My Boat's a Shannon.

Bristol Rose at Hook Reef, Whitsundays, Australia

Bristol, Rhode Island Boat Building. New England Craftsmanship

To sailors in North America the name Shannon is synonymous with quality, safety, durability and the fine lines of a quality-built blue water yacht.  Shannons are not common in Australia where Bristol Rose now sails so we often find ourselves inviting the curious onboard and in the process make some new friends.  Wherever she goes Bristol Rose turns heads and receives compliments: "I'm just admiring your beautiful boat".  

Shannon Boat Company was founded by Walter Schultz in Bristol, Rhode Island in 1975 with the intent to design and build semi-custom sail and power yachts to the highest quality standards. Walt built his first boats in the old Herreshoff yards and employed craftsmen who'd worked for Herreshoff. That legacy lives in Bristol Rose and the hundreds of boats the Shannon Boat Company has built.  

The last of Herreshoff's carpenters, Knute Berg, retired from Shannon in 1986.  This bespoke Knute Berg drop leaf cabin table in American Cherry is the result of a master craftsman passing on his skills to the crew who built Bristol Rose. 

The Shannon company is still in operation today.  They maintain their building core crew in boat repair and refurbishing.  

What value do you put on having the builders of your boat just a phone call or email away? Some of those who built and outfitted Bristol Rose are still working for Shannon or are easily contacted through the company.  On occasion in exotic locations around the world we have looked for their support and Bill Ramos has been there to help us.  That kind of generous support is invaluable and increasingly rare these days! We are very grateful to the Shannon team and this makes our Shannon 43 even more special.  

So What Makes a Shannon Special?

Semi-custom Design vs Production Line

Semi-custom yacht design is typically the realm of the super yachts. The Shannon 43 is in the company of some of the world's best built yachts.  Boat builder and author of  The World's Best Sailboats Ferenc Mate, includes the Shannon 43 in that list.  Fifty-two Shannon 43s have been made by Shannon Boat Company. Construction on Bristol Rose began in 2001 and she was launched in 2002. Only one other Shannon 43 was built after her.

We are the second owners of Bristol Rose.  The original owners sailed their Shannon 38, also called Bristol Rose, before asking Shannon to build this Bristol Rose. Other notable Shannon owners are Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard (Blue Horizons, Following Seas, Voyagers Handbook) who circumnavigated in the 1990s aboard their Shannon 37 ketch, Silk, and Morgan Freeman, actor, who also owned a 38 before his Shannon 43, Afrodesia. Silk is currently based in South Carolina.

Although each Shannon is a unique, personalised vessel, they all have quality in common, through attention to detail.  The total custom interior layout allows for special items and clever ideas to be built into the design, like these secure knife slots, the same as on Morgan Freeman's 43.  

 

Shannon 43 ketch     Hull #51 2002

LOD 43'10"  13.36m

LOA 47'6"  14.48m

Displacement 12,500kg  27,558lbs

Yanmar 75hp diesel

The Shannon 43 Hull 

Manageable underway by one person, perfect for a cruising couple.  All lines lead to the cockpit.  

Construction:

One piece hull, hand laid-up composite fibreglass using linear PVC foam core, sandwich construction with vinylester resin and biaxial laminates. Internal all lead ballast (no keel bolts). One piece deck with closed cell foam core and biaxial laminates.

Bristol Rose is fitted with a centerboard/swing keel that is easily operated from the cockpit using a winch handle.  With a variable draft of 1.45m (4'9") with centerboard up and 2.6m (8'7'') with centerboard down, Bristol Rose has the flexibility to anchor up close to the beach or shoreline where other blue water yachts have to stand off.  The relatively shallow draft really pays off, taking us to places others of similar size can't navigate in shallow waters like parts of the Great Barrier Reef, the Bahamas, coastal and river cruising.

How does she sail?

Bristol Rose makes good speed in light air. We averaged 180 nautical miles a day and recorded the holy grail of ocean cruisers, 200 nautical miles in a 24 hour period, when sailing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. It's one of the longest passages most sailors will ever do, at over 3000 miles.  We had an excellent 18 day passage. 

Flying gennaker Galapagos to Marquesas photographed by our buddy boat Inspiration Lady

Walt Schulz, an icon of Rhode Island boat building, Marine Engineer and Naval Architect writes about the Shannon's seaworthy hull design in The Real Issues for Offshore and Extended Sailing.  Walt has strong opinions about what makes a cruising boat with safety being one of his main guides.  We visited Walt, Bill Ramos and Walt's daughter Erin when they were showing Shannons at the Annapolis Boat Show.  I still wear my paint stained baggy green Shannon cap with pride.

Walt Schulz continues to be an innovative force in the marine industry.  You can read more about this yacht building company's current work here

http://shannonyachts.com/news.html