Olympic sailor Nick Rogers looking to success in the Round the Island Yacht Race (From Hampshire Society)

Olympic sailor Nick Rogers looking to success in the Round the Island Yacht Race

2:06pm Tuesday 2nd June 2009

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The Rogers family could be described as the closest thing to sailing royalty.

Nick Rogers has twice brought home Olympic silver medals for Great Britain at the helm of his 470 dinghy.

His dad Jonathan has won the world championship of offshore racing – the Admiral’s Cup – not once but twice, as well as the prestigious One Ton Cup.

Throw into the mix Nick’s uncle Jeremy, who has won the world-famous Round the Island Race three times in the past seven years in a boat he designed and built himself, and the result is one very successful sailing family.

It is Jeremy’s winning streak that Nick, back on the water after the Beijing Games last summer, will be hoping to recreate later this month as more than 1,500 yachts line up for this year’s race.

The 32-year-old Lymington Olympian will be taking to the water with Team Volvo, racing one of their high-performance Farr 45 yachts.

Nick said: “Round the Island is an event I love, and this year will be my ninth race.

“There is always a bit of banter between the family, but at the end of the day we all love sailing and love the race.

“I’ve sailed the race twice with my dad and twice with my uncle on his Contessa 26 Rosina of Beaulieu.

“When I was sailing with Jeremy we were definitely out to win it but unfortunately the breeze died.

“One day I’d love to race my own boat Sundowner in Round the Island.”

The race, established in 1931, is a 50-mile sprint westwards around the Island starting and finishing in Cowes.

Nick’s uncle Jeremy Rogers, who designed and built the Contessa 26 yachts, lifted the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl in 2002, 2003 and 2006.

Last year Mike Slade’s Southampton-based supermaxi ICAP Leopard smashed the record for the fastest monohull with a time of three hours, 53 minutes and five seconds.

The quickest ever time was set in 2001 by Frenchman Francis Joyon, who sailed his trimaran round the course in a blistering three hours, eight minutes and 29 seconds.

Big names racing in this year’s event include Shirley Robertson and Ben Ainslie, while yachts set to turn heads include the majestic 130ft classic Velsheda as well as the 100ft superyacht Liara.

But for Nick, part of the attraction of the race, this year held on June 20, is that anyone can take part.

“To me, Round the Island Race means the start of the summer,” he said.

“It’s usually a bright sunny day, the course is long enough to be challenging and short enough not to be too much of a slog.

“Hundreds of boats take part, and it’s up to you how hard you sail – half the people pack a picnic while the other half pack an asymmetric spinnaker.

“Going down the Solent and round the Needles in a big fleet is such an amazing feeling.

“Round the Island Race is, in my opinion, the best yacht race in the country.”

With more than £100,000 raised for charity last year, race organisers have launched a new cup to be awarded to the individual or team who raises the most amount of money for charity.

Title sponsor JPMorgan Asset Management awarded the first Charity Cup to Winchester yachtsman Edward Donald, who raised more than £18,000 for Leukaemia Research at last year’s event. Furthermore, the JPMorgan Asset Management 2009 Charity Challenge will see four yachts go head to head in aid of Macmillan, Prostate UK, Breast Cancer Care and the Ellen MacArthur Trust.

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