Jeremy Charles Rogers, (16 September 1937 – 12 October 2022) was a British boat builder and sailor, based in

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest (district), New Forest district of Hampshire, England. The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a Roll-on/roll-off, car ferry s ...

, Hampshire, and the manager of the Jeremy Rogers Limited boatyard. During his 50-year career Rogers was responsible for the construction of a large number of well-known yachts and established himself as a first-class yachtsman.

Early life

Evacuated to rural Canada during the Second World War, Rogers and his brothers passed the long winters making model boats, but it was back in England that Rogers built his first proper dinghy at the age of ten whilst at

Clayesmore School Clayesmore School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private school for pupils aged 8–18 years, in the village of Iwerne Minster, Dorset, England. It is both a day and boarding school and is a member of The Headmaster ...

in Dorset. Then, after serving his apprenticeship with Jack Chippendale MBE as a traditional wooden boatbuilder, he set up in business in 1961 at the age of 23. Despite his training in wooden boatbuilding, he was one of the first to appreciate the potential of

glass-reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

(GRP), and he went initially into the production of GRP dinghies, followed in 1966 by a modified GRP

Folkboat The Nordic Folkboat is a sailing boat that was designed by Scandinavian Sailing Federation as a Sailing (sport), racer-Cruising (maritime), cruiser and first built in 1942. Tord Sundén was hired by the Scandivian Sailing Federation to finalize ...

called the

Contessa 26 The Contessa 26 is a 7.77 meter (25.6 ft) fiberglass monohull sailboat, brought about when Jeremy Rogers, with a background in traditional wooden boatbuilding along with one of his Folkboat customers, David Sadler (yacht designer), David Sa ...

. This was an instant success, as was the subsequent

Contessa 32 The Contessa 32 is a 9.75 metre (32 ft) fibreglass monohull sailing yacht, designed in 1970 by David Sadler (yacht designer), David Sadler in collaboration with yachtbuilder Jeremy Rogers, as a larger alternative to the Contessa 26. With ove ...

, designed in collaboration with David Sadler.

Seventies heyday

The Contessa 32 was voted the London Boat of the Show in 1972, and with approximately 650 of them already in the water, demand is such that after 40 years the yacht is still in production. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Rogers' company included five purpose-built factories in

and a workforce of nearly 200 employees. Production included Contessas ranging in size from the traditional 26 to the Doug Peterson designed grand prix 35s, 39s and 43s, many of which were exported to a worldwide market. In 1978 and in conjunction with the late

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...

's Lotus car team, Rogers developed vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding, which was used on the Doug Peterson designed OOD 34.

The sailor

Apart from boat building Rogers has made a significant contribution to the world of yacht racing. In 1974 he skippered his Contessa 35, ''Gumboots'', to take the international

One Ton Cup The One Ton Cup is a trophy presented to the winner of a sailing competition created in 1899 in sports, 1899 by the Cercle de la voile de Paris (CVP). Synopsis The One Ton Cup regattas were at the beginning of races between one-tonner sailing ...

trophy, but in so doing he and his crew took time out of one of the offshore races to rescue a family from a sinking life-raft – for this he was voted Yachtsman of the Year (and the international racing rules were subsequently changed to allow for redress in such circumstances). In 1977 and 1979 he and his crew competed as members of the British Admirals Cup Team, and in '77 Rogers' Contessa 43, ''Moonshine'', was the top scoring boat. Admirals Cup Yachts must compete in the

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France. The race is named after th ...

as part of the series, but in the 1979 Fastnet race this ocean race encountered near hurricane conditions, which caused one of the worst disasters in yachting history: many yachts were lost and 15 people died during the race. Consequently, the race results were understandably insignificant, but Rogers' Contessa 39, ''Eclipse'', came in second overall to

Ted Turner Robert Edward Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He founded the CNN, Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour United States cable news, ...

's ''Tenacious'', a yacht twice her size. The following year Rogers received his MBE from H.M. the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Later life and death

After setting up in business again following the bankruptcy of his original company, Rogers has concentrated on building new Contessa 32s and the complete refurbishment of many of the other boats built at the former yard. Two of these refurbishments were his own Contessa 26, Rosina of Beaulieu, and Contessa 32, Gigi. Rosina, sailed by Rogers and his three sons, was uniquely three times winner of the coveted Gold Roman Bowl for overall winner of the

Round the Island Race Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypto ...

in 2002, 2003 and 2006. ''Gigi'' had become famous in 1984, when she was sailed by Americans, John Kretschmer and Ty Techera, in record time around

Cape Horn Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...

; Kretschmer then wrote ''Cape Horn to Starboard'' about the adventure. Rogers purchased ''Gigi'' in 2005 and restored her to new condition. Rogers died from complications of Alzheimer's disease and

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on 14 October 2022, at the age of 85, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England were NHS England and Public ...

References

External links