Yves GARY Hits: 6969
Category: COLUMBIA
Third victorious design of "Nat" HerreshoffDesigning a Cup racer was getting to be an engineering problem in figuring out new forms of construction, strength of material, rigging, etc. In these things "Nat" Herreshoff excelled, and in addition to being counted one of our foremost designers and the one with the greatest experience in large "single stickers," the boats were constructed at his own plant.
For the defense of the Cup another syndicate was formed in the New York Yacht Club. This time it was headed by J. Pierpont Morgan, and C. Oliver Iselin was again chosen as managing owner, to have charge of the new boat during the season.
Of course Herreshoff was the designer and builder. The boat was built under lock and key, and long after any need for secrecy was past the impatient public was denied any information as to what Columhia, which was the name decided upon, would be like. Of course rumors sifted through locked doors, but they were about as reliable as such rumors usually are.
When Columbia was finally launched on June 10, and measured, it was known that she was 131 feet over all; 89 feet 8 inches on the water; 24 feet beam, and 19 feet 3 inches draft; with 13,135 square feet of muslin. She was plated with manganese bronze below the water and steel above, and her spars were built of steel, except her bowsprit, and, of course, her spinnaker boom. She carried ninety tons of lead at the bottom of her nineteen-foot fin, which exerted great leverage at that depth and allowed her to carry her sail on a fairly narrow beam. She was also rather flat amidships, and in profile the challenger and the defender were very similar, though the Shamrock was the more powerful-looking, with greater beam and draft and slightly more free-board.
Columbia was a beautiful boat, the handsomest yacht ever produced, all critics agreed, and from the first she showed great speed.
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