Bristol Boats

Pity we "puddle sailors". Tides don't breast us. Currents don't set us. We don't heave to swells nor count the rollers. The only rogue waves we encounter are one finger salutes from power boaters. Clawing off a lee shore is in our lexicon but not in our experience. Getting "pooped" is only a hazard at the pumpout station. So what is the point of maintaining our craft in "Bristol fashion"? Are we merely "Walter Mittying"? Why Not! Consider a Saturday at Smithville Lake, Paradise, Missouri early last month. A deep low had scuttled in early on bringing winds at 30 knots gusting 40. Hardly promising but I had agreed to take an MC scower out on "Baby Grand". I was frankly a little sorry that I had touted her to him as a "go anywhere — take anything" vessel. Still she had two reefpoints available on the main and I had a 100 on the bow with two reefpoints available to it. "Lets just go take a look." By the time we made dockside things were out of hand already. The wind was straight down the anchorage with breakers. Two sweet 16s had braved it unwisely. One skipper had cleated off the main and had promptly broached and foundered. The other had parted a stay and lost the rig. A slovenly Buccaneer had thought better of it, had made for the dock and broken her bow off under the lip. It was rescue time. So who was to go out? Few wanted to chance it and, truth to tell, few of the boats were up to it. It came down to us. Let's pause and consider the definition of "bristol". It is defined as "shipshape and in ordered fashion". Everything is tended to, looked after-stout, working and capable.

Early on I decided to replace the marginal Johnson 9.9 Sail-master with a Yamaha 9.9 four stroke (a "necked down" 18 hp torquey kicker) so that I could more readily back down and back up. We needed that to back out of the slip and pull her head thru the wind. I had replaced the marginal stern cleats and bow cleats with meatier bronze staghorns used on the PS 37s and added another set amidships-all with large 316ti stainless backplates. Places to attach warps and lines. A large bronze bollard for towing and anchoring was fitted, similarly backplated. We could get there, tie off and tow! After some dicey moments the fools in the water were ashore and the casualty boats rescued. No big deal in warm water with shore nearby. But still... “Could have been worse in frigid waters with shoaling and rocky lee shore.”' Point is your boat should be prepared to rescue itself from your bad judgment and, hopefully, aid others. The confidence that a well fitted and maintained boat engenders is a worthy goal in and of itself. As long as we were "out there" we lit off the rig and sailed all afternoon, safely reefed, as the only vessel on the lake. Later we learned that three power boats had swamped and sunk and a fourth went down with its dock. We trusted our rig because it had been assiduously checked and renewed. Decisions to tack, or failing that wear ship came easily. We didn't worry that a muffed jibe would bring a "gravity storm". Bristol is not just varnished teak and shiny metal. I suggest, however, that in order to do those things you have to look closely at the boat when you're doing them. THAT'S what Bristol is all about.

See you on the water, Bill Strop aboard "Baby Grand"