"Pony Express" wrote in

Yeah, after righting a Thistle, you'll have about
800 gallons of water in it. Not much fun.
One question, why was the rail in the water if you
were racing seriously?

Good question. We were sailing with a crew of three in about 13-15kts. My
wife was on the jib, I was at the helm, and we had brought aboard a terrific
young kid as rail meat who wanted some racing experience. During one
particularly botched tack the kid lost his footing, fell onto the sole, and
when the sails filled I wasn't quick enough with the mainsheet to keep the
rail outta the drink, nor were my wife and I able to hold the boat flat. My
bad.

As an aside, while getting the rail in the water was not common on Thistles
when racing in normal conditions, we saw it happen often with higher winds.
Mark Reynolds, a sailmaker and top Thistle skipper, did it once during a
regatta in Ohio when he was about 200 ft. from taking the finish gun. Three
boats got around him as a result.

Max