Thistles ( did I spell that right?) At least I lived close to a fleet
of them and most of the members acted like cult members.


They are like cult members, and they have strange religious beliefs too.
I've had Thistle sailors actually complain to me that 12 knots was too
much wind for a good race!


Maxprop wrote:
A friggin' pansy, he was.

No, just a skinny person with another skinny person & a kid
for crew.

... I've raced Thistles in over 20 kts.

Not sure if I have or not, at least the high teens though. I
would say (from the vantage point of a couple decades later)
that it was fun while it was happening, but caused a lot of
pain soon afterwards.


.... The Thistle has no deck, so it will ship 200
gallons of water on a careless tack.


According to Microsoft, that's a user-option feature!

As for Lightnings status as punishers, they're not as bad as
Thistles (and not as fast in light air), but a Lightning
crew... and to some extent, the skipper... must accept a
certain amount of pain to sail the boat actively. Another
great user-option feature, the centerboard as guillotine...
if that doesn't get you, the vang will try next!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King