Ghosting along during 1950 Leatherlips Yacht Club "Dam Full" Regatta held at Columbus, Ohio.

OVER-ALL LENGTH: 17 FT. MEASURED SAIL AREA: 175 SQ. FT.
 
In the past, good round-bilge boats were expensive, but molded hulls now make it possible to build them for the price of boats with chines. The Thistle has a round-bilge molded hull and is designed and rigged to give the best possible performance. She is a big sister of the famous International 14-foot Dinghies, which have led the way in the small-boat field for many years.

The Thistle possesses many qualities not generally found all in one boat. She's fast in light airs, yet perhaps is at her best in hard planning breezes. She's a hot racing boat, but her owners also consider her the ideal family day sailor. Many top skippers say she's fun to race, but she has proved to be a safe boat for beginners.

Thistle is dry. Her fine entrance slices through the seas with little fuss and her flared bow throws spray down and lifts her over the biggest seas without taking water aboard. She thus needs no decking and is lighter and more buoyant than other boats her size. By means of her roller-reefing gear, she can be snugged down in a matter of seconds and can then be kept on her sailing lines, which should be vertical rather than heeled. On a broad reach, she planes with her hull lifted half out of the water.

Despite the fact that she is but 17 feet long, her cockpit is 6 ft. wide and nearly 10 ft. long. There are comfortable seats for eight with plenty of room to stretch out, and there's enough floor space for two people to sleep aboard fairly comfortably.

She's light. The hull weighs just over 300 lbs. when stripped of all removable gear such as spars, sails, rudder, centerboard, blocks, buoyancy tanks, etc. This makes her easy to handle in the water and out and enables one to trail her around the country.

Thistle was designed by Gordon K. Douglass and is built by Douglass & McLeod, Inc., Box 311, Painesville, Ohio. The 28-lb. mast steps on a thwart and is held in place by a pair of shrouds and a jib-stay. One man can rig or unrig the boat in a matter of minutes. The centerboard has 70 lbs. of lead in its lower end and hangs from rollers. Since there is no centerboard pin, the board can be lifted out once the tackle is unhooked. The molded hull is five plies thick. The inner plies are fir and the surface plies are mahogany finished with clear spar varnish.

All castings used in the boat are chrome-plated bronze. All fabricated fittings are stainless steel. The standing rigging is made of stainless-steel wire with Truloc fittings and the halyards are stainless-steel cable. The rudder is constructed of mahogany and has symmetrical airfoil sections. It is controlled by an oak tiller that is equipped with a swivel extension.

Tanks of 1/8-in. Weldwood are fitted to provide 300 lbs. of buoyancy. This is in addition to the inherent buoyancy of the hull itself. Under Thistle Class rules, the tanks must be tested once a year by an official measurer. No boat is permitted to participate in a sanctioned regatta until its tanks have been tested. The test is to completely immerse the tanks in water for a period of 15 minutes.

As previously mentioned, the boat has no deck. In extremely rough weather, when some protection forward is advisable, a canvas spray hood can be fitted. This reaches from the bow to the mast and has an opening along the center line to permit the stowing of the jib inside the boat. This spray hood doubles in brass as the bow section of the boat cover.

Three sails are carried—a mainsail, a jib, and a spinnaker. The measured sail area in accordance with the rules of the International Yacht Racing Union is 175 sq. ft.

Organization is the keystone to the continued success of any class. In this respect, the Thistle is outstanding, for the class has grown to over 600 boats in five years. For information concerning the Thistle Class Association, write to R. R. Adams, 1625 Doone Road, Columbus 12, Ohio. Every new boat in the class must be registered with the Association. Upon payment of a $5 registration fee, a racing number is issued. A fleet charter will be granted by the Assbciation to any accredited yacht club having an active Thistle fleet of not less than three boats.

When racing, the crew can consist of either two or three persons, but the same number must be carried through all races of a series. No inside ballast can be carried. Eligibility rules have been adopted by the Association with the intention of maintaining the one-design features of the class. The Association reserves the right to declare ineligible any boat that does not conform to the spirit as well as the letter of these rules. Permanently bent masts, rotating masts, mast or boom bending devices, and other freak contrivances are not tolerated.

A complete Thistle without sails costs about $1,250. For the man who enjoys doing his own painting, an unfinished boat can be bought for about $1,140. Kits are also available; a partially completed one costs about $860 and a totally unassembled one runs about $680.

Thistle's 6xl0-ft. cockpit has seats for eight and enough floor space for a couple to sleep aboard.

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