Miss Nylex catamaran

Miss Nylex is a C-Class racing catamaran, designed and built in Australia in the early 1970s to compete in the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (formerly known as the ‘Little America’s Cup’). It was designed by Roy Martin and was the first catamaran to win the trophy using a solid wingsail.

In 1972, Miss Nylex was the fastest catamaran in the world, breaking the speed record for an Australian yacht at 24 knots.

Miss Nylex was originally owned by the Nylex Corporation Ltd and was based at the Sorrento Sailing Club in Victoria, Australia, sailing under the C-Class Sail Number KA29. It has a solid aerofoil wingsail with two flaps on the trailing edge, instead of the conventional mast and sail configuration. The wingsail design was revolutionary for its time and changed the course of C-Class catamaran racing. All winners of the International Catamaran Challenge Trophy (ICCT) from 1977 to 2007 were subsequently won using wingsail designs.

History

The story of Miss Nylex began in 1971 when a syndicate was formed to build a yacht to defend the ICCT, which Australia had won from the Danes in 1970. This brought the trophy ‘down under’ for the first time and the Sorrento Sailing Club was tasked with hosting the event on Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne and defending the trophy. Although the challenge was an annual event, the race was delayed until February 1972 to coincide with the Australian summer season.

The Miss Nylex syndicate was formed by John Buzaglo (later OAM) and Frank Strange, with backing by the founder of the Nylex Corporation, Peter (later Sir Peter) Derham. The syndicate also included designer Roy Martin, Chris Wilson and Leon Ward.

Since 1965, the ICCT had been sailed over a course of a set shape and length, which was carefully laid in relation to the prevailing wind direction. Most of the race was spent beating to windward or broad reaching. The syndicate decided that a primary requirement for the new boat was that it would need to perform well under these conditions. After assessing the probable challenger from the United States, the syndicate decided that the existing defender, Quest III (ICCT winner in 1970), would probably be superior, which gave them the freedom to experiment with something new without jeopardising Australia's chance of winning.

Drawing on his aeronautical expertise, the designer Roy Martin developed a 'rigid aerofoil rig' or solid wingsail, which was highly efficient in windward conditions. Designers in the United States and Denmark had been experimenting with wingsails, but without much success in racing conditions (e.g. Patient Lady II).

After testing a scale model 25-foot wingsail mounted on the hulls of the 'Adventurer' catamaran, the syndicate proceeded with building the full 36-foot yacht that became Miss Nylex, at a cost of about AUD$7000 The boat was built by Victorian boat-builder Len Dobson. The model test wingsail is currently on display in the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron near Melbourne.

Early versions of Miss Nylex were problematic and the boat had too much power when sailing downwind in winds of over 20 knots. These problems were refined over time and reliability improved.

Over the summer of 1971/72, eight contenders, including Quest III, competed in the Australian selection trials, the largest C-Class fleet ever to take part. The selection trials were held in January 1972 off the Sorrento Sailing Club and the Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron on Port Phillip Bay.

Although Miss Nylex performed well in the 1972 selection trials, the selectors (Jock Sturrock, Russ Gibbons and Bob Clark) went with the conventional Quest III that year. They considered Miss Nylex too risky to use as there was no spare wingsail in the event of an accident and they were cautious about the reliability of the new design. The defence of the trophy was hosted in February 1972 by the Sorrento Sailing Club against a challenge by Weathercock of the USA. Quest III beat Weathercock four races to nil, winning the trophy for Australia for a second time.

For the defence of the trophy in 1974, three boats contested the trials – Helios, a Sydney-based entrant with a Lock Crowther designed multi-section wing; Panther, considered to be a sister boat to Quest III; and Miss Nylex.

For the 1974 trials, the design of Miss Nylex had been refined and the solid wingsail rig had been modified to eliminate many of the earlier problems. A new wingsail had been built and the original wingsail was kept as a reserve in case of damage. The rigging had been modified to allow much greater wing rotation for downwind sailing and for reducing power in heavy winds. The Miss Nylex crew consisted of Bruce Proctor (helmsman) and Graeme Ainslie (crew).

In 1974, Australia accepted a challenge from New Zealand with their boat ‘Miss Stars’ (Sail Number KZ2). Miss Stars was competitively sailed by helmsman Brett de Thier, but was much heavier and less efficient than Miss Nylex, and Australia went on to beat New Zealand, four races to nil.

Australia’s victory with the new wingsail design was a world first in yacht racing. Roy Martin was named Victorian Yachtsman of the Year in honour of this achievement, which was the first time a yacht designer had won this award.

In 1976, Miss Nylex won the right to be the Australian defender for a second time, seeing off a challenge in the selection trials of a resurrected Quest III. Australia accepted a challenge from the United States with their boat Aquarius V (Sail Number US76). Weather and wind strength proved to be the deciding factor in the 1976 series. Aquarius V had a conventional soft sail rig and was superior in winds below 10 knots, while Miss Nylex easily outperformed Aquarius V in winds above this. In a close series characterized by light winds, the soft-sailed, light weight Aquarius V won the series 4 races to 3. After being down 2 races to 3 against Miss Nylex, Aquarius V came from behind to win the final 2 races and the US took back the trophy that they had originally donated and lost to England back in 1961.

Current status

In the 1980s, Miss Nylex was restored by some of the members of the original syndicate and the C-Class Catamaran Association and was donated to the Australian Maritime Museum in Sydney, where it is part of the National Maritime Collection and listed on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels. Miss Nylex was on display in the foyer of the Museum when it opened in 1991, but it has been in storage since 2006.