Baby Boomers et al - Learn Classic Boat Building
by Nancy Knudsen on 30 Jan 2008
Student at work SW
Do you love messing around building boats? Working with Wood? Maybe you have an old classic boat you'd like to restore, but don't know where to start? Or if you're looking for a career change, maybe you'd like to become qualified as a classic boat builder. Whatever your reason, why not consider visiting Newport Rhode Island, one of the most charismatic yachting ports of all time, and do a short or long course with the International Yacht Restoration School?
Catering to everyone from the young boating apprentice to the retired baby boomer looking for a new interest, this school simply reeks with the history and love of classic sailing boats. It's a non-profit institution, dedicated both to the preservation of classic boats and to teaching and maintaining the skills, using traditional craftsmanship. There's everything from full courses to two days courses in specialty subjects such as Carvel Planking (18 hours), Half Hull Model Making (24 hours), Build a Skerry Daysailer (42 hours), Tool Use and Sharpening (12 hours), Introduction to Woodworking (36 hours), Lofting (18hours) and many others.
There's little prerequisite for the school – you need no former experience, and must merely have completed high school. All nationalities are welcome.
The school has already a fine history, having been started in 1993 by Elizabeth Meyer, maritime artist John Mecray, and a group of passionate restoration enthusiasts, having been inspired by Ms Meyer's restoration of the 1930's J-Class yacht Endeavour. In 2004 was designated a 'School of Distinction' for its in-depth curriculum and extraordinary instructor core.
The best thing is that you will learn your desired craft while restoring, maintaining and returning historically important small yachts to the water. To date, IYRS students have returned nearly 100 historic boats to the water.
The IYRS campus is located on a 2 ½ acre historic waterfront site in downtown Newport, Rhode Island. Classes are held in Restoration Hall, a converted electric generating plant. IYRS has an excellent marina with dockage for restored vessels and visting classics. The area is rich in boating history, and is the original home of the America's Cup before the lawyers made mince meat of it.
Example of a yacht being restored is the pictured Coronet, a 133ft classic craft with a sail area of 8300 square feet, built in 1885 by Poillon in Brooklyn, New York.
Many of Coronet's contemporaries have since vanished. They were sunk, grounded, or simply ruined by the ravages of time. Remnants, models, and photographs of these vessels may still exist, yet Coronet has miraculously stayed afloat. She exists today as a symbol of a gilded age, an exuberant time in American sailing history. Built in 1885 for American industrialist Rufus T. Bush, Coronet had the luxe of a fine home — but one that was meant to travel to faraway shores. During her first five years, Coronet earned fame as a trans-Atlantic race winner and circumnavigated the globe as one of the first U.S.-registered yachts to round Cape Horn.
A series of owners have used Coronet for different ends: for pleasure cruising, racing, scientific exploration, and even as a global voyager for a missionary cause. The storied schooner yacht is now being restored on the IYRS campus
If this is your love, don't hesitate! Life is for doing what you love to do! Find out more information about the International Yacht Restoration School, by visiting their website
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