Active: 1961 • Website
Founded by Jeremy Rogers MBE and one of the most successful boat manufacturing companies in Britain.
By the late 70s and early 80s Jeremy Rogers' company included five purpose-built factories in central Lymington and a workforce of nearly 200 employees. Production included Contessa yachts 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 eager for his innovative and beautifully finished yachts. However by far the most popular of all was the Contessa 32.
The now largely forgotten economic slump of the early 1980s brought the downfall of the three main boat manufacturers in Britain, and the Rogers yard was one of them.
Discouraged but undeterred Jeremy Rogers started again from scratch, and by 1988 the new business had moved to a factory in Milford-on-Sea, and then in 2009 the it relocated to the waterside at Lymington Yacht Haven. The company began specialising in the refurbishment of boats built at the original yard, and in 1995 there was an opportunity to purchase back the Contessa 32 moulds. So, as well as refurbishments, a limited number of these much-loved classics are built at the yard, adding to the 800 or so already sailing all over the world.
Alongside boat building Jeremy Rogers’ company specialises in high tech industrial mouldings, and currently produces a very successful portable carbon fibre davit, winner of a coveted DAME innovation award at the METS (marine trade show) in Amsterdam 2002. The davit, marketed under the name of Atlas, is used by commercial and leisure boats for lifting awkward and heavy loads in and out of the water, but it could have any number of other applications.
Thanks to Jeremy Rogers, Fiona Rogers, and others at Jermey Rogers Ltd. for providing updated images and details of the Contessa line.
Current address:
Jeremy Rogers Ltd
Lymington Yacht Haven
King's Saltern Road
Lymington
Hampshire UK
SO41 3QD
Tel: ++44(0)1590 645454
Fax: ++44(0)1590 642537
e-mail: mail@jeremyrogers.co.uk
www.jeremyrogers.co.uk
| Name | LOA (ft) | First Built | Last Built | Rig |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CONTESSA 25 (PETERSON) | 25.16 | 1975 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 26 | 25.5 | 1965 | 1990 | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 27 | 27.5 | 1981 | — | Fractional Sloop |
| CONTESSA 28 | 27.67 | 1977 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 32 | 32 | 1971 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 33 | 32.67 | 1984 | — | Fractional Sloop |
| CONTESSA 35 | 35.5 | 1974 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 38 (ALAN-WILLIAMS) | 38.22 | 1981 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 38 (S&S) | 38.5 | 1973 | 1974 | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 39 | 38.67 | 1979 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| CONTESSA 43 | 42.75 | 1977 | — | Masthead Sloop |
| GALION 22 | 22 | 1965 | — | Fractional Sloop |
| OOD 34 (CONTESSA) | 33.67 | 1978 | 1981 | Masthead Sloop |