The Boat Building Academy (BBA) has hosted its 55th ceremonial launch, with the latest stunning boats produced by students on its 40-week boat building course taking to the water of Lyme Regis harbour.
The academy’s most recent graduates produced four boats – an 18’ Glued Gartside Launch with inboard diesel power, a 16’6″ Gorran Haven Crabber, Carvel construction, with a sprit yawl rig, a 16′ Gartside motor launch, double ender, strip plank/cold moulded with electric propulsion, and a 14′ Traditional clinker dinghy ‘Skylark’ Gunter rigged – which they wheeled the short distance from the Academy to the harbour slipway.
As is the custom, the boats were officially greeted to the waterside by the town’s Mayor Cllr Philip Evens MBE and cheered by crowds of well-wishers as they launched for the first time.
Student Katherine Briggs from Grimsby commissioned and built Campion, a 16’6″ Gorran Haven Crabber, which is half constructed in English elm.
She said: “I worked previously in the preservation of heritage buildings, but generations of my family have worked in the fishing industry in Grimsby, and I felt drawn to the academy and the 40-week course. I knew I wanted to make a classic Carvel boat and when someone suggested we build it in English elm that seemed perfect. I’d now like to find a way of combining my skills in heritage preservation with my new skills in boat building, to protect this ancient craft.”
Student Ben Sims from Wallingford in Oxfordshire built a 16′ Gartside motor launch, which had been commissioned by his parents.
He said: “I came to the 40-week course with no knowledge of boat building and only basic woodwork skills, but I can honestly say I loved every minute of it. I’m very grateful for the tutors’ expertise and to my fellow students who have joined me in putting a huge number of hours and equal amounts of commitment into building this beautiful boat.”
Student Jack Holmes, 25, will go from the course to work as a boat builder for the prestigious Woodbridge boatyard in Suffolk.
He said: “I came to the course as a carpenter and am leaving as a boatbuilder. I worked on Ben’s boat and absolutely loved the experience. Taking it into the water today after 40 weeks and a lot of late nights was surreal but perfect. I’m now looking forward to moving from my home in Norfolk to Suffolk and starting my new career in boat building with Woodbridge.”
The BBA’s 40-week boat building course sends graduates to boatyards across the UK and the world.
BBA Director Will Reed said: “The latest 40-week course takes the total number of boats produced by the BBA to 293, with 658 graduates introduced to the boat building industry. Six of the students on this course also received BBA bursaries. These boat builders were a joy to work with, and I know I speak for everyone at the BBA when I say it has been a pleasure and a privilege to watch them flourish across the 40 weeks.
“Whether they have come here to learn the skills needed to enter a career in boatbuilding, to perfect skills they are already using in their career, or simply to realise a lifelong dream of building their own boat, their achievement is immense and their new boats are simply stunning.”
Olympic sailor Peter Allam was attending a BBA boat launch for the first time.
Mr Allam, who lives in Poole, won bronze in the Flying Dutchman class in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, in a boat he also helped to build. He is also a former chief executive of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
He said: “It was a tremendous experience for me to watch these graduates proudly taking their boats to the water. I felt inspired by it and am very heartened to see, first-hand, how the BBA is providing a platform for people to learn skills they can take direct to the boat building industry.”
A limited number of spaces are still available for the BBA’s 40-week courses starting on 16 February and 7 September, 2026. For more details visit: www.boatbuildingacademy.co.uk
Bursaries are available for all BBA boat building and furniture courses. Find out more here.
