"One of the great privileges of running YDS is that we get to meet so many of the great yacht designers of the future." -Tom MacNaughton

Generally the Yacht or Small Craft Designer is a Naval Architect specializing in vessels under 200 feet (or 60 meters) in length. No amount of education defines a competent Naval Architect. No degree or test measures his or her worth. A person with wide experience and the ability to look up a formula in a book can be competent without any formal training at all. However, a person can memorize any number of facts, attain any degree, and pass any test without attaining competence as a designer. This course aims primarily at the development of judgment in the use of theory and skill in design development rather than stopping at teaching the theory alone..

The opportunities for employment for designers are excellent. One can hang out one's own shingle, or work as a draftsman for another independent possibly leading to recognition as a full designer with that firm. Top boat yards and boat builders all either have, or should have, a competent design and drafting department. Since there are so few practicing yacht designers, it is easy to stand out and become known to the public.

Becoming a Designer

Traditionally one became a designer by the apprentice system. Often people started quite young working in the boat shop sweeping up, or in the office emptying waste baskets and sharpening pens. Progress in knowledge and responsibilities was at a natural pace, and by late teens or early twenties a quick mind could be established as a designer and look forward to a long working life. Strict enforcement of child labor laws has made this informal learning process almost unattainable.

Nevertheless, here are the elements of experience it is desirable to acquire in addition to formal design training: Experience with boats on the water is foremost. Ideally you should always own and use a boat to keep your thinking fresh. Second in importance is experience with repairs and maintenance in the most competent yard you can find. Experience with new construction, in as many materials as possible, is next in importance. Beyond these things the more drafting and freehand drawing you can do the better. Further, any type of building or engineering experience or study will be of great help.

Today there are several routes to becoming a yacht designer through formal training. Basically these divide into home study courses and residential class room courses. Our school is one of only two teaching non-residential distance learning students and we believe still  the only one taught by practicing designers.   So far as we know we have one of three residential programs. We have a large number of distance learning students all over the world and usually have several students studying here with us as well.  Primarily we would describe ourselves as a "distance learning" institution.

YDS's Philosophy & Approach to Testing and Grading

Designing is one long open book test. Tests are graded only for your information. "A" is professional quality. "B" is suitable for a draftsman working for another designer or on early lessons shows sufficient understanding of concepts. "C" is not acceptable. However, students do not graduate with an "average". This is not "pass or fail" either. It is "pass or redo". In other words you don't "flunk" and you do proceed at your own pace. Remember it is not necessarily the quickest student who is the best designer.  To take the course you must be reasonably proficient in English.  All other educational defects, including limited math training, we will assist you in over coming without additional charge.

We make a determined attempt to teach not just a series of techniques but a coherent approach designed to promote not just competence but excellence in yacht design. We firmly believe that excellence, and indeed genius, is to a large extent a matter of training and experience. We attempt to provide as much of both as possible.

To complete the course would take at the very least two years if done either full time or evenings and weekends, for both non-residential and residential students. However, in both cases you proceed at your own pace. There are no time limits and no financial penalties for not keeping to a schedule.  Most students should expect to take four years if they cannot put in at least 40 hours per week.  Pricing is given below. The lesson titles are as follows:

Design tools, materials and books may be purchased through the tool order form and the publishing section of our web site. You may also purchase them independently if there are appropriate sources in your area.

The twenty-three lessons cost $175 each with two exceptions. The first lesson, due to its introductory nature, costs $90. The last lesson costs $260 due to the large amount of time necessary to correct the tests. Payments may be made by check, money order, Visa/MC or American Express. You may enroll online, by telephone, or through the mail.

Thus the total tuition, not counting tools, materials, and books comes to $4,025. The cost of the books and drafting tools adds to this considerably. You can find some information on that in the frequently asked questions.  However, at the end of the course you should have an impressive library of technical works and all the tools of a complete design office. You will probably also have enough complete designs to form a good stock plans portfolio to launch you in the profession.

The pace is individual and the lesson fees are the sole "tuition" costs. Since the cost is strictly pay as you go and satisfaction guaranteed, you need not sign any contracts, you can stop and resume work if you need to without penalty. Naturally, if you decide the course is not for you, any lesson for which we have not corrected the tests at least once can be returned for a refund. There is only one minus to this pay as you go system. We reserve the right to raise lesson fees over time and these increases will apply to those in the middle of the course as well as new students. We do not raise rates more than we can help. The total cost of the course has only risen $2,025 since we started about 17 years ago.  We intend the course to be run as efficiently as possible and wish to always keep the costs as low as the possibly can be.  Comparison with other options will show that we are doing well for our students at keeping costs down.

Work study programs are sometimes available for students who choose to study here in Eastport..

There are no formal lectures for residential students but a practicing yacht designer is constantly available to help students on an individual basis.

The Degree

Upon satisfactory completion of all lessons you will receive a nice dignified diploma. This attests to your standing as a Naval Architect with a specialty in yacht and small craft design. Many people ask us if this is "accepted" as demonstrating that you are a qualified naval architect. Generally we think our students are well received by firms in that they are primarily looking for competence in producing designs under the direction of the firm. In this sense our recognition of your standing is commercially acceptable. We only know of  two jurisdictions where you need licensing to call yourself a naval architect.  We know of none in which you need a license to call yourself a yacht designer or small craft designer.  Some people will wish to call themselves engineers and advertise that they practice marine engineering as well as naval architecture.  In that case you will often need to have a license from your particular jurisdiction to use those terms.  Generally naval architects really only need to know hydrostatics, structural analysis, and other ordinary technical calculations and there is little economic advantage in having all the knowledge of  an engineer or engineering license per se.  

A Special Note for Residential Students

We do not have dormitories. Students vary in age and family responsibilities. There are apartments available in town in the $300 to $450 per month range.

Legal Notice

The State of Maine has had extremely complicated requirements and significant costs which it imposes on "trade" schools.  Recently these have eased somewhat and we are trying to find a way to get formal recognition by the State.  The sole hold up being that we are required to have a surety bond.  However we are the only correspondence school in the state and there are therefore no insurance companies familiar with issuing surety bonds to correspondence schools in the state.   We have found at least one student for whom state licensing would have real benefits.   Until we can get this formal recognition we therefore promote this course as an "avocational" course and note that it should be considered that we are charging for the publications and any support from instructors and all lesson correction is provided free of charge. This doesn’t make any difference in the instruction. It does allow us to operate and provide you with this service until such time as it becomes possible to gain their recognition as a vocational course.   It is important to understand that this state licensing does not in any way rule on the academic quality of the school.  If it were a guarantee of educational quality it would have more value to more of our students.  What it does do for students is to make reasonably sure that the school has consistent financial policies and is not some sort of scam.

The Learning and Skills Council in Britain does recognize our school and will, under certain circumstances, help British citizens with the money necessary to attend.  Again it is very important to emphasize, as other schools often fail to do, that this does not in any way mean that the Council has examined or approved the academic content of this school.

Generally you should understand that there are a great number of licensing, registration, and accreditation programs of various sorts world wide.  We are happy to apply for any which benefit specific students and will not significantly raise the cost to the student body as a whole.  However you should be aware that most of these are completely meaningless for the purposes of most students in that they do not examine the school's academic standards.  The most important standard you can go by remains the acceptance of our school by firms in the industry.

We should also note that the words "school" and "degree" are used herein in the common English sense and may not conform to the legal usage of these terms in any given jurisdiction.  Where these words would be inappropriate in the context we use them they should be considered to be whatever other words mean what we mean when we use them in common English.  We apologize for all this "legal stuff" but it is best to be completely clear on all this.