We hope for your understanding that in interest of the expedition vessel's security, no detailed information as to the actual position of the Windvinder will be published here.
NEWS
2008
The Expedition to the Origin of the Wind starts in approximately that corner of the Pacific where many thousand years ago a few people set out in their canoes to explore and habitate the world's vastest ocean. Countless further generations of these early seafarers continued this voyage under sail - over thousands of miles of open ocean and against the prevailing winds.
What drove them to this migration into the unknown remains a mystery until today.
January (?) 2009; few sailing days from Palau
Windvinder meets fishermen
small repairs - thank you!
... on the way to where the wind comes from February 2009
sunday morning
To all the Coast Guards and Homeland Security people of the Pacific Ocean
Thanks for your interest in this project.
If you ever see Windvinder approaching your coast, please don't worry. He comes as a friend! Just a boat and a story. No bombs , no terrorists, no foreign fishermen, no refugees on board. Please see for yourself. (You don't need to cut the skin of the hulls; there is a hatch behind the mast, which can be opened with a screwdriver. Screwdriver and instructions next to the hatch.)
But when you go on board, PLEASE TAKE CARE in the rotation area of the wind turbine! Don't try to stop the blades; there is no brake. Just wait for a windless day. And in the meantime, just listen to the story this boat is telling you.
Windvinder ... ?
This photo was sent to our headquarters in April 2009. Origin unknown
Someone trying to climb on board ...take care!
SIGHTINGS
Three sightings have been reported so far in May 2009:
A "winged ship" has been seen some three hundred miles north of Papua New Guinea; around the same time (first week of May) fishermen say they have met the "windmill canoe" in Micronesia, others tell about repairs (or a new Windvinder being built?) in the Philippines. In Indonesia he seems to be well known, too.
Are they all talking of the same vessel?
We don't know. Few fishermen in open outrigger canoes carry cameras on board. Or use nautical charts.
That's why we are organizing the follow-up expedition 
ON THE TRACK OF THE WINDVINDER to gather all the information, to archive sketches and reports, to write down the stories and follow the rumors.
Windvinder's journey of life is a neverending metamorphosis; how many of them we will meet, and where, and how they will look like, we don't know yet.
People with adequate sailing experience are welcome to join this expedition! (More information here.)
Drawing found on board of a tuna fishing vessel from Mindanao, 2009
Spotlights ?!
West Pacific 2009
August 2009
How many Windvinders are on the way by now remains a mystery. A "ship with three wings" was reported from near Guam in July, but never seen again, until now. This could be the same "windmill canoe" which was described by Micronesian fishermen before. The report from "three days south of Guam" mentions "two heads" on the boat, which sounds quite like the original Windvinder. It could also mean "two people on board". Who knows?
Windvinder skin
NEW WINGS !
At least one Windvinder (another one, obviously) is for repair on a little island.
Someone has accepted the challenge and works on a better gearbox, while other people have started to build lighter wings!
This is wonderful.
This is Windvinder, finding wind.
Bringing people together who have never seen each other, but work on one idea: to ensure that this "unmanned" voyage can go on - against the wind, and against the prevailing opinion that only money can make us move.
No photos yet of the new wings, but hopefully soon!
Windvinder 2004, first little model
Life-size Windvinder exploring the unknown, West Pacific 2009
the old windmill
new mold, made from one of the old wings
closed mold with new wing inside
another mold, in another country: steam bent wood for a new tail fin
old and new
November 2009: Unmanned windmill canoe seen near Marianas
Three reports so far from the area of the Marianas, from three different phone numbers. Last one seems to be Taiwanese. The first said "three days south of Guam", the next one, weeks later, just said "Guam", and now he seems to be more in the North, east of the islands.
Who is "he" and where he comes from, we don't know.
The one who is getting new wings is on the beach of a little island much more in the South.
new tail fin
Marianas
The strange thing about the Guam reports is that they do not contradict each other. And they come from very different phone numbers. Even from different countries!
