When someone enrolls at The Landing School, the experience extends beyond simply class and shop work. We create our own community, a group of boating enthusiasts and marine industry professionals talking, learning, and training together.
Our faculty and administrative team focus on more than teaching, testing, and grading our students. We do what we can to expose them to the marine industry as quickly as possible by offering access to events such as the International Boatbuilders Exhibition & Conference (IBEX), trainings through the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), or simply by hosting our own Virtual Events that we encourage students to attend, such as this month’s INSIDE SABRE YACHTS and next month’s INSIDE FRENCH & WEBB.
The faculty regularly invites guest speakers from the industry to discuss design, techniques, and management processes. We share articles and stories. President Richard Downs-Honey’s door is open to anyone who wants to discuss the industry, especially composites. Those of us on the admin side frequently witness the faculty chewing the fat with students after class and during breaks. We immerse these students in industry gossip and news because we are the industry.
After a student graduates, we hear from them. Jamie Houtz, our industry liaison, and Richard Downs-Honey continuously check in with our alumni, and they discuss career opportunities with our students. We have symbiotic relationships with yards and facilities around the world. A student may hear about us interning with a boatbuilder, while another student may get hired by a design firm that is led by an alumnus.
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Talk to your friends and colleagues in your boating community or even outside of your boating community. You may be shocked, as even we sometimes are, to learn you are chatting with a Landing School alum, or someone who has worked with The Landing School, like two fellows who met on a fishing tour in New Zealand and didn’t realize they had more than a love of fishing in common. Guide Kyoshi Nakagawa (Wooden Boat Building ’99/Yacht Design ’00) met up with his client Brendan Nolan Ryan (Composite Boat Building ’12/Yacht Design ’13), pictured here, and discovered their connection on the trip. We are everywhere….
In a few weeks, you will be hearing from us during our Fall Appeal, which we plan to launch later in November. We hope you’ll take a few moments to support our community of builders, designers, repairers, teachers, and learners.
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Virtual Events at The Landing School |
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Last week we visited Sabre Yachts to launch the first of many Virtual Events through The Landing School. Designed to showcase some of the high-end and cutting-edge work happening in the marine industry through video, panel discussions, and live Q&A, these virtual events are free, and are available live and recorded.
Our inaugural event INSIDE SABRE YACHTS with Sabre President Aaron Crawford and VP of Design Kevin Burns (both alumni of The Landing School) included behind-the-scenes video of the design offices and shop facilities, as well as a panel discussion with them and Richard Downs-Honey. The recording is now available on our Virtual Events page.
On November 17, we will be visiting French & Webb to chat with Todd French, a former instructor at The Landing School who founded French & Webb 25 years ago with Peter Webb (Wooden Boat Building ’79). This Virtual Tour will take us behind-the-scenes at French & Webb, and includes a deep dive into the recent restoration of the Nat Herreshoff-designed Marilee, plus a quick overview of a rebuild of the former presidential yacht Sequoia. For more information, please visit our Virtual Events page.
If you are interested in participating as a panelist or have ideas for future events, email Sarah Devlin, [email protected].
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Career Planning with Video
One of the perks of attending The Landing School, beyond having access to some of the most experienced minds in the marine industry in one of the most beautiful settings in the world (we’re biased, for sure, but it’s also objective truth), students receive a great deal of support as they look to launch their careers in the marine industry. Jamie Houtz, who is potentially the most well known Landing School crew member after more than 30 years’ working here, coaches students on resumes, outreach, and effective job searches.
This year, we will be creating a student employment page (name to be determined) with student resumes, preferred geographical locations, and videos that feature them discussing their skills, their goals, and their experience. We shot the footage this past week and are planning to publish it on our website in early December. Stay tuned!
The Landing School’s Job Board
As we have discussed, career-planning is a big part of a student’s experience at The Landing School. Over the years, we have created a robust Job Board, once available only to students, but now available to the public. If you’re looking for employment, or looking for personnel, jump over to our Job Board. Your job posting is free.
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Notes from the Shop Floor |
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COVID-Friendly Visit with ACBS
We were thrilled this month to host Bjorn Bakken, who is on the Board of Directors for the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS). Bjorn took a tour of the shops, with a stop to check out Ben Matos’ (WBB ’20) “Second Year” project, a rebuild of EVENING STAR, Town Class hull #58 built between 1932 and 1936.
ACBS has provided The Landing School with ongoing and generous scholarships for those students interested in developing and perfecting the knowledge and skills needed to preserve, restore, and construct vintage boats. Over the past three years, the ACBS Scholarship has benefited six students, including two current students in the Wooden Boat Building program: Adam Phillips and Ian McCullough.
If you haven’t yet stumbled across Bjorn’s blog about his 10-year restoration of a 1940 Chris Craft Deluxe, you are in for a real treat. As they referred to his writing in WoodyBoater, please enjoy "Bjorn's Beautiful Barrel Back Blog."
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Traditional Boat Building Meets Modern Tools
Yacht Design Instructor Duane Branch submitted an image from the shop floor last week to show how Composite and Wooden Boat Building students, under instructor guidance, will be collaborating this year. Here, Duane was cutting step scarfs into plywood for Town Class planks. He says, “This is just me trying to get this CNC to work for now. Had some frustrating moments and may have invented 3 new swear words in the process. But I have it going now, and it will be ready to teach CNC to the Composites class. Rick [Barkhuff] wants to do a CNC class for the wooden boat as well. So, it will morph into a true crossover event.”
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Time Lapse of an Infusion
Just for fun, here’s a time lapse of the Composite Boat Building class infusing an LS 20.
Program Assistant Mike Crosby (Marine Systems '19/Composite Boat Building '20) takes plenty of footage as the crew works in the shop, so all credit for this video goes to him. Except the music.
The music was chosen by our COVID Compliance Manager Bettina Reece. #teamwork
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A Yacht Designer Buys a Marina |
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Jon Clarke (Yacht Design, ’14), came to The Landing School after high school, and furthered his education at Solent University in England. Now he owns a marina in Maryland. We talked with him to get the story.
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How did you come to The Landing School?
I came to The Landing School right after graduating high school. I had interned and worked at a few boatyards throughout high school, prior to coming to The Landing School. I have always known what I wanted to do early on in my life, and have never had a job that didn’t involve boating....
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Landing School Merchandise Available Now!
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