That was the first thing that went through my mind when a friend messaged me with a simple question: "Do you want my Thistle sailboat for free?"
Oh boy. I mean, Oh Boy! Sure!
My first step was to find out exactly how big a hole I was about to blow in my bank account, free time, and life in general. What kind of shape is it in? It had set out uncovered for some time at the local yacht club, and so all the teak really needed stripped and refinished, and it was dirty, but it had nearly new sails and all the rigging and hardware was in usable shape.
Okay, sounding good so far. Now the make-or-break question: Is it on a trailer I can actually tow the 60 miles back to my house? Yes.
Well. Sight unseen, looks like I'm adding to the fleet. Let's hope a free Thistle isn't like a low-cost poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
That will bring the fleet total up to...let's see...two. We (my wife and I) just started sailing last year. We did so by buying a 1981 Vagabond 14 off Craigslist for $600 including all the original sails and a trailer. It had set out for several years and was painfully dirty but fairly complete. Sensing a theme here? I replaced all the running rigging (rope for you land lubbers,) fixed a few baubles, and we hit the lake. "Firefly" treats us well and has taught us the basics. She's not going anywhere, but the rigging is fairly simple, so the more complex rig on a Thistle offers a great stepping stone toward larger boats. Every boat person is always on the quest toward larger boats, be they driven by wind or dead dinosaurs. It's some kind of sickness or compulsion like lemmings always feeling the location of the nearest cliff. So a free boat that's bigger, more complex, and mildly neglected? Sign me up!
So what is a Thistle anyway? The cliff notes: It's 17' long, weighs around 515 lbs, and carries 191 sqft of sail (not counting the spinnaker.) It was designed in 1945 by Sandy Douglass and is still one of the most popular "One Design" class racing boats in the US. It's fast. tippy, and rightfully terrifying to someone who just started sailing. The early ones (pre 1960-ish) were wood hulled, but since then they are fiberglass hull with a fair amount of wood trim.
Did I mention it's completely open decked, so that if you get blown over it fills with a tremendous amount of water which is then a royal bitch to bail out so you can get home?
This is gonna be great!
(More info on Thistles can be found in Wikipedia , Sailboatdata (source of image below), and at the official Thistle Class page)
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