Clark Mills (boat builder)
Clark Wilbur Mills (born January 28, 1915 in Jackson (Michigan) , † December 11, 2001 in Clearwater (Florida) ) was an American yacht designer and boat builder.
He designed and built small, inexpensive and practical boats such as the Snipes dinghy, Lightning dinghy, Windmill dinghy, the compact sailing boats Com-Pac 16 and Com-Pac Sunday Cat and others. Mills began building boats before World War II and established his own Mills Boat Works in Clearwater, Florida after the war ended.
Optimist dinghy
Clark Mills became famous for designing the Optimist dinghy for children and young people up to 15 years of age. Together with his friend and club mate Major Clifford McKay, the idea for a simple, inexpensive children's boat, easy to build and easy to sail, arose in autumn 1947. The idea was that a father should be able to build the boat with his son in a garage. Based on the soap boxes that children loved at the time, Clark Mills created a box-shaped pram hull, which he equipped with a small gaff sail. Mills used commercially available 8x4 foot plywood panels for the construction . The construction costs were supposed to stay below $ 50 (1947). The blueprint was $ 2.50. Mills never received honors or royalties for his design during his lifetime, and it quickly spread. The Dane Axel Damgaard saw the dinghy on Florida's coast and brought the blueprint with him to Denmark, where it quickly spread as a youngest boat with the support of Paul Elvstrøm .
Honors
In 2017, Clark Mills was posthumously inducted into the US National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Yacht designs
- Com-Pac 16 , 1974
- Com-Pac Sunday Cat
- Optimist , 1947
- Windmill , 1953
Quotes
"I didn't make out very well on the money end, but I certainly enjoyed myself. The boatbuilding business is just great. Just because the boats look stupid don't mean nothing. "
Web links
- Bill Douglas: "Simple Man - Simple Boat , English
- European sailing information system: regatta information for sailors: Däumling conquers the world
- Origins of the International Optimist Dinghy , English
- Sailing Magazine, March 1999: An 8-foot giant of a sailboat , English
- Hutchins Company Profile discusses the Com-Pac 16 designed by Clark Mills.
- Manufacturer of the Snipes .
- National Sailing Hall of Fame Induction
Individual evidence
- ↑ Clark Mills 2017 Inductee. Nshof.org, accessed January 5, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mills, Clark |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mills, Clark Wilbur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American yacht designer and shipyard owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 28, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Jackson (Michigan) |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 11, 2001 |
| Place of death | Clearwater (Florida) |