Would the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale’s program “Yacht & Marine Design” be a good alternative to YDS for someone wanting to be a yacht designer?
From our investigation of their curriculum and faculty, correspondence with students attending their school, and consultation with a colleague who has researched the various alternatives for those wishing training in yacht and small craft naval architecture, we all appear to agree that the “Yacht & Marine Design” program does not teach people to be “yacht designers” in the sense that we mean. We are disappointed with their choice of name for their program. They do not appear to teach a branch of naval architecture such that a graduate would actually be intended to produce the complete design of a vessel with all the drawings and calculations necessary for it to be a success. We are told that they teach none of the mathematics of naval architecture and structural analysis. Their faculty list does not appear to include anyone trained in yacht and small craft naval architecture, nor is anyone listed as being a teacher of specifically marine related subjects. They appear to be teaching “ya
