We Love Sailing Thistles!

The Thistle is the second most active one-design dinghy fleet in the U.S.A., after the Laser.  About 80 boats participate in the National Championships every year, 130 boats participate in Thistle Midwinters East (St. Petersburg, Florida) and West (Mission Bay, California), and about 70 fleets are spread all over the country.  For racing, there is a three person maximum limit, although the boat can be single- or double-handed, and there are no weight restrictions on sailors.  To find out more about the boat, take a look at the Thistle Class Association (TCA) website.

The Thistle fleet is one of the friendliest fleets around, with sailors ranging in age from teens to older teens in their seventies.  Thistles excel in light air and plane in about 12 knots of wind.  With the powerful sail plan, one Midwest sailor even figured out how to tow a waterskier behind his Thistle.  The TCA works to keep the Thistle a true one-design.  At the 1990 National Championships, Thistle #1, of wood, beat all challengers built in the 45 years since she was built.

Please enjoy our webpages and resources.  Contact us, get into a Thistle, and find out why we like sailing Thistles so much!

Public Links

Fleet 68 Calendar

Fleet 68's calendar includes local races in the Newport Beach, Balboa, and Corona del Mar area, as well as in Alamitos Bay, Big Bear Lake, Coronado (south San Diego Bay), Dana Point, Huntington Lake (in the High Sierras east of Fresno), Lake Pleasant (near Phoenix, AZ), and Mission Bay.  We do most of our sailing in Newport Beach, in both formal and informal (e.g. twilight) races, on the ocean and in the bay, and we have occasional social gatherings.  Fleet members are eligible to compete for two fleet perpetual trophies.  These include a high-point series trophy, for the team with the lowest scores in the most races on the annual calendar, and a fleet championship trophy, with history to 1959.  In addition to local fleet racing, Thistles annually hold their own Midwinters (East and West), District, Regional (e.g. Pacific Coast, Atlantic Coast, etc.), and National Championship regattas.

Fleet 68 Results

Here you'll find racing results for all the events on this year's calendar.

Thistle Class Association

The national organizing body for Thistles and Thistlers.  A great resource for rigging tips, nationwide regatta and event information, tips on buying new or used Thistles--including a list of boats for sale--and lots of answers to your questions about the boat, the sails, the history, and the people.

Fleet 68 Pictures

Click to see some of our local sailing pictures on our "Photos" page.

Tide and Current Predictor

Newport Beach Weather Outlook:

This section is under construction !

Member Links

Fleet 68 Intranet

Here you'll find discussion groups, instant messaging, a detailed calendar, announcements, sailing and tuning tips, boats for sale, fleet news and other resources.  You can also email other members of the fleet from here.  Find out what's going on!

Fleet 68 Roster

You can find people and contact information here.

Fleet 68 Boats

Information about our boats is stored here.