Boat Building Academy

Practical, professional or purely for pleasure - come and learn boatbuilding at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis.

Whether you want a professionally recognised boatbuilding qualification, a few days by the sea learning practical skills, or to build your own boat, there’s a course for you here in Lyme Regis.

Our boat building training courses are ‘hands-on’, taught by experts and vary in length from 1 day to 38

weeks. Based on Lyme Regis’s famous Monmouth beach in Dorset, the academy lies at the heart of the UK’s most breathtaking scenery, the “Jurassic Coast”. This stretch of coastline is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our students come from every profession, and from all over the world. Many will go on to work in the marine industries, but our courses also appeal to those taking a sabbatical from their ‘real' lives or simply escaping the rat race.

'My visit to the Academy was truly inspirational. I found the energy and commitment of the staff to be second to none. Their dedication to their craft and the students, and their passion for excellence in design and technical skills, clearly explains the success rates that the Academy has, and the very high level of results achieved by the students. You truly are a centre for excellence in your field!'

NEW We are now offering an eight week woodworking course. Based on the same philosophy as our boat building training, the course is intensive, 90% practical and City & Guilds certificated (but with a far wider syllabus). Because it is an 8 week course students minimise expense and loss of earnings while learning advanced skills in the shortest possible time.

If you want to change career, learn a new skill, take a sabbatical doing something completely different, need to sharpen your existing skills, have retired and can now do all the things you want to do...or if you just like wood...this might be the course for you.

The first course starts on 19th May 2008 and finishes on 11th July 2008. Go to the Woodworking Skills page for full information.

The British Marine Federation Trainee of the Year was announced on Thursday 6th March. We are delighted that Rob Hitchen, from the September 2006 course, won this prestigious award. Rob is the second Academy student to win; Gail McGarva, now an Assistant Instructor and the Gig Project Manager at the Academy, was Trainee of the Year in 2005. For a photographic diary of the boat Rob built, and details of what he's done since leaving the Academy, go to Rob's boat.

Student's view Charlie Hussey, who started the September 2007 long course, is writing a blog. Go to http://boatbuilding.wordpress.com to see his detailed view of the 38 week course from the workshop floor.

One Life Yvonne and Paul met some great people while on our stand at

the 'One Life' exhibition at Olympia. What could have been a long weekend (they were meant to be working) was made hugely enjoyable by visitors' interest and enthusiasm about what the Boat Building Academy do. Thank you, if you were one of the people we met, and please don't hesitate to contact us if you would like any further information or to come and visit us here in Lyme Regis.