Bristol Yachts
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Bristol Yachts was a US-based company which was among the first commercially successful production fiberglass sailboat boat builders.
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[edit] History
Founder Clinton Pearson built his first fiberglass dinghy while serving on a destroyer in the US Navy ROTC; then he and Everett Pearson, a cousin, began building fiberglass dinghies in 1955 in their garage. Within a year the newly founded Pearson_Yachts employed hundreds of people. At the New York Boat Show in January 1959, they introduced the 28’ Carl Alberg-designed Pearson Triton, which became the first popular modern production fiberglass sailboat. Quick 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.
Clinton 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.
[edit] Models and Designers
Early Bristols 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
Bristol 29.9 Owners Association
Bill Wolfram's Transpacific Voyage
[edit] Keelboats and Sailing Dinghies
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