Gipsy Moth IV is a 53 ft (16 m) ketch that Sir Francis Chichester commissioned specifically to sail single-handed around the globe, racing against the times set by the clipper ships of the 19th century.

In 1965 Chichester commissioned Gosport-based ship yard Camper and Nicholsons to build the boat, designed by John Illingworth and Angus Primrose.

He commented in his diary and in a later interview with Time magazine that he knew she would self-right as she was designed to, but was concerned by the incident as this was a light storm and he still had to pass Cape Horn, where the third and most significant event of the voyage would occur: "The waves were tremendous.

"[2] In July 1968, Gipsy Moth IV was put on permanent display at Greenwich in a land-locked purpose-built dry dock next to the Cutty Sark.

In November 2004 Gipsy Moth IV was lifted out of Greenwich dry dock and taken by road to Camper and Nicholson's yard in Gosport, where she had been built and launched in 1966, for restoration.

Gipsy Moth IV set sail from Plymouth Sound on the first leg of the 2005-07 Blue Water Round the World Rally on 25 September 2005.

She had a mixture of experienced crew and teams of disadvantaged youth on board, including for part of the voyage: The first leg took just over two weeks to reach Gibraltar, the official starting point for the Blue Water Round the World Rally.

Yachting Monthly's Dick Durham sailed the next leg and crew leader to the Canary Islands, where James Jermain took over as Mate to Richard Baggett for the Atlantic crossing to Antigua.

On April 29, 2006, after a navigational error, Gipsy Moth ran aground on a coral reef at Rangiroa, an atoll in the Tuamotus, known as The Dangerous Archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

After six days, a major salvage operation was undertaken with Smit, the Dutch big ship experts who were called in by the UKSA, with local help from Tahiti and Rangiroa.

In Auckland, Grant Dalton's America's Cup team donated help and premises at their HQ in Viaduct Harbour, and the yacht underwent a second restoration.

Her return leg was via Cairns and Darwin, in Australia; Indonesia, Singapore, Phuket, Sri Lanka, the Red Sea, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

She was accompanied into Plymouth by a flotilla of small craft, Gipsy Moth IV docked at West Hoe Pier on 28 May 2007, as she did exactly 40 years earlier.

For some time Gipsy Moth IV lay in Lymington Marina, stored at the end of a line of yachts for sale in the boat yard.

[6] Gipsy Moth IV was a regular visitor to Bucklers Hard, especially for winter maintenance, during which times she was viewed by the public on special open days.

As Gipsy Moth has a full keel and wide turning circle, and in order to manoeuvre her into small spaces in today's marinas, a specially designed electric powered water thruster was developed and installed in the bow during the restoration.

In addition to the restoration, Oberholzer has collected more than one thousand documents, articles, artifacts and other memorabilia (ranging from minted coins to issued stamps and tea clothes) which relate to Gipsy Moth IV and which secures her status as a sailing legend.

On the day of the Coronation of King Charles III (6th May, 2023) Gipsy Moth IV departed Ramsgate for The Netherlands, making her first voyage away from British waters in 16 years.

At the start of the final leg of the Ocean Race 2023, at the Hague, Gipsy Moth IV provided a full dress salute to the participating boats and the following day, the same to the Admiral of the Dutch navy at the Scheveningen harbour's Vlaggetjesdag festival, which has been held annually since 1947.