Bristol Yachts

Bristol Yachts was a US-based company which was among the first commercially successful production fiberglass sailboat boat builders.

History

Founded by Clinton Pearson in 1966, he and his cousin Everett Pearson began building fiberglass dinghies in 1955 in their garage. Within a year the newly founded Pearson Yachts employed hundreds of people. Fast corporate expansion resulted in cash flow problems, and the cousins sold Pearson Yacht to Grumman Allied Industries in 1961. Clint left in 1964, unhappy with working for a large company.

Clint bought out a troubled sailboat-maker, Sailstar, in West Warwick, Rhode Island. Carl Alberg designed the company's first boat, the Bristol 27, and the Sailstar brand was phased out. Clinton changed the company’s name to Bristol Yacht Company in 1966. The boat yard was located on Popasquash Road, in Bristol, Rhode Island. The facilities included a giant barn on land owned by Clint and where his home was located as well. Across the road from the barn was a small marina and travellift.

Models and Designers

Early Bristol models aimed at the mass market and often were cutaway full keel or keel-centerboard designs. Among the first models were the Alberg designed 27 and the Herreshoff designed 29.

Halsey Herreshoff designed many models, including the Bristol 22 “Caravel” and the Bristol 29; his early designs made the most of the CCA rules with cutaway keels and long overhangs. His later designs were generally performance oriented fin and skeg or fin keel designs. Early Bristols offered a lot for their modest prices, including encapsulated lead keels with no iron punchings or concrete, large galleys, large cockpits with seats you could sleep on, fiberglass cabin headliners, and interiors with a nice blend of white formica and mahogany trim. The early boats had keel-hung rudders, cutaway full keels and were stout boats with an easy motion in a seaway.

The second generation boats all carried a decimal and a repeat of the second model number (29.9, 33.3, 35.5, 38.8). Most of the 2nd gen Bristol Yachts came from the design team of Ted Hood, an America's Cup Designer. Hood designed the 32 and 39 (40). Hood designs generally are centerboard boats which aim for performance without deep draft.

More recent designs were done by Dieter Empacher who at one time was employed by Hood design group. One of his designs is the Bristol 35.5.

Most of the Bristols were built more heavily than many comparable production sailboats. They can be raced using the PHRF system, however most were designed for cruising and comfort.

The company folded in 1997.

Notable Voyages and Sailors

Bill Wolfram, born 1950, sailed a Bristol 22, We-Tu, from Port Townsend, Washington, to Australia and back, around 2002-2004.

ee also

*List of sailboat designers and manufacturers

References

[http://www.bristol29.com/ Bristol Restoration Site]

[http://www.bristolowners.org/ Bristol Owners Group]

[http://www.employees.org/~b299/ Bristol 29.9 Owners Association]

[http://pearson40.org/pearson_history.htm Pearson 40 Owners Group]

[http://www.laurig.com/articles/bill/rightframe.html Bill Wolfram's Transpacific Voyage]

Keelboats and Sailing Dinghies