Charles Nicholson

CHARLES ERNEST NICHOLSON d1954. British yacht designer. In 1912, he introduced the 15mR design Istria with a Marconii rig (the first yacht in the world with a lightweight, laminated wood construction). This led to further developments and growing expertise in the use of lightweight materials which saw its fruition in the use of plywood in deck construction. This ultimately led to arguably his most beautiful sailing creation, the 1927 commissioned Vita (later Creole) which was built on behalf of  Alexander Smith Cochran. Other famous creations include ; Shamrock IV (1914) 75 footer and Shamrock V (1930) both for Sir Thomas Lipton and the Velsheda (J Class 1933) / Endeavour (J Class 1934) / Bloodhound (1936) / Oiseau de Feu (1937).