Westlawn - Yacht Design Lite

[ChristopherD]

I have been looking into Westlaw’s Yacht Design Lite course and was wondering if anyone that had any insight into it could answer some questions.

Is it for me? Although I think it could be a great career, my goals do not include becoming a yacht designer. I do however enjoy racing keelboats. My theory is the more I now about the design of boats the faster I can sail them. And hopefully make smarter decisions on the race course. Make sense to anyone, or am I hoping for things that aren’t going to happen?

How time consuming is it? I am currently completing my undergraduate and working part time, but I still have 2 – 3 hours a day to commit to it. Is that enough? The only reason that I want to do it now is I believe this will be the slowest time in the coming years of my life.

Anything else I should know?

Thank You.

[guest]

I think that you should just call up the school, I think that they could probably answer your questions the best. They most likely get these kind of questions all the time.

[danielc]

If you are looking to learn about the fundamentals of yacht design on your own time then Principles of Yacht Design (authors Larsson and Eliasson) is an excellent reference.

It is very thorough and covers in extensive detail the design of sailing craft (it has a chapter on powerboats). Both authors have extensive experience in the field and as a result you a get great information on hull, sail and foil design as well as structural design. And because they are experienced they bring alot of practical information into the mix.

This book can be bought from Amazon for 30$ US. I'd at least check it out and read it through before paying for a course! We used it as a textbook for an elective course in small craft design for our Nav Arch program and it seemed to cover everything. Now obviously there are more detailed books in some of the areas, for example. sail theory covered in Marchak (sp??), but this book is an excellent reference and should provide everything you are looking for!

Alot cheaper then a course!!

Cheers,

[CDBarry]

Steve Killing (eh) has a very good book on yacht design that is a good companion to Eliasson. He was at C&C for many years, and at the NRC, (when it was in Ottawa).

[danielc]

Yeah I second that on Steve Killing's book...I've got that too and it is also excellent, both books complement each other quite well!