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Sail Plan

Designer Ben Lexcen (1936 - 1988)

Date1986

Object numberANMS1543[255]

NamePlan

MediumPaper

Dimensions300 x 210

ClassificationsMaps, charts and plans

Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionA Ben Lexcen design from 1986 for a scaled down, 52.5-foot version, of his famous winning yacht ‘AUSTRALIA II’ winner of the America’s Cup in 1983. With the birth of computer aided design (CAD) in yacht design during the mid-1980’s, the design of Ben Lexcen’s ‘Baby Twelve KA-6’ was a good boat to use this new tool. After the success of 1983, Ben Lexcen organised a very good group of experienced naval architects and yachts designers in his team including the much-respected Peter Lowe. HistoryThis sail plan, designed by Ben Lexcen and his team in 1986, indicates a proposal to build a production 52.5-foot (16.03m) sailing yacht, loosely based on the world famous ‘AUSTRALIA II’ winner of the 1983 America’s Cup races. Considering the amount of design work involved, this may have been made for a client with plans to build a series production run of this design. The yacht does not resemble the 19.22m ‘AUSTRALIA II’ but the client may have wished to use this to help the marketing and future sales of the yachts. In order to set up a production of this yacht, plugs and mould tooling would first need to be made. This represents a significant investment and risk, so any help in selling the first seven to ten yachts is of particular importance. No information is available if this yacht was built, or if a production was set up, but the Lexcen Yacht Design company was involved with many projects in the mid to late 1980’s. Together with Peter Lowe, and other members of his team, Ben Lexcen designed a number of fast racing and cruising yachts, as well as large motor yachts. SignificanceLargely self-taught, but with a fast and uncanny understanding of fluid dynamics, Ben Lexcen had always adopted the traditional method of yacht design, using drafting paper, pencils and ship curves. All of his famous racing yachts were designed, measured and calculated by hand. During the 1980’s many yacht designers and boat builders changed to using computer aided design, (CAD) which is faster, more accurate, can be saved, stored, changed, and quickly sent by post or e-mail. The preliminary lines plan for his ‘Baby Twelve KA-6’, clearly shows the ‘Ben Lexcen Design’ team were also moving into this new system.

The work is a computer drawn design, made in 1986 when computer aided designs of yachts (CAD), was becoming more common. The work was intended to be used to build a series production of 52.5-foot (16.03 m) sailing yachts, loosely based on Ben Lexcen’s world famous America’s Cup winning yacht of 1983.