  The thermodynamics of the classical frustrated spin chain near the transition
point between the ferromagnetic and the helical phases is studied. The
calculation of the partition and spin correlation functions at low temperature
limit is reduced to the quantum mechanical problem of a particle in potential
well. It is shown that the thermodynamic quantities are universal functions of
the temperature normalized by the chiral domain wall energy. The obtained
behavior of the static structure factor indicates that the short-range
helical-type correlations existing at low temperatures on the helical side of
the transition point disappear at some critical temperature, defining the
Lifshitz point. It is also shown that the low-temperature susceptibility in the
helical phase near the transition point has a maximum at some temperature. Such
behavior is in agreement with that observed in several materials described by
the quantum $s=1/2$ version of this model.
