OFFICIAL
ORGAN OF THE THISTLE CLASS
VOL.
3 Mo. 7 84 Alpine Drive. Rochester 10. N.Y. March 1949
CHESAPEAKE
PROGRESS
On July 1, 1948 there were only three Thistles in the entire
Chesapeake Bay Area. When they raced, they were in the handicap class, and were
somewhat of a problem as it was quite a problem to give them a sufficient handicap.
Last August, Sandy Douglass was visiting in the area at the
time of Oxford Regatta. Someone suggested he race around the course with the Chesapeake 20's - no one thought he could stay with them. The Chesapeake 20 is a round
bottom centerboard with about 250 square feet of sail (20 ft. long of course) -
and was considered the fastest small sailboat in this area. It was blowing
about 18 knots and the 20's were carrying four man crews (one man needed to bail).
Mrs Douglas and Mrs. Wiley, wife of his host crewed for Sandy. He finished nearly five minutes ahead of the
nearest 20 and there wasn't a sponge full of water on board. The next day Sandy
was challenged by one of the foremost Star Skippers in the area (now a Thistle Skipper) and the performance was repeated in a very light
breeze over a much longer course.
At present (1949) there are 23 Thistles ready to go in the
spring and a long series of races have been arranged in nearly every Bay Club
in which Thistle will race Thistle Only. The new Thistle
Skippers are all well known racing skippers, for the most part they have been recruited
from Chesapeake 20s
and Star classes.
(Editor’s note, one of those Chesapeake 20 skippers to shift
to Thistles was Billy Heintz, founder of the West River Sailing Club and an
early Chesapeake 20 racer.)