Thistle (dinghy)
Class symbol
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| Crew | 3 |
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| Draft | 1.40 m (4 ft 7 in) |
| Hull weight | 233 kg (514 lb) |
| LOA | 5.20 m (17.1 ft) |
| Beam | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Spinnaker area | 20.4 m2 (220 sq ft) |
| Upwind Sail Area | 17.1 m2 (184 sq ft) |
The Thistle is a high-performance one-design racing dinghy, also used for day sailing, popular in the United States. The Thistle was designed by Gordon K. (Sandy) Douglass who later designed the Highlander and Flying Scot. (These names commemorate Douglass’s Scots heritage.) Starting in 1945, 4040+ boats have now been built. Their construction originally used molded plywood. The builders started using Glass-reinforced polyester or "fibreglass" in the late 1950s. The current hull configuration uses a glass-reinforced polyester molded boat with wooden rails, centre board trunk, thwart, fore grating, and aft grating. The spars were once made from spruce, but are now of entirely extruded aluminum construction.
The Thistle Class Association,[1] with fleets across the country, holds local, regional, and national regattas throughout the year. All Thistles are built to the same lines by authorized builders. Class rules limit innovations in rigging, restrict sail purchases, and prohibit electronic navigation gear. Old and new boats are evenly matched, with the owner of Thistle number 1 winning the national championship in 1990. Newer fibreglass hulls tend to "soften" over a period of 20 years, depending on use. "Softer" boats are still fast, but not competitive at the very highest level.
Thistle hulls are relatively light for their size; they have no decking or spray protection, which saves weight. The sail plan is large for a boat of this size, consisting of a marconi rig with a main, jib, and symmetrical spinnaker. The sail plan is larger for the boat’s weight than in many other dinghies, which makes Thistles perform extremely well in light wind. Their hulls have wide, rounded bottoms, allowing the boats to plane in winds as low as 10 knots. It is not uncommon to see thistles efficiently making their way, while other dinghys of similar design are becalmed.
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Wikipedia