Windmills

It is difficult to believe this, but in the old days there was no wind in Saaremaa at all. For some unexplainable reason, the Gulf Stream, which usually brings wind to the Baltic Sea, carried all the wind away from Saaremaa. The clothes in washing-lines weren’t drying, the kids couldn’t fly their kites, and the majestic grey locks of the men weren’t flaunting in the wind. But the islanders are not a succumbing kind and they started to look for a solution. So, finally on one fine Saturday a man named Mihkel Rüütel (who, by the way, was a distant ancestor of Arnold Rüütel) from Laimjala built the first windmill, which started to make wind to the neighbouring people. Already on the next day, Sunday, people from all over Saaremaa started to gather to the Rüütel’s yard to dry their clothes, fly their kites, and flaunt their locks. The windmill of Rüütel was an inspiration to other local men and after just one year every farm had a windmill on the yard. And this is how Saaremaa became one of the windiest places in Estonia. And while in the beginning the Hiiumaa people were hired to push around the windmill blades for a small pocket money, soon they were reconstructed to work on the juniper briquet fire. At one point there was so much wind in Saaremaa, that the Gulf Stream couldn’t ignore it anymore and then the global winds started to reach Saaremaa as well. After that the need for the windmills decreased and they were reconstructed for making flour or just showing off to the tourists.