Protecting the Windex from Bird Damage

[Joe Myerson]

Truth be told, I had never owned a boat with a Windex until I bought my 25D.

On my Marshall catboat, I kept a burgee at the masthead, mounted on a pig stick. It served as a wind indicator and kept the birds off the to of the mast most of the time. But I had no VHF antenna on that boat.

Earlier boats relied on bits of ribbon on the shrouds (my beloved Hustler, though a cat rig, had shrouds).

But I became so used to looking up to get a reading of the wind direction (sorry, John Vigor) that I found myself doing so even after the osprey had done their thing.

Now, if I can only find some old tape cassette somewhere . . .

I think I'll also see if I can construct a little crown of thorns (copper boatbuilding nails) to attach to the top of the mast for next season.

--Joe

[Maine Sail]

The new Windex models come with a spike on top of the Windex. It is basically a wire about 14" long and about the diameter of a coat hanger or slightly larger. Birds don't like to land on the Windex with the spike, or at least have not in the five years we've owned the boat, and Falmouth is horrendous for Osprey..

I like my Windex for night sailing as the reflective tape is quite visible. Mostly I use my ST-60 wind though. I do also have some tell tails on the shrouds too.