A classic windmill turns its sails over tulip fields beside a gentle canal, under drifting clouds. Real Dutch windmills like this one convert kinetic wind energy into rotational mechanical energy: wind striking the angled sails (traditionally canvas stretched over a wooden lattice) generates torque on the horizontal windshaft, which drives internal wooden gearing to grind grain or pump water. Historic mill sails typically spanned 20-29 meters and turned at roughly 10-20 RPM in a moderate breeze, with millers adjusting the amount of canvas ("reefing") to control speed — much like a sailor reefing a sail in high wind. The four-bladed common-sail layout modeled here dates back to medieval Europe, though later "smock" and "tower" mills added mechanisms to auto-rotate the cap into the wind. The tulip fields and canal reference the Netherlands' historic land-reclamation (polder) system, where mills once pumped water to keep fields dry.
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