Thistlebase
Fleet Boat Program
Gerry Christman from Clinton Lake Sailing Association outlines a fleet boat program that grew CLSA from 3 active Thistles in 2017 to 18 in 2024. The program emphasizes patience, fun, and low costs for new sailors. It includes weekly Thursday night "development" sailing with rotating crew assignments and optional Sunday fleet racing. Key elements include email communication for crew management, maintaining low costs, handling boat maintenance, and addressing obstacles like crew availability and new sailor frustration. The article provides detailed implementation steps and suggests contacting Gerry for further discussion.
The scanned issue opens in Google Drive; turn to page 26.
This is a summary. The full article text is © the Thistle Class Association — read the original scan via the link above.