This image is from a section of a photo from the Detroit Publishing Co. collection, which was given to the Library of Congress by the State Historical Society of Colorado in 1949. According to the library, there are no restrictions on the publication of the original 1899 photo.

Columbia was launched in 1899 ans was skippered by Charlie Barr, who was the skipper of the original yacht America. She won handily three to nothing against Shamrock and again, three to nothing, against Shamrock II, in 1903.

I have found little information on this yacht but I do have the following specifications:

• • Year Built: 1899
  • Manufacturer: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company
  • Designer: Nathaniel Herreshoff
  • original owners: J. Pierpont Morgan and Edwin Dennisson Morgain
  • Yacht Club: NYYC
  • LOA: 133 feet nine inches
  • LWL: 89 feet five inches
  • Beam: 24 feet 2 inches
  • Draught: 19 feet
  • Displacement: 148.7 tons
  • Sail Area: 12,800 square feet

Our kit number MW131 comes with:

• • • the laser-cut elements to build the hull
    • a laser-cut deck with correct openings for winches
    • laser-cut deck houses
    • a T-rail structure to ease alignment

Please note the kit does not include strip wood, ballast, spars, mast, rigging, or electronics.

For a blog entry on the construction of a J-Class model, please click here.

Our hulls are designed to allow you to add ballast where necessary and the depths of the keels are tweaked for better handling. This J-Class sailboat hull is deepened by approximately three inches below the scale depth. This is in concordance with the rules of the official J-Class R/C website which can be found here

Currently, we have plenty of information about the construction of this model. We also have many pictures of models as well as pictures of the real boat. This material will be made available to you if you decide to build this wonderful model.

Thanks for looking!

The Modeller’s Workshop
Montreal, Canada