Internship at FYD

Since I first began to get seriously involved in the world of keelboat racing after joining the Naval Academy Offshore Sailing Team, I began to see designs produced by Farr Yacht Design popping up everywhere, and have raced on several. When I selected Naval Architecture as a major and learned that the Farr Yacht Design was a short 15 minute walk from the Naval Academy, I became even more interested. When the possibility of an internship with FYD arose in a conversation with one of my Naval Architecture professors, I jumped at the opportunity, scheduling the internship in lieu of going home for 2 weeks of valuable leave.

Although my time interning at FYD was brief, only 6 total working days, I learned a lot about yacht design, CAD, and career options as a Naval Architect. While my education in Naval Architecture is basic, covering only what I have learned in 2 semesters of classes and picked up from sailing and boat maintenance, I was able to understand and enjoy the majority of what was being discussed and drawn around the office.

The staff at FYD was friendly and enthusiastic about what they do, and fortunately wasted no time putting me to work. I worked on the routes for weather simulation software for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race, turned 3D models into construction drawings, and prepared models of the next generation of Volvo Open 70 for Computational Fluid Dynamics Testing. For an amateur sailor and college student like me, who can only read and dream about boats like Volvo 70s and Open 60s, being able to contribute, however small a contribution it was, to the next generation of those boats was a greatly gratifying experience. My favorite part of my time at FYD was sitting in on conceptual design meetings, and seeing what goes in to designing a high-tech racing machine like a Volvo Open 70.

I am now surer than ever that a career in Naval Architecture and yacht design is what I want to do after my time in the Navy. If any Naval Architecture or engineering students, whatever school you attend, are looking for a place to practically apply what you have learned for the summer, I would highly recommend looking at an internship at Farr Yacht Design.

Graham Tyson

Midshipman and Naval Architecture Student