The Contessa 32 is a 9.75 metre (32 ft)

fibreglass 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 clo ...

monohull image:monohull.svg, right A monohull is a type of boat having only one hull (watercraft), hull, unlike multihulled boats which can have two or more individual hulls connected to one another. Fundamental concept Among the earliest hulls were simple ...

sailing yacht A sailing yacht (US ship prefixes SY or S/Y), is a leisure craft that uses sails as its primary means of propulsion. A yacht may be a sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, so the term applie ...

, designed in 1970 by David Sadler in collaboration with yachtbuilder Jeremy Rogers, as a larger alternative to 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, created a modified vers ...

. With over 750 hulls built, the yacht has become the most successful one-design cruiser-racer of all time. The yachts have a masthead

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig, with a

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

and a

skeg A skeg (or skegg or skag) is a sternward extension of the keel of boats and ships which have a rudder mounted on the centre line. The term also applies to the lowest point on an outboard motor or the outdrive of an inboard/outboard."A small fin f ...

-mounted

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

, a cutting edge concept for the period which now represents a cross between newer and older designs. The Contessa 32 is seaworthy enough for offshore voyages in extreme weather conditions, but also performs well in races, and as a one-design racing class is administered by an active Association. The trait most often associated with the Contessa 32 though is its ability to endure harsh weather and rough seas. A Contessa 32 was the only yacht in the small boat class to finish the disastrous

1979 Fastnet race The 1979 Fastnet Race was the 28th Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race, a yachting race held generally every two years since 1925 on a 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via south of the Isles of Scil ...

, in which 15 people died. Production by the Jeremy Rogers boatyard ceased in 1982, then restarted in 1996 and still continues. The qualities and long production span of the Contessa have given the yacht a dedicated 'cult' following.

Production history

The Contessa 32 was designed by David Sadler in 1970, in response to demand for a larger version of his popular

which had been launched by the Jeremy Rogers boatyard five years earlier. The first two hulls were moulded by Jeremy Rogers in the same year. The yacht was exhibited at the London Boat Show in 1971, and was an immediate success, winning 'Boat of the Show' and securing numerous orders. Demand rapidly outstripped production, and until new facilities were built the waiting list ran to two years. In the next decade, the Rogers yard built 500 Contessa 32s, and when production stopped in 1983 over 700 had been built, and had been sold around the world. Between 1973 and 1990, an additional 87 were built under licence by J.J. Taylor of Canada after a hull and deck were shipped out and a set of moulds produced. These 'Canadian Contessas' have various production differences; the tiller was replaced with a wheel, the rig was made 3 feet taller, more GRP mouldings rather than wood were used in the interior, and a coremat cored deck replaced the solid deck. At least two other Contessa 32s were built by MacBar Marine in Poole in 1986, and about 15 more were built between 1988 and 1995 by Mike Slack. In 1996, after rebuilding his bankrupt business from scratch, Jeremy Rogers was able to buy the moulds back, and after their restoration was able to resume production of the Contessa 32 on a bespoke hand-crafted basis. The first of these 'new Contessas', ''Wild Call'', was built in the same year. By 2010 another 20 had been built, of which the Rogers family boat, ''Calypso'', was exhibited at the Southampton Boat Show that year.

Hull design

The hull of the Contessa 32 is generally seen as a cross between older and newer designs. She has the well ballasted keel, low centre of gravity, and narrow

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of traditional English cutters, but has a fin keel characteristic of newer, lighter racing yachts. The narrow beam and substantial ballast provide a high degree of positive stability, with an AVS of 155°, although due to her small size the STIX is only 33. If knocked down or

capsized Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...

