Look up the name of the person who designed your favorite boat, and you may find out that he or she learned about boat design at a correspondence school.

Not to worry. While mail-order academies may have a bad odor in some fields, in boating there's only one correspondence school–the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology–and it has been turning out top yacht designers for years.

Westlawn InstituteExplorer 65 by Doug Zurn.Ted Brewer, who has several America's Cup entries under his belt, and Bruce King, who designed the now-classic Hinckley Picnic Boat, are two of the most prominent Westlawn alumni. Others include David Martin, designer for Egg Harbor, Ocean Yachts and several other top manufacturers; Rod Johnston, founder of J/Boats and MJM Powerboats; Lynn Senour, designer for Nordic Tugs; Jack Hornor, who reviews boats for BoatUS Magazine; and dozens of other well-regarded boat designers.

That makes Westlawn, which is now run by the well-known American Boat and Yacht Council, both a curiosity and an industry standard in recreational boat design.

Established on a New Jersey farm in 1930, the school has evolved into the nation's best-known institution for small-craft designers, moving from an old-fashioned correspondence school to an online institution with a broad range of programs. Boosted by the boom in recreational boating and a lack of competition, Westlawn is now one of the premier schools for small boat design.

"The thing about Westlawn is that it's focused on just small-craft design," says Paul Miller, a licensed naval architect who teaches vessel design at the U.S. Naval Academy. "You can do it at your own pace, and it's based on practical training."

A SCHOOL'S EVOLUTION

Westlawn's rise has been a tale unto itself. Established by two local boat designers, the school focused initially on teaching students to design wooden boats, later going into fiberglass and aluminum as well. It also began publishing textbooks and training manuals on various phases of yacht design.

Its fortunes rose with the surge in recreational boating during the 1970s and 1980s. Coast Guard figures show that the number of recreational boats registered in the United States has soared from 5.5 million in 1971 to 12.7 million today, heightening the demand for boat designers. (Estimates from the National Association of Marine Manufacturers show that the number of recreational boats is even higher, closer to 18 million.)

Moreover, for Westlawn, there's been little real competition. School officials say that only two other accredited schools offer courses specifically targeted at small-craft design: the Landing School in Arundel, Maine, and the University of Southampton in England.

And schools of naval architecture at universities typically offer courses geared toward training designers of large, seagoing vessels, whose characteristics are far different from those of recreational boats. If their students get to take any course in small-craft design at all, it's usually an elective. By contrast, Westlawn specializes in designing vessels that are under 60 meters long, which traditional schools don't cover.