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The “Thistle Crew University” (or “Crew U”) was established by Thistle Fleet 176, as a way to solve a shortage of experienced and enthusiastic crew for our fleet members.  We sail on beautiful Lake Nockamixon in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

The Thistle is a 17 foot sailboat designed by Sandy Douglass over 50 years ago.  US Sailing has identified the Thistle Class as the second strongest “One Design” class in the United States.

Lake Nockamixon is the home of the "Nockamixon Sail Club" which sponsors the racing in which we participate.

Watch an Entire Crew U Session

About the training:

Classes will start promptly at 8:30AM on the scheduled Saturdays with coffee and donuts.  This is followed by a general discussion on sailing, ie. points of sail, how to dress properly for Thistle sailing, parts of the boat, hiking and the reason for it, boat dynamics (different skippering styles), roll tacking, etc.  We will then take both forward and middle crew positions and explain, in detail (with demonstrations), what needs to be done in both up wind, and down wind sailing conditions.  The hope is to get some hands on experience with jibes and tacks in a low pressure environment, on land, with lots help and coaching.  In subsequent sessions, depending on the participants, we will have more in depth discussions on other crew responsibilities, as well as a review of the basics learned in previous classes.  Training sessions should end about 10AM.

After each class, we plan to have crew positions available on Thistles for racing later in the day.  We will fill them with class participants on a “FIRST COME - FIRST SERVE” basis.  The first to register for each class will be the first in line to sail.  Several fleet members intend to use “crew training” participants as their only crew on fleet race days.

Once a participant attends 2 to 3 classes, they should be sufficiently trained to become permanent Thistle crew.  They will then “Graduate” from the “Crew U” program, and have the option to be listed on the Nockamixon Thistle Fleet web site, under “Crew U Graduates – available to crew”. Of course there is much more to be learned for a crew to be completely trained so they can contribute to the team in a racing environment.  This is an ongoing process that is best learned by racing with a competent skipper in a variety of conditions.

For the experienced and enthusiastic Thistle crew, there are numerous opportunities to sail on the East Coast at numerous Thistle regattas.  This could be with a local Thistler or non-local members of the Thistle family.

Cost of “Thistle Crew U” is FREE to the participants.  We sponsor this training to grow our list of experienced crew, and to expose new people to the exciting sport of Thistle sailing!!

We hope you will join us!!

DIRECTIONS To Lake Nockamixon:

From the South and East:

Take route 611 north, past Doylestown (about 10 miles).  Turn Left onto route 412 (Ford Dealership on left), and very shortly, turn Left again on route 563 (blinking yellow light). The Marina entrance is on your Left about 4 miles from route 412.  There is a very small brown sign just before the turn that says “Marina and Visitor Center”.  Watch closely for this sign or you will miss it.  (This is the third entrance to the park. The previous two have boat ramps as well.)  We assemble in the parking lot to the right near the launch ramp.

From the North:

Take route 611 South to Route 412.  Turn right then follow above directions.

From the West:

Take route 313 from Quakertown.  Turn left on route 563.  Go to the second entrance to the park on the right.  Watch for the sign that says “Marina and Visitor Center”.