, the Contessa readily rights herself. Because it is shorter than a full-length keel, a fin keel creates less drag. The blending of the keel into the hull forward captures the lateral stability of a full keel, and with the cut away aft portion lends greater responsiveness to the helm. While the skeg bestows additional lateral resistance to the hull aft producing directional stability, its robust design also supports and protects the rudder. Contessa 32 sailing 3

The hull is of conventional

glassfibre 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 cloth ...

construction, with a strong layup conforming to

Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

standards. The two tonnes of lead ballast is encapsulated in the hull, obviating the need for keel bolts. The hull is joined to the deck by a large bulwark, topped with a teak caprail. Unusually, the deck has no

balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...

core, instead using solid glassfibre construction. Although this makes for greater longevity of the hull as there is no core to rot or delaminate, a slight 'flex' can sometimes be felt. The mast is keel stepped, and is supported by double lower shrouds for greater redundancy. The standing rigging terminates at

U-bolt A U-bolt is a bolt in the shape of the letter U with screw thread A screw thread, often shortened to thread, is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a ...

s in the deck. Although this type of chainplate is sometimes criticised, there is no recorded instance of a dismasting, and Rogers claims reinforcing this system would have no impact on safety. It has the benefit of simplicity and low cost. The design owes much to the changes happening in yacht racing at the time. The transition was being made from the older RORC to the then newer

IOR The abbreviation IOR may refer to: * Importer of record, term in import and export * inclusive or - as opposed to XOR (exclusive OR) * Independent Order of Rechabites * Index of refraction * India Office Records * Indian Ocean Region * Indian Ocea ...

rule, and because of this the decision was made by Sadler and Rogers not to design the yacht 'to a rule', but simply to produce the best design. This means the Contessa avoided the sometimes extreme dimensions associated with boats designed to achieve a favourable rating rather than simply to perform well. As the design has lived through the transition from the IOR to the IMS, the IMS to the

IRC Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...

, and increasing popularity of the

ORC An Orc (or Ork) is a fictional humanoid monster like a goblin. Orcs were brought into modern usage by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially '' The Lord of the Rings''. In Tolkien's works, Orcs are a brutish, aggressive, ugl ...

rule, the decision not to design to a rule has been thoroughly borne out, and the Contessa has gained a timeless, 'classic' aura.

Cabin

The furnishings of the Contessa 32 cabin are typical of boats of her size and vintage. There is a V-shaped berth in the bow, followed by a small

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

(toilet) to port opposite a wet-locker and shower. The saloon (main cabin area) includes a folding table, with sofas that double as berths, the table lowering to convert the port berth to a double. At the aft end of the saloon next to the companionway, and to port, is a small U-shaped

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

, consisting of a stove, sink (fed by an 18-gallon freshwater tank), and a counter. To starboard, there is a

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

table, with a quarter berth extending aft of the navigators seat. An inboard marine diesel engine of 15 to 25 horsepower is mounted beneath the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

, fed by a 12-gallon fuel tank. Modern boats have a Beta Marine 20 or 25 horsepower engine with folding or feathering propeller, in conventional or hybrid configuration. Though small in terms of accommodation in comparison with modern boats with wider beams and greater headroom, the compact cabin of the Contessa resulted from the low, narrow-beamed design that emphasized rough weather handling and seaworthiness at the expense of cabin space.

A 'Green' Contessa

2011, the 40th Anniversary of the Contessa 32, saw a renewed interest in new Contessa 32s after Rogers exhibited his new "greener" Contessa 32 ''Calypso'' at the

Southampton Boat Show The Southampton Boat Show, also called the Southampton International Boat Show, is an on-water boat show, one of the largest in Europe and the biggest of its type in the UK. The show is held annually in September in Mayflower Park, Southampton, ...

in collaboration with The Green Blue (a collaborative effort of the

Royal Yachting Association The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inl ...

and the

British Marine Federation British Marine is the trade association for the UK leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry, currently representing 12 regional associations, 16 Group Associations and 1600+ members across the UK marine supply chain. These include ...

