Thursday, October 20, 2011

Header Photo; Windmill Class



The Windmill class is a 15'6" (4.72 meters) two man hiking dinghy designed by Floridian Clark Mills (designer of the Optimist dinghy). Like the Optimist dinghy, the Windmill was originally designed to be home built out of plywood, featuring a shallow V chine hull. Mostly found in the U.S, the Windmill at one point had a thriving fleet in Finland. A lively sailing dinghy; I sailed and raced the Windmill as a teenager and will always have a soft spot for the class. (A previous post points out that the Windmill hull was used by the US1 singlehander class.)
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7 comments:

  1. Doc Häagen-DazsOctober 20, 2011 at 4:59 PM

    I remember crewing on one of these around 1970. In Southern California. Is that possible?

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  2. BaydogOctober 21, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    I remember one always being on a trailer at Metedeconk River Yacht Club, but I never saw anyone sail it. I remember it was an unusual looking boat, long and somewhat narrow.

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  3. R W RawlesOctober 21, 2011 at 10:03 PM

    I thought of it as a hard-chined boxy boat.

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  4. BaydogOctober 22, 2011 at 6:48 AM

    Yes, exactly Doc

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  5. BaydogOctober 22, 2011 at 6:48 AM

    I mean RW

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  6. TweezermanOctober 22, 2011 at 11:40 AM

    Doc,

    The California fleet is alive and well. I lifted the header photo from the Net but I think the location is either Huntington or Clear Lake in California.

    Chine boats, you either love them or think they look boxy. I love them.

    The Windmill is a narrow hull (4'9") for it's length.

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  7. Doc Häagen-DazsOctober 23, 2011 at 9:56 PM

    Any boat without a motor is art enough to be loved.

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