A YACHT which has inspired a generation of sailors was at Poole Yacht Club on Thursday after a local company helped in its £1 million restoration.

Gipsy Moth IV, whose skipper Sir Francis Chichester made maritime history by being the fastest person to sail solo around the world in her in the mid 1960s, has been restored after damage due to nearly 40 years in dry dock.

Poole company Crusader Sails hand-crafted the sails for the boat's refit, and the company's owner Paul Lees also raced the yacht on Wednesday against two other record-breaking classic boats, Lively Lady and Suhali.

"We were very chuffed to be involved, it's something we'll remember," he said.

"We are of the generation where we were kids watching the telly when he came back - it was one of the inspirational things for my generation."

Crusader sales manager Andy Cross said 12 people from the company were involved in stitching the sails to the original design used for Gipsy Moth IV.

They also used the old technique of "floor laying" the sails, wrapping string around spikes to show the outline of the sales instead of using computers in the way sails are made today.

"There weren't any sails on her when they started to restore her - we don't know what happened to them - but the naval architects had the sail plan that was originally produced," he said.

"We twiddled with the designs to make them a bit more stable for what the boat's going to do this time."

Gipsy Moth IV is now going to do a voyage taking disadvantaged children on a series of legs to exotic locations.

Sir Francis Chichester sailed from Plymouth to Sydney and back via Cape Horn in Gypsy Moth IV in only 274 days.

When he returned, he was knighted publicly by the Queen on the same spot, and with the same sword, that was used to knight Sir Francis Drake on his return in the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth I.

First published: August 20