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The 15mR racing yacht ''Istria'' was designed by
Charles Ernest Nicholson Charles Ernest Nicholson (12 May 1868 – 26 February 1954) was a British yacht designer. Biography He was born in 1868, one of four sons and six daughters of Benjamin Nicholson (1828-1906), also a yacht designer, and the original Nicholson of ...
and built at the
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yard in Gosport,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, in 1912 for Sir Charles Carrick Allom (Yard number 204). She was the first large yacht to be built with
laminated Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing materia ...
frames and planking to save weight, the first to feature a Marconi topmast and the first to feature a dinghy cockpit. She was broken up in 1924 in Norway.


Design

In order to reduce the
wetted surface The surface area that interacts with the working fluid or gas. In maritime use, the wetted area is the area of the hull (watercraft) which is immersed in water. This has a direct relationship on the overall hydrodynamic drag of the ship or submar ...
yet retain stability, ''Istria''s hull shape consisted of a long forward overhang and a wide beam at the waterline. ''
Yachting Monthly ''Yachting Monthly'' is a monthly magazine about yachting published by Future PLC. It is edited by Theo Stocker. History and profile At its launch in 1906, from the offices of The Field, ''The Manchester Guardian'' reviewed the first issue desc ...
'' described her as "Short on the waterline, with large displacement, a fine tail and a useful snout, she would not have been a pretty vessel had she not proved clever. But as I have always insisted that efficiency is beauty, the blue 'fifteen' was admired". Her midsection also featured a distinctive
tumblehome Tumblehome is a term describing a hull which grows narrower above the waterline than its beam. The opposite of tumblehome is flare. A small amount of tumblehome is normal in many naval architecture designs in order to allow any small projecti ...
, a feature that Nicholson would repeat in subsequent boats designed to the IYRU International rule.


The first Marconi mast

Nicholson devised a topmast that slotted atop the mainmast, and fitted with a track to fasten the topsail luff. This design eliminated the need for a topsail yard, thus permitting a lighter and loftier rig as well as easier hoisting and dowsing. Nicholson produced similar rigs for ''Pamela'' and ''Paula III'' and the rig was dubbed "Marconi mast" because the elaborate standing rigging reminisced a radio mast.


Dinghy cockpit

For the sake of safety in case a yacht should flounder, the rules at the time stated that a dinghy should be on the deck of the yacht during racing, and was typically stored over the main skylight. In order to reduce the windage, Nicholson created an open dinghy with a gunwale overhang which could be recessed into an aperture of the deck of the yacht, the open dinghy cockpit thus serving as the yacht's cockpit. When the ''Istria'' attended her first race, all the opposition protested against the arrangement. However, after successfully proving that the dinghy could be launched in under 10 seconds, the protests subsided.


Approximate dimensions


Race history

In her first season, the ''Istria'' started in 31 races in European waters and won 29 of them. Originally 60 races had been planned but due to very strong winds there were only 43 starts. Over the following seasons up to the start of the First World War; The ''Istria'' won a further 43 races from 50 starts, thus making a very impressive 72 wins from 81 starts. The ''Istrias success briefly encouraged Allom to build a challenger for the America's Cup in 1913, but he decided to concentrate on improving the ''Istria'' when she faced a stiffening competition from newer European boats. The ''Istria'' remained dominant throughout her racing career.


References

{{reflist Individual sailing vessels 15-metre class yachts Sailing yachts designed by Charles Ernest Nicholson Ships built in Gosport