How to become a dinghy design?

[peterhalswell]

Dear all,

I'm a second year engineering student at exeter university. My dream job is to become a dinghy designer, ideally designing boats for Laser, RS or someone similar. But I have no idea how to get there!!!

Can someone please help me;
-What are employers looking for? Is a mechanical engineering degree enough or are there better courses.

-Where would I go to get a summer placement/work experience. Laser and RS have no schemes and can not help me.

-Who would potentially employ me or is it free lance work. When I rang RS they said that it was free lance but Laser said they had a design team.

Any advise welcome, whether its answering the question or just good tips and pointers.

Thanks
Pete