Design and Construction
Clark Mills, who also created the Optimist Dinghy, laid the Windmill out as a narrow, slab-sided, hard-chined hull carrying about 200 pounds all-up narrow, slab-sided, hard-chined. The original boat was a plywood kit build, but a shift to fiberglass came soon enough, and the class today straddles both materials without penalty. The official class molds now reside at Tartan Yachts in Painesville, Ohio, and Tim Jackett has agreed to build the boat on demand, three at a time — he liked the design enough after sailing one repeatedly that he built one for himself. Across more than six decades and several builders, roughly 700 Windmills have been completed, with a handful still coming out of the mold in recent years.
Rig and Handling
There is no spinnaker in this design, yet the Windmill is plenty quick, an old-school reaching rocket that accelerates fast and planes easily downwind with the jib pole extended. The rig echoes a Snipe's but sits over a hull 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, and full-length top battens with tougher cloth let owners wring more seasons out of their Dacron sails. Because the boat is light, it does not beat up its gear, and sails hold up for years. When the breeze hits 12 knots or better, fleets favor triangle courses.
Accommodations
The Windmill is a daysailing and racing dinghy, not a cruiser, so there is no cabin to speak of. Its appeal is the opposite of enclosed space: 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!" — tells you where the energy goes.
Refits and Ownership
Ownership in the Windmill class is unusually cohesive. Roughly 90 active members keep new and old, glass and wood, competitive, and the fleet even awards trophies to septuagenarians born the same year as the boat, with an octogenarian version on the way. A race-ready used boat and a new one carry different price points, but the bigger point is the culture: 70- and 80-year-olds sail these narrow hulls successfully 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 hard-chined narrowness and quick acceleration make it a reaching and downwind thrill without a spinnaker, and the class's refusal to split old from new keeps the racing honest and the ownership community tight.
Pros
- Quick to accelerate and easy to plane downwind with the jib pole out
- Light enough that sails and gear last for years
- Class keeps wood and glass, old and new, competitive on the same line
- Active, low-drama ownership group with decades of continuity
Cons
- Too lively for novice juniors despite the original intent
- No cabin or creature comforts — a pure dayboat and racer
- Narrow, slab-sided hull is unforgiving compared with beamier dinghies
