sailors Jan (Left) and Matt Mulder
Not many people with the exception of those Bulimba residents who lived close to the Norman R Wright and Sons Quay Street boat shed in the early Sixties knew the gifted nautical genius Bob Miller.
Most knew him as the ‘rug head’ who disturbed their early morning sleep when he drove his battered and noisy VW Beatle to work while the local Bulimba sailing champions like the 1956 World 18ft skiff title winner Norman Wright Jnr placed Bob Miller on a higher pedestal.
At that time Norman Wright Jnr gave the former New South Wales Railway pattern maker the opportunity to express his talent for making sails in a humble and hot galvanised clad shed.
The relatively modest Bob Miller who used his spare time in sketching various radical designs on scraps of paper and plywood besides chalking his now famous one liner – One day I will turn a dream into a modern miracle- on the shed wall.
He personally created that miracle under the name of Ben Lexcen when Australia ll defeated the Dennis Conner skippered Liberty in the 1983 Americas Cup challenge.
In reality Bob Miller was well on his way to international recognition in the sport of sailing and designing before changing his name by deed poll to Ben Lexcen
His initial success came at the tiller of the lightweight and relatively inexpensive 18 footer Venom which he designed and then skippered to win the 1961 J J Giltinan World championship trophy on the Brisbane River.
Sure the success of the Americas Cup was the pinnacle of a brilliant career cut short with his untimely death on May 1st 1988 at the age of 52 however he managed to leave a legacy with another radical design which he initially named Miller’s Missile.
In early January and now some 40 years later the International Contender created from Miller’s Missile returned to the spiritual homeland with a fleet of 60 representing 9 countries to race for the 2010 World Championship on Brisbane’s Waterloo Bay.
Naturally this exciting super fast dinghy crewed by a single sailor seated in a trapeze belt has come a long way from the time when the skipper dressed generally in footy shorts and a black flannel shirt battled against the windy elements.
However like Bob Miller the modern day Contender sailors have never forgotten the important Miller trait of combining fun and fast sailing with a unique friendly fellowship.
Class veteran Jan Mulder (63) the only sailor to have raced in all three Brisbane hosted World championships in 1974, 1988 and 2010 has never won a major title.
Sure it would be nice for him to win but in this class everyone is a grinner with the encouragement and support that is received within the close-knit Contender family.
However Jan Mulder had the opportunity to share in a celebration with his talented son Matt who won his third Australian championship.
By Ian Grant.