Gérard "Gerry" Roufs was born in Montreal on 2 November 1953. He started sailing at five at the Hudson yacht club, joined Canada's Olympic sailing team and began his career as a lawyer before turning to offshore racing.
A crewmate of Mike Birch, he broke the North Atlantic crossing record several times, with Loïc Caradec (1986) and Serge Madec (1988 and 1990). He prepared Bernard Gallay's boat for the 1992-93 Vendée Globe, then delivered Bertrand de Broc's 60-footer Groupe LG to France.
He finished 6th in the 1993 Transat Jacques-Vabre and 3rd in the 1994 Route du Rhum, and won the 1996 Transat Anglaise in the 60-foot class aboard the Finot-Conq design Groupe LG 2.
He started the 1996-97 Vendée Globe and was second behind Christophe Auguin when his boat's beacon stopped transmitting on 7 January 1997 in the South Pacific. Extensive searches, including Isabelle Autissier's attempt, failed to find him. The upturned hull was sighted in July 1997 and the wreck washed ashore in Chile in 1998. A Montreal park and a quay in Locmariaquer bear his name.
