The Thistle is an American planing

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle o ...

that was designed by

Sandy Douglass Gordon K. "Sandy" Douglass (October 22, 1904 – February 12, 1992) was an American Sailing (sport), racer, Naval architect, designer, and boat building, builder of dinghy racing, sailing dinghies. Two of his designs, the Thistle (dinghy), Thist ...

as a one-design racer and first built in 1945.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 84-85. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

Production

The design was originally built by

Douglass & McLeod Douglass & McLeod was an American boat builder based in Grand River, Ohio. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass racing sailboats.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 166. Intern ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but the company went out of business in 1971. Since then production has passed to several American builders, including the

Clark Boat Company The Clark Boat Company was an American boat builder based in Kent, Washington. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats. The company was founded by Bob Clark in 1960 and continued in business until 1984. ...

W. D. Schock Corp The W. D. Schock Corporation (usually styled W. D. Schock Corp) is an American boat builder originally based in Newport Beach, California, later in Corona, California and currently located in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded by Wi ...

, Northwest One Design and the current builder since 1975, Great Midwest Yacht Company. More than 4,000 boats of this design have been completed. W. D. Schock Corp records indicate that they built 250 boats between 1959 and 1975.

Design

The Thistle is a recreational

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

, with the earlier production models made from molded plywood and the more recent models built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with wood structural members and trim. The seats are a fiberglass-sandwich construction, and provide built-in flotation. It has a fractional sloop rig with

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

spars and three spreader bars. The hull has no decks, a

plumb stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up t ...

and transom, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and a retractable, drum-mounted centerboard. It displaces . The boat has a

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

of with the centerboard extended and with it retracted, allowing beaching or ground transportation on a trailer. For sailing the design is equipped with symmetrical spinnaker of and built-in flotation. The design has a

Portsmouth Yardstick The Portsmouth Yardstick (PY) or Portsmouth handicap scheme is a term used for a number of related systems of empirical handicapping used primarily in small sailboat racing. The handicap is applied to the time taken to sail any course, and the han ...

racing average handicap of 83.0 and is normally raced with a crew of three

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s, although it has a capacity of six people.

Operational history

By 1994 the design was being raced in more than 150 fleets. In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "the Thistle was influenced by English dinghy design and is similar to the International 14, another racing dinghy with a plumb bow and flat run. Originally, boats were of molded wood. Racing crew is three, but the Thistle will carry six. She will fit into a garage. The Thistle has a lot of sail and a lot of speed. Class rules are strict. Gear that may be technically legal but provides an advantage is not allowed ... The Thistle is the boat used as the primary yardstick for Portsmouth Numbers."

Racing

References

External links