Westlawn Alumni Are Everywhere

Dave. I got to see your new offices, although they were still under construction at the time. They looked very nice, and what a location! Right on the water, and a famous design house upstairs! Nice.

Sorry I couldn't make they party.

Peter

 

Thanks Peter. The new ABYC office sure does have an incredible location! The Westlawn office in Mystic Seaport is pretty nifty too. Maybe, I’ll see you up there one day?

So you too are a Heinlien fan. I always suspected you were a person of rare perspicacity.

Dave Gerr

 

Now there is a R. A. Heinlien kind of word; perspicacity!

I haven't been to Mystic Seaport in years but I would love to see your new offices. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it will be any time soon. However, I'll look you up if I get up that way. Right now I'm enjoying the beach at Pacific Beach in Washington.

 

hmmm... after 3 times it's no longer considered a typo.... it's "Heinlein"... ;-)

 

My fingers don't spell well.

 

that reminds me of somethng I found elsewhere

"...Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe. ..."

 

and amazingly I had no trouble reading that at all!

 

Westlawn alumni are in the commercial end of the business also. Take a look at photos of workboats designed by Westlawn alumni at:

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?p=98939#post98939

Dave Gerr

 

Oh Westlawn, how neat your courses look....
I hope Westlawn is planning to still be around in 10 or 20 years I've been interested in the Westlawn course for some time, and am considering it for sometime in the future (after I'm done paying off tuition for the current degree, that is!)

 

Still More Westlawn Alumni Are Everywhere

Westlawn alumni continue to be profiled in the boating press. The current issue of Professional Boatbuilder (Oct./Nov. 2006, issue 103) has yet another feature article on a famous Westlawn graduate, starting on page 160. This is David Martin, who designed every single boat for Ocean Yachts and for many other companies as well. Martin also worked for Sparkman & Stephens. You don’t need a copy of ProBoat to read this feature story, just go to:

http://www.proboat-digital.com/proboat/200610/

Click on "Pages" to get to the issue and scroll down until you see the story, “A Dave Martin Retrospective.”

Of course Dave Martin has been at this for years, but one of Dave’s protégés is also a Westlawn Grad; Mike Hartline is now director of R&D at Ocean Yachts.

Go to:

http://www.westlawn.edu/who/testimonials.asp

and scroll down to read Mike’s story.

Further, Westlawn student Micah Tucker was a junior designer at Ocean. I say “was” because Micah just left to go work at Sparkman & Stephens.

On a sadder note, world-renowned designer Bill Shaw passed away this past August. He too was a Westlawn alumnus. Shaw was chief designer for Pearson, from 1964 until his retirement in 1991. Shaw’s obituary is on page 17 of the November 2006 issue of Soundings.

Go to:

http://www.boatus.com/goodoldboat/PearsonHistory.htm

To read a history of Pearson and Bill Shaw.

No one will every replace Bill Shaw, of course, but there are always new Westlawn alumni moving ahead in the industry, and page 17 of the October 2006 issue of Sailing magazine features a Bob Perry design review of Westlawn alumnus Jeremy Wurmfeld’s e33 production daysailer design commissioned by famous sailmaker Robbie Doyle for Esailing Yachts. Before hanging out his own shingle, Jeremy too worked at Sparkman & Stephens. (We've lost count of how many Westlawn alumni have gone on to work at Sparkman & Stephens, but the number is probably over two dozen!)

See the Wurmfeld Design homepage for more on the e33

http://wurmfeld.com/wd_home.htm

Yes, Westlawn alumni really are everywhere.

Dave Gerr
Director
Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology

 

I think Westlawn has a great product. Other educational institution should take note. Not everyone can take time off to attend full time university.

Marshmat is just too tense wondering if all the subatomic particles will get along...... Engineering Physics will do that to you