). ''Calypso'' showcased a variety of sustainable products and technology. The deck and interior woodwork is made from sustainable ' Kebonised' maple rather than unsustainable tropical hardwoods such as

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...

and

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

. A diesel-electric

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

Beta 25 engine is used to lower fuel consumption, and a solar panel and wind generator are fitted. The deck is glued with Saba adhesive, which is solvent-free and unlike the more commonly used Sikaflex does not contain

isocyanate In organic chemistry, isocyanate is the functional group with the formula . Organic compounds that contain an isocyanate group are referred to as isocyanates. An organic compound with two isocyanate groups is known as a diisocyanate. Diisocyan ...

s which are linked to asthma and cancer.

Linseed Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

-based

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

-free Le Tonkinois varnish is used for the wood, and the hull is painted with Hempasil non-toxic antifoul.

Racing

Despite a design that is over 40 years old, the Contessa 32 is still a superb racing yacht. There is a full season of Contessa 32 'one design' racing, including ''Inshore Series'', ''National Championships'', ''Cowes Week'', ''Offshore'' and ''Round The Island'' races. Contessa 32s perform very well under the IRC handicap system, and provide a real challenge to modern racing yachts, often being placed highly in races such as the

Round the Island Race The Round the Island Race is an annual yacht race around the Isle of Wight. It starts and finishes in Cowes, and is organised by the Island Sailing Club. The course is about long. It was first held in 1931, it was sponsored by JP Morgan Asset ...

and the

Fastnet Race The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club 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 the Fastnet ...

. The Rogers own yacht, ''Calypso'', finished 12th in the 2011 Round the Island Race.

Operational history

In a review Michael McGoldrick wrote, "The Contessa 32 has a reputation as being one of the better 32 footers for weathering a serious gale, and rates right up there as one of the more seaworthy boats for bluewater cruising. In fact, it was the smallest boat to finish the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race (known as the deadliest race in history of modern yachting). The Contessa 32 is a no nonsense design that does not attempt to trade seaworthiness for a larger interior or to mimic apartment-like accommodations below decks. As a result, it is a little less beamy and roomy than many other 32 footers on the used market." In 1984, in a Contessa 32 named ''Gigi'', John Kretschmer and the owner, Ty Techera, sailed from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

down to

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) 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 are the Diego Ramírez ...

, rounding the Horn against the prevailing winds and currents, and sailed up to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. This was recorded in Kretschmer's book ''Cape Horn to Starboard''. ''Gigi'' was then bought in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

by Kley Hughes from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. She was sailed in the Gulf of Mexico on multiple coastal races and twice in the former "Regata de Amigos" which crossed the Gulf from Galveston, TX to Veracruz, MX. "Gigi" was then purchased and completely refurbished by builder Jeremy Rogers in 2007. From 1979 to 1983, Declan Mackell sailed around the world alone in a Contessa 32 named ''Sean-Ois''. In January 2003,

Seb Clover Sebastian Clover, more commonly known as Seb Clover (born 15 January 1987), is a former English record-breaking sailor and paramedic. Clover is a former young adventurer from Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, who, at the age of 15 years a ...

, a 15-year-old from Great Britain, became the youngest person to sail across the Atlantic alone, in a Contessa 32 named ''Reflection''. Also in 2003, the Contessa 32 ''Hurrying Angel'' won the

double handed division, crewed by Harry Allaway and Kathy Claydon. The most often mentioned exploit involving a Contessa 32, however, is the

. A sudden storm of near hurricane strength brought death and destruction to the race, capsizing 25% of the 303 participating boats. Among the 58 boats in the smallest class (28 – 32 ft), only one managed to finish the race: a Contessa 32 named ''Assent'', owned by Willy Ker and sailed by his son Alan. In 2018/19 French sailor and philosopher Pierre Huglo completed the non-stop, round-the-world 'Longue Route' challenge in Contessa 32 'Fresh Herring'. Not only was she the smallest boat to complete the circumnavigation but also the first boat home in just 221 days 18 hours and 46 minutes.

References

External links

Contessa 32 data on sailboat.guide

Contessa 32 New Build
Sailing yachts 1970s sailboat type designs