By the time you are ready to run a professional design firm you will probably have spent approximately $2,000 on the lessons of this course, as much as $2,000 on drafting tools and as much as $1,500 on books.
Speaking in general we have found that the other major programs all seem to be more theory oriented. Ours is more practice oriented. A degree from Southamption Institute or Westlawn will probably satisfy an employer that you understand the theory of design. The Landing School appears to be much more oriented toward the practical. However when a student finishes our course they will have a portfolio of actual designs that will convince employers that they can actually draw boats for an employer with confidence. There is a subtle difference in emphasis here. Also this is a very personal course in which you are in constant contact with a real working designer, not an academic teacher of design.
Westlawn could be considered a major competitor. We feel that in recent years they have enormously improved. Since they are owned by the National Marine Manufacturers Association they appear to be more oriented toward training people to be draftsmen for production boat builders. One of our students who is also taking the Westlawn course and is a highly trained technical person states that he feels that both our schools are quite strong on the theory of yacht and small craft design but that our school puts more emphasis on developing drawing skills and judgement. We also apparently put more emphasis on training people in the business end of the profession so that they have some preparation for running their own business. Having said all this it is important to understand that Westlawn has handled the primary training for a number of excellent designers. We run our school because we have a different training orientation and believe in a very heavy emphasis on gaining as much practical experience as possible through the course.
As I understand it from hearing about Southampton through quotes from people who teach there, they stress a very high degree of theoretical background and have a large amount of laboratories and test equipment. This is wonderful and would be very exciting to be around. However, they do say that they don't really teach drawing and they don't teach you to develop judgment in applying the theory. They assume that you will learn that on the job. Our course has almost the opposite emphasis. We stress developing your drawing skills and developing judgment in applying the normal calculations. The underlying theory is taught to back up the practical work. Our reasoning being that you can't get a job as a draftsman or do a good job as a designer if you can't draw boats and that all theory in the world is not much help if you don't know when to apply it. Our school also has the advantage of all instruction being by a naval architect who is a principle in a major yacht design firm. This keeps us pretty close to the practical needs of the industry. In fact MacNaughton Yacht Designs, which is run by YDS instructor Thomas A. MacNaughton largely recruits its draftsmen from among the YDS student body. Again having put our differences in what would naturally be a positive light for our school we want to emphasize that a number of excellent designers have gotten their primary training from Southampton Institute.
Although it is a purely residential course and costs a good deal more than our school the Landing School appears to have an intensely practical orientation and the advantage of frequent visits by quite prestigious designers to help inspire students. If there is any single school that we would recommend aside from ours this would be it. Again some well known designers either have graduated from the school or are supporters of it.
So far as we know this covers our major competition. We do hope we have been reasonably fair to all of them. Readers should understand that the information presented here is the best we have based upon articles on these schools, statements of their instructors and comments of their students.