After all, it’s not so impossible that some kind of Windvinder is underway there. Two old canoes are easy to find, make them watertight, put two beams in between and a single-shaft windmill drive, and that’s it. The single shaft Windvinder doesn’t even need a keel or a center board. As long as it is very small, it can be really easy. Well, nobody has said that a Windvinder has to be big! Maybe the smallest ones have the biggest chance to survive…
The problem is the shaft. Wings could even be made from plywood, for a small six-blade windmill, but the shaft…? Bamboo doesn’t work, I have tried it. Not even for a one meter model. You need something really straight. But the islanders are masters in improvisation…
The more interesting question is, if the Mariana Windvinder really exists, how did he jump there? Most probably he is born north of the typhoon tracks. Or he is incredibly lucky; or both. But some connection with the original Windvinder must exist, because he seems to have our phone number on board. This contact number is not published on this website or anywhere else, it's only written on the Windvinder - and his descendants.
Possible construction of the Mariana Windvinder, as described in the various reports of the past months: Two old canoes connected with bamboo spars. Windmill and propeller sit on the same shaft, no gearbox is necessary.
The windmill with six sails is not the most effective and certainly not the most storm proof solution, but no other windmill can be repaired or replaced so easily, without any special tools or knowledge. Bamboo and some rice sacks can be found anywhere.
The use of simple sails can be a good way to try out how much sail area is actually needed to propel the vessel against the wind. The sails can be reefed easily by furling them partly or completely around the bamboo.
It's also possible to use only three of the six sails. This could explain why some reports mention "three wings" and others "many".
Latest sighting (December 2009):
14 degrees 20 minutes north
144 degrees 30 minutes east
moving straight east
about 2 knots
The message describes "two enormous wheels with sails in between".
This could be something like this. (sketch by expedition headquarters)
A second wheel can be a good solution to hold the sheets. If the second wheel can be turned in relation to the first one and moved fore and aft on the shaft, it's a perfect way to find out which is the best angle for the sails.
Own experiments with models have shown that an angle of about 45 degrees with the true wind works best to propel the boat directly into the wind.
Square sails between the wheels are maybe a bit more seaworthy. If the second wheel is turned 45 degrees in relation to the first one this makes perfectly twisted windmill wings. No calculations or molds necessary...
January 2010. Several sightings in Southeast Asia.
The islanders call him Yellowfin. The fastest Windvinder ever seen! So far.
VISITING WINDVINDER West Pacific 2010
Have you ever traveled on the wing of a Windvinder?
It is just - unbelievable. Believe me.
It's not like sitting on a boat. Windvinder is free, here, on the ocean: Far from the reefs, 6000 meters of water under his keels... he doesn't need you. But you are welcome to join him, just for a while, as a friend. Climb on the net, turn your nose into the wind, and see what he sees.
Then let him travel on alone.
He finds his own way, effortlessly. To where the wind comes from...
It's great to see him sailing away. All the repairs are done, launchings, fiestas and ceremonies... he is better and stronger than ever before.
It's a beautiful afternoon, a friendly breeze from the northeast. Long and gentle swell. From the outriggers of a tuna fishing vessel we watch him disappear.
How small he is now, in the distance, on this immense ocean!
During the years that I worked on him, Windvinder had become a true large ship, at times too large. Now I squint my eyes and see that little rice paper model from many years ago, crossing a fish pond in Amsterdam against the wind...
It's getting dark. The wind grows stronger.
The white wings have shrunk to a tiny dot, indistinguishable from the breaking crests of the waves on the windward horizon.
Bon voyage, Windvinder!
Where can he be?
And what happens at the edge of the chart?
Repairs 2010 (so far)
Some months ago, fishermen towed Windvinder to a little island.
His tail fin was broken. And the gear box, and some wings...
He was lucky that he is a windfinder, and not a normal boat.
And that his voyage is the Expedition to the Origin of the Wind, and not a trip from A to B (...and back to A at the end of the holiday...).
Windvinder knows no holidays. He has all the time of the world. And he doesn't care about A or B. His voyage is a metamorphosis: It's the life journey of a species, not of an individual.
In 2004, I wrote about this species:
"My boat is mercurial and transitory, it cannot be held and it cannot be steered. This is its strength.
