Bristol, of course means, sharp-looking, yacht-quality,
sea-worthy, etc. These boats typify the true meaning
of Bristol.

I've never owned A Bristol, but I've sailed two models,
each in demanding conditions.

These are the Bristol 34 and the Bristol 35.5.

The Bristol 35.5 was the far superior of the two boats. It
handled SF Bay and California Pacific Ocean conditions well.
It's fin keel gave it superb upwind perfromance. It had and
excellent better than average yacht type interior, and a reliable
diesel. It'd highly recommend it--one of the better 80's vintage
boats. I'd consider buying one--I liked it that much.

The Bristol 34 was much older, 70's vintage, with the narrower,
wetter hulls, and full keels common of that timeframe. This boat
had four single berths in the main cabin--a good passage or watch
standing layout. It had and concomfortable high wooden coaming
around the cockpit that was uncomfortable to sit on, and a
ridiculously tiny wheel. Worse yet it had crap for sails. With a
good owner/maintainer, it's a superior boat for it's vintage.

It handled beating to weather in the open ocean off Newport, RI
in 30+ wind, short chop, and larger waves well--until we blew out
the jib--the owner was cheap and bought a used sail.

Downside was a gas powered Atomic-4 for an auxilary propulsion.
I don't like gas engines, but with a boat that was tough and
could sail well--I'd be less concerned.

One final point. These older more beat up, 70's vintage Bristols
had a fiberglass so thick, it is probably bullet proof. If you like to
work on boats, and want to design your own interior--these are good
boats for that.

On Tue, 15 Nov 2005, "mike" wrote:

anyone here own a Bristol sailboat?