His design goals were for a day sailer with trailerability, that would be stable and safe, but still exciting to sail for experienced sailors.

The design was based upon the fishing boats used on England's northeastern coast, which trace their lineage back to the Viking longships.

[2] The Drascombe Lugger is a recreational open sailboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wooden spars and trim.

It features a spooned raked stem, a raised transom, an internally mounted fold-up rudder controlled by a tiller and a centreboard.

The boat was a standard production model with a raised foredeck and other minor modifications built at Kelly and Hall's boatyard in Newton Ferrers, by John and Douglas Elliott.

In the Pacific near Vanuatu, the boat capsized in heavy weather and then drifted for two weeks, as he was unable to bail it out.

After becoming damaged in the Red Sea the boat was seized by the Saudi Arabian government and Chiles was arrested on suspicion of being a spy.

He sailed back south to intercept his previous track and then turned towards the Suez Canal and passed into the Mediterranean Sea and into the Atlantic to La Palma in the Canary Islands.