Gipsy Moth IV – under reefed mainsail, reefed mizzen and spitfire jib – made a spectacular splash as she passed the Queen during the Solent Fleet Review to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.
In front of her were other veteran solo sailor’s round-the-world boats: Sir Alec Rose’s Lively Lady and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Suhaili – but both boats motored past, their sails tightly furled in the freshening easterly breeze. ‘It was fitting and in the true spirit of getting this classic yacht back on the water again that she should have been under canvas when she met the Queen,’ said Yachting Monthly editor Paul Gelder, wiping the spindrift from his beard. Earlier Paul had been at the helm and marvelled at her turn of speed.
As GMIV stormed past HMS Endurance – from which the Queen made her inspection – UK Sailing Academy chief, David Green, lowered the ensign to loud cheers.
GMIV will have brought back royal memories for the Queen: it was in front of the 54ft ketch at Greenwich in 1967 that she knighted Francis Chichester with the same sword used on the shoulders of Sir Francis Drake: one a pioneer the other a pirate-made-good.