on a long keel offset that at a stroke. The “bite” from the
aft end of the keel was presumably part of the same
thinking, but it was fi lled in when she reached Sydney in
an attempt to improve directional stability; Chichester
complained that she rolled (as did Dorade) and tended to
broach when off the wind. Other complaints were that
the helm was impossibly heavy, that she would hobby-
horse in moderate seas, was very sensitive to sail area,
trim and heel angle, had a tendency to slam on the wind,
would not point in any sort of sea, and would not run
downwind under bare poles. The remarkably fi ne
waterlines, especially aft, are certainly contributory to
some of the behavioural quirks, but Chichester’s
complaints are evidently exacerbated by his antagonism
to the design; he obviously took against it from the start,
and was quick to damn and slow to praise as a result.
On the other hand he recorded some fi ne runs; 190
miles in the fi rst 25 hours (average 7.6 knots), 1,400
miles in eight days; and the pairing completed the 29,630
mile circumnavigation in 226 days of sailing. A twitchy,
fl awed thoroughbred for a man that wanted a steady
pony, perhaps, but she makes an interesting study in the
art and science of yacht design.GIPSY MOTH IV
ILLINGWORTH
& PRIMROSE
CLASSIC DESIGNS