It cannot be grasped by any force that wants to stop it. Instead, it uses that force to get further: It lives on headwinds!
Each wreckage means development and reproduction, a new attempt, a different perspective."
(the booklet "Windvinder" is available here.)
Being found with broken bones and being rebuilt by strangers, these are not accidents, but the most important events in the life of a windfinder. Each broken part tells the finder: Here is the problem in the construction. Make it better!
But how: Stronger, lighter, more flexible? Or completely different?
Don't ask me. Find out! It's a research vessel - on a voyage of discovery that goes further than anything I could possibly imagine beforehand - and further than one single boat could go in its lifetime, however sturdily it was built.
The hulls are cleaned and examined. Except for the tail fin, all three hulls are in perfect condition. No damage on skeleton or skin; also the beams are OK. Nevertheless, everything is sanded and prepared for new paint. Sun protection is vital in the tropics... and for a skin boat, the paint is what makes the boat watertight.
Operation Tail Fin
While the gear boxes are being repaired and improved (with thrust bearings, this time...), there is plenty of time for the tail fin.
The old one was beautiful and incredibly light, but obviously too thin. So we don't repair it, but make a new one. It looks quite like the old one, but is MUCH stronger.
(Tailfin number one, the original tail fin of the original Windvinder, will be cut into pieces and become part of the first edition of the great Book of the Windfinders... Yes, you can inscribe (here) for a copy of this very limited edition, but have some patience. The book has to be written first - during the voyage around the world ON THE TRACK OF THE WINDVINDER.
You can also join this expedition.)
We have to cut the skin to work on the wood. Really a shame, because the skin was not damaged at all. But it's easy to replace. Fabric, needle and twine are on board.
This is one of the great advantages of skin boats, at least if they have such a strong skin like this one: Whatever may break inside, the skin is still intact and watertight. So it was no problem to tow the damaged Windvinder to an island, over many hundred miles of open ocean.
Here comes tail fin number two:
Making knots and listening to stories from the other end of the world... No common language is necessary; Windvinder translates.
Quality control. Each lashing is closely inspected.
People arrive from the other end of the island and want to see the dolphin.
Which dolphin ???
They had heard about the boat which is steered by a dolphin.
Seems that the people who help building told their people at home about the tail fin... delphin, dolphin...
As on all other parts of the Windvinder, inscriptions for later finders are burnt into the wood:
WINDVINDER IKOG 2 . GIYAHI KINING BANGKA PAINGUN SA GIGIKANAN SA HANGIN.
KUNG GIKINAHANGLAN, PALIHOG AYOHA
While we are busy repairing Windvinder, a new message arrives from the Marianas: Again a boat has been seen which is traveling to where the wind comes from. No people on board. Eight sails...
How is this possible? Great discussion that night at the fire on the Windvinder beach. It can't be this one. This one is here; there is a guard every night. "The guard is sleeping!" - "I'm not sleeping!" ...
Also, the skin is open, for the work on the tail fin. And our windmill has 3 wings - from glassfiber and epoxy. No sails.
It must be another one.
But can normal people build a Windfinder, just like this, on the beach?
Obviously - YES. But how? How did they do it? We don't know how "the other one" looks like, how big he is, or where he comes from. Maybe there are several of them.
One thing is sure at the end of the night: We will try it out. Fingers, not discussions, will find out how complicated it really is, how long it takes, and if it's possible at all. With eight sails against the wind ... ?!?
What they can do on the Marianas - or wherever - we can do here!
Here comes Yellowfin.
It took about three days to build him. And cost - nothing.
He is smaller than the other Windvinder we are working on. But what is small can grow...
This one was just to try out how such a sail wheel could be made, and if it would propel a boat against the wind. We didn't take the time to shape streamlined hulls, or find light materials. That's for later.
The whole construction is made from bamboo, lashed together with fishing line. The big bamboos grow everywhere; all the canoes here use them as outriggers.
Yellowfin escaped the first evening we put him in the water. He was much faster than anyone expected.
We return to the old Windvinder.
The varnish on the wood is dry; we can start with the skin.
