Vale-Arrow Co Designer Roy Martin
I have received the following notice of the death of Roy Martin co designer of the Arrow from his daughter Patsy
Dear Geoff
I thought you and members of the National Arrow & Arafura Catamaran Assoc. may appreciate being informed of the very sad news that Roy Martin, one of the designers of the Arrow, passed away last week. The funeral notice is in today’s papers, The Age and the Herald Sun, and the funeral is on Wed 2 Nov.
He was my father and the family will all miss him very much. We are trying to inform as many of his old sailing fraternity as we can. At 87, he had not sailed much recently, but he was a significant figure in past sailing history having also designed the revolutionary C-Class catamaran Miss Nylex. He was awarded the honour of Victorian Yachtsman of the Year in 1974 (RMYS) for his contribution to Australia winning the Little America’s Cup in that year with Miss Nylex.
I was very pleased to see him credited on your website as the co-designer of the Arrow and thought some of your members may be interested in the news of his passing.
Kind regards
Patsy Martin
On behalf of Arrow sailors I extend our deepest sympathies to Roy’s family and our appreciation of his significant contributions to the world of sailing and Arrows in particular.
Results Mannering Park 14′ Regatta 2016 NSW Results Nth Qld Arrow Championships 2016
Roy Martin was a gifted auto designer working for GM-Holden in Melbourne but his sporting love was sailing and he became interested in the International C Class catamarans as a designer.He purchased the fist C Class built in Australia KA1 ‘Southerly” from Bob Brown and Max Press-She was built in the Elwood Sailing Clubhouse in March 1963.from a Cunnngham design as an expanded Quickcat hull form.
He then went on to design the breakthrough MISS NYLEX with a full aerofoil mono rig.
Todays Amerca’s Cup “extreme” catamarans can look back to Roy Martin as their sailing rigs today echo his thoughts and design!
I nominated Jon Buzaglo for recognition last year in the Order of Australia and I could not find where Roy Martin was or I would have also nominated him also.
If someone can put me in touch with his family I would very much wish to chat to them-
MAX PRESS
Thank you Patsy for letting us know.
Our deepest sympathy from all catamaran sailors, many who may be unaware of the significance of your fathers contribution.
To any catamaran sailors out there who have a copy of the original “Catamaran sailing to win” by Chris Wilson and Max Press. Pub.1973, there is plenty of coverage of Roys work on the design and development of Australia’s most successful C Class catamaran “Miss Nylex”.
I always saw Miss Nylex as the first in a new generation of Catamaran design.
Have a good look at her, she’s not all that different to solid wing cats of today, ( minus the foils)