Thistle
Description
The Thistle is a 17 ft (5.18 m) high-performance one-design racing dinghy designed in 1945 by Sandy Douglass. Known for its distinctive hard-chine, cold-molded mahogany (early boats) or fiberglass hull, it combines a powerful 200 sq ft fractional sloop rig (149 sq ft mainsail + 50 sq ft jib + large symmetrical spinnaker) with a planing hull that rewards skilled crew work and hiking straps. With a beam of 6 ft, twin retractable bilgeboards, minimum hull weight of 515 lbs, and an ideal crew of three (total ~450–525 lbs), the Thistle is fast in 8–20 knots, capable of sustained planing and top speeds over 15 knots downwind. Still actively raced across North America with more than 4,000 boats built, it remains one of the most competitive and enduring classic dinghy classes, prized for its balance of speed, tactical racing, and beautiful lines.
Construction Details
| Designer | Gordon K. (Sandy) Douglass |
|---|---|
| Builder | Great Midwest Yacht Co. (GMYC) |
| Length | 17.000 ft |
| LOA | 17.000 ft |
| LWL | 17.000 ft |
| Beam | 6.000 ft |
| Displacement | 515 lb |
| Max Draft | 4.500 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.500 ft |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | - |
| e | - |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Thistle - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 23.16 ft - (7059 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 11.91 ft - (3630 mm) |
| Leech | * 25.41 ft - (7745 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88 ° |
| Diagonal | * 25.67 ft - (7824 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 5.25 in - (133 mm) |
| Area | * 142.32 ft² |
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Thistle - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 15.66 ft - (4773 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 7.66 ft - (2335 mm) |
| Leech | 14.66 ft - (4468 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | 7.11 ft - (2167 mm) |
| Area | * 55.7 ft² |
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Thistle - SPINNAKER
| Stays | 18.5 ft - (5639 mm) |
|---|---|
| MidGirth | 12.5 ft - (3810 mm) |
| Foot | 13.5 ft - (4115 mm) |
| Area | * 212 ft² |
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Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.