I'd rank the Landing School (if you can afford a year off) and Westlawn
higher. Westlawn (now run by Dave Gerr) is now associated with the American
Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) and was previously associated with the
National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) ...two huge greats in the
boat industry. That not only holds a lot of weight in industry, but also in
courts should you face legal action. MacNaughton is more for the self-run
shop or custom design kind of guy while these others are more for those that
want to work in the rest of the industry. Don't let that $50 entry fee
entice you in until you've decided exactly what you're going to do with your
life and career.

Note also that there is ongoing pressure from feds and states to require a
Professional Engineer (PE) license. That would require a degree in
engineering, passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) test, putting in 4
years of experience, then taking the PE. It requires a bunch of
recommendation letters and appropriate training and experience. This is
normal for engineers if they want to do consulting or have their work
insured or bonded. HOWEVER, the boat design/manufacturing industry is
strongly against this move. A very significant portion of the boat
companies would not be able to do business legally if all this comes to
pass. Two states now require the naval architecture PE. Others may follow.
If you want to play the safest bet, then go to school and get a degree in
mechanical engineering followed by a highly respected yacht design
school -or- get a degree in naval architecture (U. of Mich. etc). Follow
this by taking the FE, putting in some time, joining SNAME and taking their
PE preparation training, then getting your naval architecture PE.

My personal bet is that all this will become necessary before too long.
Why? Litigation. Lawsuits. Due diligence. I think the naval
architecture/boat industry is going to be led down this track by a nose
ring. Just my 2-bits. It's happened to all other technically based
industries already ...

Good luck. If you're serious, then do it seriously.

Brian

--
My boat project: http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass


"Dany" wrote in message
...
I'm about to start learning in " MacNaughton Yacht Design School "
can you give me some information to help me decide taking it or not
thanks
dan