Steering Mechanism for AUSTRALIA II
Maker
Ben Lexcen
(1936 - 1988)
Date1982
Object number00008486
NamePlan
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 755 x 808 mm, 0.1 kg
Copyright© Ben Lexcen
ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Steve Ward
DescriptionTechnical drawings of the steering mechanism for AUSTRALIA II with dimensions and notations.
Titled 'America's Cup Challenge 1983 Steering Mechanism. Scale: full size. Ben Lexcen, Sydney.'
Drawing number AC-83-022.
HistoryThis plan of the steering mechanism is part of a selection of 77 plans and drawings in the collection of AUSTRALIA II drawn by the office of Ben Lexcen and the Lewmar Company marine suppliers for the America's Cup challenge in 1983. The plans were used by the Steve Ward in the construction of the yacht in 1981 and 1982. Together the plans provide information on the construction details and the construction process of the yacht that would go on to win the America's Cup for Australia for the first time, AUSTRALIA II.
This selection of 77 plans were donated to the museum by Steve Ward after he discovered them when moving house, but are not the complete set used in the construction of AUSTRALIA II. Many plans have been misplaced or deteriorated in the workshop conditions. Further to this was the need for secrecy in the construction of the yacht which meant that there was never a full set together at any given time.
This secrecy was due to the revolutionary nature of the Lexcen designed winged keel. The Bond syndicate who were behind the America's Cup challenge, was very careful about secrecy throughout the design phase through to the building and trialling of the 12 metre yacht. Information was disseminated purely on a need to know basis, with Lexcen and Steve Ward as the key figures. Often the plans were adapted by the two men and thus they were not always true. Even the main 'Construction Plan' was not the final correct shape.
Steve Ward built AUSTRALIA II at his boatshed in Cottesloe, Western Australia.
The building time was estimated at taking 10,000 hours and the yacht was launched in June 1982. The lines plan was evolved by Ben Lexcen on computer after tank testing a model in Holland. AUSTRALIA II was drawn out full size with pencil over a
pen grid on the planked floor covered in satin. According to Steve Ward the computer lines by Lexcen were "spot on", except for the rudder. The change in shape was too sharp for the computer to handle - consequently the men faired the rudder lines.
SignificanceThe most high profile sailing achievement in the imaginations of many Australians is when the AUSTRALIA II syndicate ‘stole’ the America’s cup from the New York Yacht Club in 1983 after 132 years. It was a moment that galvanised the non-sporting world and crystallised the optimism and excess of the 1980s. After AUSTRALIA II's historic win the appeal of the Cup broadened. The cup became winnable and changed hands a number of times over the course of the next thirty years with a broader field of challengers taking part.
