Windmill Class Association

Colin,

Many of the most active sailors (33 of us) have been "away" at the Windmill Nationals in NH...

There is a growing group in the Tampa area and we will be glad to help you. You must realize that boats from the Tampa/St. Pete area placed 1,2,3 in the Nationals...so you are not going to beat them right away! On the other hand, there are great teaching/learning opportunities in terms of learning to sail the boat, get up to speed, etc.

It is a wonderful boat for 2 juniors, parent/child or husband/wife and various other combinations. It IS tippy and you have to learn to handle the boat, but once you have done that you will find the transition to many other boats easy and the performance of the Windmill outstanding.

Allen Chauvenet

:: Recently I signed up for the Windmill message board and
:: have been checking it almost daily for new messages.
:: Much to my avail it's been very quiet.

:: I am considering getting into the class and had a trial
:: run on Lady Lane at Davis Islands Yacht Club with my
:: good friend Antolin.

:: We rigged the boat in about 1/2 hour and tried to launch
:: her in winds around 12 kts with rain on its way in.
:: Antolin being a new Windmill sailor experienced a few
:: new challenges himself including his wind vane becoming
:: out of wack and the main halyard going too far out of
:: reach. In choppy water we managed to capsize the boat to
:: remedy the problems.

:: We were soon off and sailing in the choppy Tampa Bay.
:: Much to my surprise I found the boat to be extremely
:: tippy having been raised on a Lightning which has a much
:: wider beam. I have always been amazed at the ability of
:: the little buggers to really hold their own against the
:: Portsmouth class on Thursday nights. That's what got my
:: interest going. Also the fact that you don't have to
:: find 2 crew to sail one. I'll be just fine sailing one
:: with my daughter Janell.

:: I love the self launching pole and not having to fly a
:: chute. This simplifies things a lot. What I'm thinking
:: is it's just a matter of getting used to the boat itself
:: and a little bit of practice to make things come natural
:: and I will fall in love with the little boat.

:: I'd love to hear someone else's take on Windmill sailing
:: and am anxious to find out if there are others reading
:: these posts.

:: Oh yeah, is it really bad luck to change the name of a
:: boat because I have an idea for my future Windmill.

:: Colin