Worldwide Classic Boat Show

Friday, February 26th – Boatbuilding Instructors’ Round Table

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Boatbuilding Instructors’ Round Table

Friday, February 26, 2021 – 1900 GMT/UTC

We’ve gathered the Lead Instructors from six of the top boatbuilding schools from the U.K. to Australia to talk shop. Each will walk through their own school’s program, then they’ll field questions from the other instructors. Really no telling where that conversation will go, and we like it that way.

Enjoy the recorded replay of this live presentation below.

Speakers:

Sean Koomen – Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
Mike Tupper – International Boatbuilding Training College
Matt Edmondson – Great Lakes Boatbuilding School
Warren Barker – IYRS School of Technology & Trades
Jake Jacobsen – The Landing School

Comments

25 responses to “Friday, February 26th – Boatbuilding Instructors’ Round Table”

  1. David Miller Avatar
    David Miller

    Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights for freely.

    I believe that craftsmanship is almost forgotten in much of our world. Wooden boats can help foster an appreciation for and development of the mindset that craftsmanship is still important.

    People are analog, not digital!

    Full disclosure: I have spent most of my career working in the digital world.

  2. Michael Newmeyer Avatar
    Michael Newmeyer

    Thank you for this round table. As the founder and current director and part-time instructor of the traditional wooden boat building “Skol ar Mor” in southern Brittany, France, it’s good to hear from my colleagues in the trade. I am a late 1980’s Landing school graduate where I first discovered my passion for boat building and maritime culture. After working in the as a boat builder for a few years I did a couple of years with the Peace Corp in central Africa where as secondary project I took on a couple of apprentices and trained them in woodworking by building a Swampscott dory. This was my first experience in teaching, and It was incredibly rewarding. I then settled in France and spent about 7 years using traditional boat building as a motivational tool for disadvantaged adolescents in a social insertion program, and that experience is really taught me how to teach. I spent the early 2000’s as director of the ApprenticeShop in Rockland, Maine where I developed a firm belief in experiential education, and the practice of personal development through responsibility, and for that I have Lance Lee to thank for helping me define and hone my skills in this type of pedagogy. I am also a ardent supporter of internationalism, and have visited many boat building schools and maritime cultural centers here in Europe, and have established a number of exchange programs with them. Until Covid hit almost half of my students did an internship in a foreign country. The richness of those exchanges has permitted my students to not only complement their training, but to develop their communication skills, cultural sensitivity and an appreciation for “the Other”. It’s not always easy these exchanges, and they demand a bit of organization, but they are well worth it, and part of our job as teachers/instructors. I hope to meet some of you, and possibly get the chance to work with you or some of your students. It’s a hell of a lot of fun.

    Take care,
    Mike Newmeyer
    Skol ar Mor
    1300 rue de Bel Air
    44420 Mesquer
    France
    Tel: +33 2 40 19 37 91
    Port: +33 6 33 10 03 20
    e-mail: mike@skolarmor.fr
    Site: http://www.skolarmor.fr
    http://www.facebook.com/Skolarmor.officiel
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/skolarmor/albums

    1. Graham Walsh Avatar
      Graham Walsh

      Hi Michael,

      Thanks for the awesome contribution hope things are going well.

      Graham

  3. Roelant Tops Avatar
    Roelant Tops

    Born in the Netherlands must have given me a live long appreciation for boats and sailing. The boatbuilders presentation made me wonder about having taken the Silicon Valley job (1966) or enrolled for the IBTC course? Had that been an option at the time.

    Thanks OCH and all who have contributed to the show.

    Roel Australia

  4. Roelant Tops Avatar
    Roelant Tops

    Growing up in the Netherlands I was born with a love for boats and sailing. Watching the the Boatbuilders presentation I wonder: “would I have chosen the Silicon Valley job had the

  5. Kere Kemp Avatar
    Kere Kemp

    Per Mike
    Tupper’s question, the flag on the Dark Harbor was an NZ red ensign, a common flag on Kiwi boats. British ensign top corner of the flag plus 4 of the 5 stars of the southern cross in white on the body of the flag. Kere Kemp, owner of Kotimana, Auckland New Zealand.

  6. Patrick McCorkle Avatar
    Patrick McCorkle

    I really enjoyed the presentation! Thanks to all.

  7. Harris Bucklin Avatar
    Harris Bucklin

    That was really great! Congrats on this one!

  8. Pilar Stack Avatar
    Pilar Stack

    Great presentation. Thank you.

  9. R Gordon Talley Avatar
    R Gordon Talley

    Eric, your yard takes on huge projects. so you build up workforce, too. Easy to do? What about sags between. How do you maintain your skilled workers?

  10. Jack Stone Avatar
    Jack Stone

    Wonderful minds and skills!

  11. Jack Stone Avatar
    Jack Stone

    Did any of these schools get PPP type substinence?

  12. Patricia Nelder Avatar
    Patricia Nelder

    Great presentations. Thank you

  13. Jack Stone Avatar
    Jack Stone

    What could be the expectations as to a career ‘in the trades’?

  14. Grenseth Avatar
    Grenseth

    Is telepathic animal communication a part of the landing campus?

    1. Nate Rooks Avatar
      Nate Rooks

      I’m so glad someone else noticed that, I love it!

  15. Stephan & Winnie Avatar
    Stephan & Winnie

    Hello all,
    Thanks a lot for giving us such a detailed idea of what exactly is going on inside all zhose great schools!

    My Q. is: Did Corona have a great effect on the number of students from overseas?
    To me it seemed that travilling between the continents has turned almost impossible for a private trip.

    Always had the desire to have a try in on of the great international BB schools….

    Stephan

  16. David Topolewski Avatar
    David Topolewski

    What is the cost to the student?

    1. Nate Rooks Avatar
      Nate Rooks

      This info is on their websites!

  17. Kenneth Bowen Avatar
    Kenneth Bowen

    Re: traditional vs composite, someone should make the point that the Great lakes get solid for 9 months of the year and this greatly influences the choice of whether one makes a boat that dries out…

  18. Kaci Cronkhite Avatar
    Kaci Cronkhite

    What joy to see all these Boat Schools in one “room.” Thanks, OCH!

  19. Jess Clay Avatar
    Jess Clay

    Question for all – How many of your students, do you think, find a job in boat building after their time at your schools?

    1. Michael Newmeyer Avatar
      Michael Newmeyer

      About 80-85% of our students find jobs working as boat builders. The rest work generally in wood.

  20. Ken Koscik Avatar
    Ken Koscik

    How have you dealt with Covid?

  21. Sandy Lam Avatar
    Sandy Lam

    If you have any questions for these amazing boat builders, post them here!

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