Columbia was the successful defender of the 1958 America's Cup for the New York Yacht Club. This handmade model is built plank on frame from western red cedar, rosewood, mahogany, and teak by master craftsmen. Designed in accordance with original plans, pictures, and drawings, it captures the grace of the original boat to scale. Features include a single mast with hand-stitched linen sails and intricate rigging, wooden hatches, metal stanchions and railings, and a varnished hull in natural grain with a painted waterline. The model is secured tightly on a wood base with a brass name plate bearing the name of "Columbia 1958." Light assembly is required as the mast and sails are folded down in shipping.
History
Columbia was an American racing yacht built in 1899 for the Americas Cup races. She was designed and built in 1898 by Nathanael Herreshoff and the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company for owners J. Pierpont Morgan and Edwin Dennison Morgan of the New York Yacht Club. She had a nickel steel frame, a tobin bronze hull, and a steel mast (later replaced with one of Oregon pine.) She was the defender of the tenth Americas Cup race that same year against British challenger Shamrock as well as the defender of the eleventh Americas Cup race in 1901 against British challenger Shamrock II. She was the first vessel to win the trophy twice in a row.