Clark Mills Biography

Here is a link to a sort of biography someone is writing about Clark Mills, Legendary Florida Boat designer and builder. It is said that more boats of his designs have been build than any other person (The Optomist Pram).

He also designed the Windmill sailboat and some of the Compac 16, 19 and 23 build by Hutchins in Florida. The Compac 23 is a sweet boat to sail, it is not too fast, it just makes you smile.

Here are some quotes from the biography in progress :

"Someone said that if they could have cut the top of Clarks¹ head open when he was a child and looked in there at his brain that they would have seen a bunch of little sailboats sailing around."

"To hear Clark tell it, he took an oath of poverty when he became a boat builder. He likens boat building to a religion. He was driven to build boats. He had to build boats."

Anyway, if you are interested, here is the link :

http://pub5.ezboard.com/fwindmillwelcome.showMessage?topicID=19.topic

 

Meeting Clark Mills

ClarK Mills was an idol of mine as a kid living in Pensacola. So much so that when I was 12 I persuaded my Dad to take me with him on a trip to Clearwater to meet the MAN. We got to his shop and about all I remember is this big burly man with open shirt and (beer belly?) coming out--not anything that he said registered but it was a highlite of my childhood. I started racing Windmills whn I was 14 and stayed in the class about three years winning the the Southeastern District Championship in 65 or 66 held in Montgomery ,Alabama.
Great boat: I beat many a larger boat at various times and she could outpoint almost any boat....
Windmill 1586 from Paul Schreck

 

Clark Mills or Clarkie as he was sometimes called had a talent for designing and building good boats. I have built several Optimists and Windmills and also raced Windmills for many years. Getting too old for it now but still a member of the class. Clark added as much to sailing in the USA as anyone I know.

Tom Lathrop
Windmill # 2316 and 5416