News: Crowds celebrate another successful Boat Building Academy launch
Eight boats built by the Boat Building Academy’s class of September 2014 were launched for the first time on Wednesday 10th June 2015. Built as part of the class’s intensive 38 week training, each boat was walked from the Academy’s workshops on Monmouth Beach down to Lyme Regis harbour, where a crowd of three hundred people gathered to see the latest fleet.
The seventeen students, who formed the Class of September 2014, joined the Academy from diverse places and a variety of backgrounds. Many joined as beginners but, after 38 weeks, their boats were a testament to their new skills across modern and traditional wooden and composite boat building.
10′ ‘Swallow’ dinghy. Photo by Becky Brown
Following a short speech from Director of the Academy, Tim Gedge, and former Mayor of Lyme Regis, Sally Holman, champagne corks popped as the boats went into the water for the first time.
20′ Seabird Half Rater. Photo by Becky Brown.
The boats launched in the following order:
- 18’ strip-planked Guillemot Kayak ‘Night Heron’
- 12’ strip-planked Andrew Wolstenholme ‘Mallard’ dinghy
- 14’ traditional clinker Faering
- 13’ glued clinker Iain Oughtred ‘Acorn Skiff’
- 15’ cold moulded Iain Oughtred ‘Whilly Tern’
- 10’ restoration of a traditional clinker dinghy – owned by the Academy, sailed and rowed by students
- 20’ Seabird Half Rater – the oldest one-design class boat still sailing, now the 107th to be built
- 22’ Nordlands boat – the first Viking boat to be built at the Academy
In sunny yet blustery conditions, the Seabird Half Rater and Mallard dinghy sailed across the choppy bay, with the other boats remaining within the famous Cobb.
18′ Guillemot Kayaks Night Heron. Photo by Paul Dyer.
The boats returned to the workshop in the afternoon, where the guests and Academy gathered to celebrate the launch and the end of the course. Principal Yvonne Green said a few words about each of the students before they were presented with their City & Guilds and Boat Building Academy certificates.
22′ Nordlands boat. Photo by Paul Dyer.
Our latest Your Projects divulge the boat builders’ secrets on what’s involved in undertaking the intensive course. Find out about the Mallard dinghy and the ‘Whilly Tern’ and how epoxy was used in the builds.
For further details about the Boat Building Academy and the 38 week ‘Boat Building, Maintenance and Support’ course please see www.boatbuildingacademy.com or contact Rebecca Brown at office@boatbuildingacademy.com or on 01297 445545.
