Raced continuously since the early 1950s, the Windmill remains a one-design whose class rules deliberately keep fiberglass and wood, old and new, on the same starting line.
Design and Construction
Mills, who also created the Optimist Dinghy, drew the Windmill with a narrow, slab-sided, hard-chined hull and an all-up weight of about 200 pounds. The original boat was a plywood kit build, but a shift to fiberglass came soon enough. Today, it accommodates both materials without penalty.
The official class molds now reside at Tartan Yachts in Painesville, Ohio. Tim Jackett has agreed to build Windmills on demand, three at a time. After sailing one repeatedly, he liked the design enough to build one for himself.
Across more than six decades and several builders, roughly 700 Windmills have been completed. In recent years, a handful of boats have continued to come out of the mold.
Rig and Handling
The Windmill has no spinnaker, but it’s still plenty quick. This old-school reaching rocket accelerates rapidly and planes easily downwind with its jib pole extended.
The rig resembles a Snipe’s but sits over a hull that’s about 100 pounds lighter, which is part of why the boat is so narrow and quick to plane. A redesigned daggerboard and rudder, introduced later in the class’s life, made the boats more responsive. Full-length top battens and tougher cloth also allow owners to wring more seasons from their Dacron sails.
Because the boat is light, it doesn’t beat up its gear, and sails hold up for years. When the breeze reaches 12 knots or better, fleets favor triangle courses.
Daysailing Practicality
The Windmill is a daysailing and racing dinghy, not a cruiser, so there’s no cabin to speak of. Its appeal lies elsewhere: a 14-foot-6-inch waterline, a daggerboard that lifts to half a foot, and a hull that two people can rig and launch without drama.
The class motto—“It’s just plane fun!”—makes clear where the emphasis lies.
Refits and Ownership
The Windmill class has an unusually cohesive ownership community. Roughly 90 active members work to keep new and old boats, whether fiberglass or wood, competitive. The fleet even awards trophies to septuagenarians born in the same year as the boat, with an octogenarian version on the way.
Race-ready used boats and new boats occupy different price points, but the class culture matters more. Sailors in their 70s and 80s successfully handle these narrow hulls in all conditions, and the class works to keep every surviving example on the racecourse.
The Verdict
The Windmill is a purist’s planing dinghy: small, light, and demanding enough that it scared off its intended junior audience and became a grown-up one-design. Its narrow, hard-chined hull and quick acceleration make it a thrill on reaches and downwind, even without a spinnaker. Meanwhile, the class’s refusal to split old boats from new ones keeps the racing honest and the ownership community close-knit.
Pros
- Accelerates quickly and planes easily downwind with the jib pole extended
- Light enough that sails and gear last for years
- Class rules keep wood and fiberglass, old and new, competitive on the same starting line
- Active, low-drama ownership group with decades of continuity
Cons
- Too lively for novice juniors despite its original purpose
- No cabin or creature comforts; it’s strictly a dayboat and racer
- Narrow, slab-sided hull is less forgiving than those of beamier dinghies
