Tuning Your Thistle for Speed

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NEW! Thistle Tuning Clips Spring 07 by Greg Fisher (11Mb) The Saturday before Midwinters East I had the opportunity to observe and shoot video of the 2007 Southeastern Interdistrict Champions practice some different tacking styles. This clip is about 3 1/2 minutes long and in it we watch as Vlasta, Bill and Natalie try 2 different styles of initiating the tack. My favorite is to slowly trim the mainsheet while keeping the boat flat...the other option is to heel the boat to leeward and allow the increased heel and helm spin the boat up into the wind. Take a look! We also show why back feeding the bolt rope at the bottom of your main into the mast slot is a good idea. Enjoy! If you have any questions don't hesitate to write or give me a call. I am glad to help! Thistle Tuning Clips by Greg Fisher (4Mb) Short Preview (6.6 Mb) Mike Ingham with teammates Kyle Finefrock and Sarah Paisley rolling through some nice smooth roll tacks. A picture is worth a thousand words..and with the narration I hope you might see what makes Mike one of the best boat handlers in the class! (6.6 Mb) Great shots of great spinnaker trim and some suggestions on main trim for even better speed. Chip and Wayne are our subjects and we filmed this on Wednesday before the regatta started. (8 Mb) Check out Joe's great approach and start...nice technique and placement! (10 Mb) In this clip of Wednesday practice racing we watch closely mainsail trim and the effects of cunningham, vang and sheet...and how they all work together. There are a number of movie stars in this one!   You may contact Greg Fisher to get a copy of the clips above and some others on a CD. A $8.00 fee is requested to cover shipping and handling.

Comments received about the video clips: "Hey Greg....Thank you for the Thistle video clips. I read the Thistle newsgroup daily, enjoy the discussions... I especially liked the roll tack video. I bought #1717 about this time last year and I wish I would have discovered the Thistle years ago. Thanks again for the videos". John Bauer Thanks for posting the video clips from the Thistle MMW on the web site. I've been wanting to teach my crew (my kids) how to roll tack and the videos will be very helpful in giving them the vision of what we're trying to accomplish." Bill Pfund Send us your comments

If you have any questions on how to tune your Thistle and your sails for speed contact our Thistle experts.