She is simply one of the most interesting 15mR yachts in this already fascinating class. She was designed and built by Charles Nicholson in 1912 and featured several truly revolutionary details. She was the first yacht to feature a Marconi topmast, whereby the topsail was hoisted on a rail and extended to the full height of a jack-yard instead of being attached to a boom on the deck. This saved weight in the topmast and also improved the position of the topsail. The hull, with its comparably wide beam at the waterline, was also unusual for its time. Nicholson also developed a dinghy cockpit to save additional weight. Instead of following the rules at the time which stated that a dinghy should be on the deck of the yacht during racing, he created an open dinghy which could be recessed into the deck of the yacht, thus serving as the yacht’s cockpit! "Istria" won 72 out of 81 race starts; however in 1924 she was broken up in Norway. The 15mR class is currently experiencing a renaissance with the prospect of up to four (!) yachts which could soon compete against each other: "Tuiga", "Hispania", "Mariska" and "Lady Anne". We have researched enough material and documents from various sources to be able to create a replica true to the original.
