Harry Spencer MBE

One of the characters who make Cowes the centre of yachting excellence and traditional style is Harry Spencer.
Harry Spencer of Cowes started in business on his own in 1958 as an independent rigger for yacht yards in Cowes. The increase in time and money spent on leisure activities and the consequent boatbuilding boom in the sixties meant that the yacht yards were getting an increasing volume of rigging work. Often the craft and its rigging came together for the first time, perhaps only a day or two before launching, causing problems in assembly and delays due to unforeseen snags.
Harry Spencer recognised these problems and soon proved that it was more economical for boatyards to go to one source and get a tailored job for both rigging and the supply of fittings.
The reputation of Spencer Rigging grew quickly and with an increase in staff the firm was soon working not only in Cowes but in boatyards throughout England and eventually the rest of the world.
Spencer Rigging was simply a necessary extension of Harrys personality: a mere blend of an artist is sensibility and brute force, his unerring sense of the right way to do something, his uncanny skill in managing any impossible job that the world throws his way.