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online yacht design courses?

Discussion in 'General Sailing Discussion' started by Colin Rowat, Oct 16, 2020.

  1. Colin Rowat

    Colin Rowat New Member

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    I've just sailed from Vladivostok to Fukuoka with an amazing crew, to see my sons in Japan.

    My captain - highly experienced and professional - hadn't finished his university degree years ago, and thinks that he's now too old to go back to university. With the growth of online degrees, I told him I expected that there would be a good course on yacht design and construction that he could follow online - and promised to look into it.

    My quick search on the big MOOCs (e.g. Coursera, edX, Udacity) hasn't found anything.

    Does anyone know of good design & construction courses that can be attended remotely?

    Thank you,

    Colin
  2. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    How old is too old to add to your education?
  3. Ken Bracewell

    Ken Bracewell Senior Member

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  4. Colin Rowat

    Colin Rowat New Member

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    Thanks both:

    @NYCAP123 , agreed - however, in this case, I'm working with where my captain's starting from.

    @Ken Bracewell - that's a great recommendation - I'll pass it along.

    Best,

    Colin
  5. gr8trn

    gr8trn Senior Member

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    Best of luck to your Captain, I wish him or her all the best. The tassel is worth the hassle.
    Now when do we get to hear about your sailing vessel?
  6. Colin Rowat

    Colin Rowat New Member

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    @fr8trn: the Tiburon, a Farr 44. As I understand it, there have been five hulls of this design laid, four racers, and the Tiburon, a racer cruiser. It's kevlar and epoxy.

    Fitting out the cabin for cruising added, I think, about a ton and a half, bringing it to c. 9.5 tons, I think - about 4 tons of which is the keel. It sleeps ten, so was quite spacious for the four of us. I don't remember the spec of its engine, but we could do about 7 knots under steam alone.

    We were travelling deliberately slowly (as we needed to spend 14 days at sea to satisfy Japan's COVID entry restrictions) so just used the jib sail. I didn't see spinnakers stowed.

    They've sailed it as far south as Phuket: they work the east Asian coast coast Vladivostok southwards for regattas.

    Apparently, when they bought it from Japan a decade ago, one of the Japanese crew was in tears. I can understand that.

    (As I non-sailor, I'm aware that I may be missing important details - prompt me with further questions if so?)
  7. gr8trn

    gr8trn Senior Member

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    @Colin Rowat thanks for that. There are very few Farr designs that I can find fault with. Well done. Congrats on your successful passage and welcome to Japan.
  8. Colin Rowat

    Colin Rowat New Member

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    @fr8trn: for all the difficulties that this pandemic has brought, I got a number of good breaks, without which the trip would not have been possible.

    I think that reaching the Tiburon and its crew is #1 on that list. If anyone's looking for a sailing excursion along the Vladivostok - Phuket coast, I can highly recommend them: professional, knowledgeable, experienced, welcoming and much more affordable than you'd get chartering out of Japan, South Korea, HK or Singapore.

    More generally, the Seven Feet Yacht Club in Vladivostok was a delight to discover as well: a happy, active, capable community. At one point during the trip, I mentioned to my crew that I'd also written to the yacht club in Busan, but hadn't heard back. They weren't surprised, saying that they had a real 'community' in Vladivostok, which they didn't think existed in Busan yet. I saw repeated examples of this: we stored some of our fresh produce in another yacht that was connected to the mains for the day before we set sail; when our car didn't start, a neighbour took us shopping in his big Toyota SUV; at lunch, people sat down with each other.
  9. AnotherKen

    AnotherKen Member

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  10. Colin Rowat

    Colin Rowat New Member

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    thanks @AnotherKen : the brighthubengineering page looks good - I'd not seen it.

    I've been in touch with Jerome Milgram, who taught the 2003 MIT course, asking him about the Westlawn course mentioned above. He confirmed its good reputation.
    AnotherKen likes this.