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Construction plan with backbone and centreboard for Contender class vessel
Construction plan with backbone and centreboard for Contender class vessel

Construction plan with backbone and centreboard for Contender class vessel

Designer (1936 - 1988)
Date1967
Object numberANMS1543[093]
NamePlan
Mediumink on drafting film
Dimensions785 x 1805
Copyright© Ben Lexcen
ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThe 16-foot CONTENDER dinghy ‘construction drawings’, made full-size by Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) and his design team at ‘Miller & Whitworth’ in 1969 HistoryDrawn full-size and ready to use, this stem backbone and centreboard case drawing, is one of four ‘construction drawings’ used to build the 16-foot CONTENDER racing dinghy designed by respected Australia naval architect Ben Lexcen (formally Bob Miller) in 1969. The design team clearly spent a good deal of time and effort producing drawings which could be easily understood and used by owners with limited wood-working skills. All the main parts of the hull have been drawn full-size on waterproof paper which does not shrink or change the dimensions. The drawings are placed on the sheets of marine plywood and each part marked onto it ready to cut out. It is a quick simple and accurate method of producing the parts of the boat. The four construction drawings show the parts, details and all the materials required to build the 16-foot CONTENDER racing dinghy. They are well-drawn works, clearly produced for a wide variety of boat builders many who may not be skilled wood workers. Despite designing seven Australian 12mR America Cup challenge yachts and many fast and successful offshore racing yachts, Ben Lexcen (formally Bob Miller) maintained a passion for small fast sailing boats all his life. The 16-foot CONTENDER racing dinghy is one of his finest small boats designs. Ever the innovator, he started the design project due to the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) deciding to look for a boat to replace the Olympic Finn dinghy in 1964. They wanted a single-handed performance boat which would be lighter than the 1949 designed Finn dinghy (FD). They placed an emphasis on, seamanship, skill, and agility to sail them, rather than that demanded by the earlier boat. This construction drawing, along with the others, will have been prepared to sell the design package to a wide variety of potential clients. The self-taught naval architect and yacht designer Ben Lexcen was born Robert Clyde Miller, on March 19th. 1936 at Boggabri, in New South Wales, Australia. His early years were tough, being abandoned by his parents as a child, he spent time at ‘Boys Town’, Engadine. Luckily, he later went to stay with his grandfather at Newcastle, New South Wales. He left school at fourteen, after only five years formal education, to become an apprentice machinist at the New South Wales locomotive works. As a boy he sailed extensively on Lake Macquarie, often spending nights camped alone in his first small boat. In 1952, at the age of 16, Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) designed and built his first sailing boat ‘THE COMET’ with his friend William Bennett. He soon began to make a name for himself at local sailing competitions. In 1960 he entered his boat ‘TAIPAN’ in the 18-Footer World Championships, and later winning the World Championship in 1961 with his design, the 18-foot skiff ‘VENOM’. In 1962, together with his friend Craig Whitworth, he founded a sail-making company in Sydney called ‘Miller and Whitworth’ while still designing boats. One of these boat designs became the much-regarded 16-foot international ‘CONTENDER’. In 1967 it was selected as a potential Olympic successor to the Finn dinghy and in 1968 awarded international status. The first boat he designed for this project in 1966 and nicknamed MILLERS MISSILE, was a radical boat with hard chine hull, very flat underwater sections, a fully battened main-sail and a trapeze for the single crew to balance their weight against the wind on the sail. But it did not perform well, so Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) redesigned the hull based on the 20-foot Flying Dutchman (FD) dinghy which he was sailing at the time. Originally named DOROTHY after his wife, Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) needed funding to launch the project and found a sailcloth manufacturer with a new product called CONTENDER. The boat was renamed and sent to the second trials at La Baule in France, but the winds were light, none of the boats performed well, so no decision was made. The third set of trials were at Medemblik in Holland, by which time Bob Miller had redesigned the boat with more sail and higher freeboard. With strong winds during the trials, Bob Miller sailed SKIPPY his new CONTENDER and proved he had the best boat. It resulted in the IYRU declaring that they had their new ‘singlehander’. It was not however given Olympic status, but still enjoyed success around the world as an International Class boat. From its home base in Sydney, Australia, the CONTENDER was originally built in timber, using lightweight marine plywood for most of the parts. Some of the boats were made as ’kit boats’ which allowed owners to plan and build the boat themselves. This hull construction plan may well have been from that period. Then in 1970, due to increasing demand locally and from the US, Canada, and across Europe, they were built in GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) as a series production. The first World Championships of the International CONTENDER took place at Hayling Island, UK during 1970 and continues at various venues today. The boat is also still built today, under licence in glass fibre, wood, or a composite construction using wood and epoxy glue. They are all built to strict guidelines, to conform to the class rules, overseen by the International Contender Association. Bob Miller left the ‘Miller & Whitworth’ partnership with Craig Whitworth in 1974 and moved to England where he started design work on the 12mR AUSTRALIA. Despite the CONTENDER being an international success it is unlikely he made any money from the design after he left the partnership. He was unable to receive his mail sent to ‘Miller & Whitworth’ and frustrated the company were still using his name he changed it to Ben Lexcen in 1977. The International CONTENDER proved to be an outstanding design, and still the only high-performance single-handed dinghy that offers international racing in competitive fleets. More than 2,400 boats have been built and are sailed in seventeen countries around the world. An accomplished international sailor, Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) represented Australia in the Soling class at the 1972 at the Olympic Games at Munich, West Germany. He sailed successfully in many offshore races after that but maintained a love of fast, sailing dinghies all his life. Ben Lexcen passed away at Balgowlah, Sydney on May 1st, 1988, but the night before he returned to his love of the 18-skiff by attended the launching of Grand Prix Sailing at the Entertainment Centre.SignificanceThe work, which is part of four detailed construction drawings, provides full size, accurate information to build the 16-foot CONTENDER racing dinghy designed by Bob Miller (later Ben Lexcen) in 1967. This ‘backbone, stem, and centreboard drawing, was used by boat builders in Australia and around the world. Selected by the International Yacht Racing Union (IYRU) as a possible replacement for the Finn dinghy the ‘CONTENDER was awarded international status in 1968. Almost sixty-years after being designed it is still produced and the only high-performance single-handed dinghy that offers international racing in competitive fleets. More than 2,400 CONTENDER dinghies have been built and are sailed in seventeen countries around the world.