HISTORY
Columbia was chosen to represent the New York Yacht
Club in the America's Cup challenge race of 1899.
Designed by Nathan Herreshoff, she played a major
role in the evolution of racing yachts. The Columbia
was much more than just a fast sloop; she was pure
racing machine. She possessed a deep, heavy keel
weighted with 90 tons of ballast to stabilize her
hull, undercut to reduce her drag in the water. Her
bow and stern sloped sharply upwards to gain water
line length (and thus speed) when she was heeled
over. She employed many weight-saving innovations in
her hull structure. In 1899, she accepted the
challenge of Sir Thomas Lipton who was determined to
retake the cup for Britain. She took on the
Shamrock, a long, lean beauty with a fearsome
reputation for speed. Under gale conditions,
Columbia proved her mettle to win three straight
races by huge margins. She repeated her victory
against Shamrock II in 1901.