Benjamin Lexcen AM,
born
Robert Clyde Miller on 19 March 1936, was an Australian yachtsman and marine
architect. He is famous as designer
of the winged keel of Australia II
which, in 1983, became the first non – American yacht to win the prestigious America’s Cup in
132 years.
Born in Boggabri, NSW, to Edward William Miller and his
wife, Ethel Doreen nee Green, Robert was abandoned by his parents as a young
child and lived for a time at Boys Town, Engadine, before going to live with his
grandfather at Newcastle. He
attended Newcastle East Public and Newcastle Boys’ Junior High School.
Leaving school at 14, he undertook a fitter and turner’s apprenticeship
with the railways. In the mid 1950s,
he moved to Sydney and, at 16, built
a catamaran of his own design, took
up sail making and was successful in local sailing competitions. A master boat
builder, Norman Wright invited him to his Brisbane boatyard to run a sail loft.
In 1958, after an accident he was hospitalised for some months and, after Wright
set him up with a drawing board, he designed a radical three man 18-foot skiff
Taipan. With a second,
more radical, 18-footer Venom, he won
the world championship in 1961. He
married Dorothy Muriel Green , a ledger machinist, 0n 24 November, 1962, at
Scots Presbyterian Church, Clayfield Queensland.
They divorced in 1969.
Returning to Sydney, in the early 1960s, he
founded , with his friend Craig Whitworth, a boat-building, sail-making and
ship-chandlery firm (Miller and Whitworth) and designed boats part-time as well.
Miller and Whitworth were jointly named Australian Yachtsman of the Year for
1966-67 because of their success in the International Flying Dutchman class.
Miller competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics representing Australia in
sailing in the Soling class with Denis O’Neil and Ken Berkeley as fellow crew
members.
Miller was commissioned by businessman,
Alan Bond, to build Apollo, an ocean
racer and then Southern Cross, for
Bond’s first challenge for the America’s Cup in 1974.
The challenge was unsuccessful but Miller was kept on as a designer for
future yachts. He withdrew from his partnership with Craig Whitworth but the
company retained the name Miller and Whitworth.
On 2 April, 1976, at the register office, Isle of Wight, England, he
married Yvonne Denise Wise, nee de
Low, a 55 year old divorcee with two children.
In 1977, to avoid confusion in any future
business interests, Miller changed his name by deed poll to ‘Lexcen’ which, he
discovered, was the least used name in the Reader’s Digest membership.
Ben was the name of his dog.
Bond challenged again in 1977 and 1980 with
Lexcen designed yachts but lost both times.
After these defeats, Lexcen realised they would need a superior boat.
He came up with a design for
Australia II featuring many advanced design features and a revolutionary
winged keel. The New York Yacht
Club, holders of the Cup, protested before the race that the boat did not comply
with the America’s Cup rules but their protests were dismissed.
