Monday 1 July 2013

File on Bristol Rose... Support Anywhere in the World.

A sailor has to really love and trust his or her boat to cast off the lines and head out on the open ocean.  We love our Shannon 43. Oh you've noticed?  Fellow boat owner, I know you also love your boat. Anyone thinking of buying a sailboat, a Shannon in particular, stick with me.

We need to replace a couple of small parts on Bristol Rose.  That can be tricky when your boat is in a remote location.  Online purchases are easy enough but shipping costs can be prohibitive, even from state to state.

BR was built in 2002 and many of the people who built her are still with Shannon Yachts in Rhode Island, that's cool!  We benefit from their record keeping and also the records kept by her first owners during the semi-custom build.  If we're stumped it only takes a call or email to get the info we need.

This week I'm visiting the USA and did just that.  I'd like to find a perfect match for a broken pelican hook for the safety line.  I got contact info for Bay Sailing Equipment in Massachusetts. Christine responded to my email, "you didn't give me the hull number".  No problem, "yep, I have a whole file on hull #51, anything else you need?" she says.  Now that is cool!

Walt Shultz, Bill Ramos and team at Shannon, and their suppliers, have come through for us on more than one occasion in some exotic and remote locations between Rhode Is. and Australia.  That's just one reason we really love our Shannon!  If you're thinking of shelling out the big bucks for a sailboat, it pays to buy a boat with this kind of support, priceless!