First solo one-stop circumnavigation: 1966 - 67

 

A record breaker in the air and at sea,

Chichester was a true British trailblazer.

 

1967: British aviator and sailor, Francis Chichester, became the first person to sail solo one-stop around the globe. On August 27, 1966, he set sail from Plymouth, UK, on his 53-foot yacht, Gipsy Moth IV, and returned after 226 days of sailing on May 28, 1967. He stopped only once, in Sydney, following the route of clipper ships, the infamous 'eastabout' route through the Southern Ocean and rounding the 3 great capes. When he finished, he was 65 years old...and a new era in circumnavigation had begun!

 

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 nurse him back to health. Her nursing was successful. Just 2 years later, Chichester took part in, and won, the 1st solo transatlantic sailing race in Gipsy Moth III. He sailed from Plymouth to New York in just 40 days, and later claimed his race entry was part of his recovery plan. He died of pneumonia, at a hospital in Plymouth, the city from which he began and ended his record breaking career.

 

 

Chichester was a legend of the late 60s, a symbol of an extraordinary time of exploration: a decade that started with the first voyage to the bottom of the sea and ended with the moon landing. His return to Plymouth in 1967 was attended by as many as half a million cheering fans. He was knighted by the Queen with the same sword used to honour Francis Drake, and he became a national hero.

 

Few characterise the daring spirit in the history

of yachting better than Sir Francis Chichester.