Dan Walker, a naval architect, has loved boats and the ocean since he took
his first sailing course at the age of 14.
"Being a naval architect allows me to integrate my career with my love
of boats and the ocean. That means I don't have to work for a living. I just
play with boats all day long!"
Walker's firm specializes in evaluating the performance of vessel design,
including ships, yachts and offshore oil rigs. "It's very mathematically and
numerically oriented, and continuously a mental challenge," he says.
The work that naval architects do is very important. For instance, they
may test an oil drilling rig to be sure the design is safe. "Our work is critical
for the safety of the people who will eventually operate the real rig and
for the ocean environment."
Naval architects live and breathe their work. "We had provided advice and
engineering for a small fishing vessel that was to fish off the Labrador coast.
On the way to work one morning, I heard a news report that a vessel fitting
the exact description and crew size of our client's boat capsized and sank
on the way to the Labrador fishing grounds. I was terrified.
"When I hurriedly reached my office and called the coast guard search and
rescue, they told me it was a different vessel and that all hands were saved.
While I had an intense sense of relief, I accomplished very little work that
day."
Walker tells another story to illustrate why he feels so strongly about
the social importance of naval architecture.
"When I was 18, I had a friend named Rick. I was in my first year of earth
science at university. Rick was in his final year. Both sailors, we spent
most of our time talking about the kind of boat we wanted when we graduated.
Rick graduated that year, and his first job was as geologist on board the
drilling rig Ocean Ranger.
"He was onboard that rig when it sank on Feb. 15, 1982. All 84 crew members
were lost. [My employer] is now in the process of testing a new design of
a semi-submersible for harsh environments. Do you think it is socially important?
I do."
Michael Hall, a naval architect in Sydney, Australia, also believes that
engineers and naval architecture makes a difference to society. Hall illustrates
this contribution by pointing to a new, faster ferry that crosses the strait
to Tasmania, Australia.
"Up until about eight years ago, it would take the regular ferry 12 to
15 hours to cross the strait to Tasmania, Australia. The new ferry now does
the trip in only four hours by sea. A fast catamaran ferry travels over 50
knots or about 60 miles per hour. When you talk about transport
as being one of the most [important] socio-economic advances of human technology,
then this is it!"
Hall loved building things as a child. "I decided I wanted to be the boss
-- the architect." He took technical drawing in high school and worked alongside
an architect, and at about this time his father started taking him out in
a boat. Hall's two loves, designing and boats, came together.
Hall is clearly enthusiastic about what he does for a living. "I really
enjoy designing and the technical day-to-day challenges presented in my job.
It's really more engineering than anything else, but that's what it's all
about -- knowing how things work and then making things work. It's not just
about a floating vehicle."
The field is competitive. "Every craft or design has to be unique, new,
different, better. That's the challenge! Why are my designs better than his?
His boats float, but so do mine. His boats carry more cargo, but my boats
are faster, and so on. You have to be able to provide a better solution than
everyone else in the game. Not only better but cheaper, more economic, more
ergonomic.
"The most gratifying thing is to be able to say that 'I designed that'
or 'I built this.' It's mostly a tangible thing, but pride is a big part.
Doing something that no one else has done and succeeding is the biggest buzz
you could possibly imagine!"
Yacht designer John Fox in Wareham, Massachusetts, distinguishes between
himself and naval architects by making a distinction between the size of vessel
the two professions handle.
"I would call naval architecture the design of commercial vessels or ships
over 100 feet," Fox says. "Yacht design covers pleasure boats or smaller vessels.
Another distinction is that you do not have to have a degree in naval architecture
to design yachts. However, many yacht designers do have a degree or at least
an engineering background."
Fox loves his job. "I never had any choice in my career. I just had to
design and build boats -- and still have to. I was always drawing boats, building
boats and in general doing anything to do with boats." He bought his first
boat, an 11-foot sailboat, at age 13.
Designing yachts has taken Fox to some interesting spots around the world.
For example, he recently spent six weeks in South Africa teaching people how
to build boats. "I had a wonderful time and made a lot of new friends."
Designing boats is a satisfying career.
"It's very exciting to have people want to own boats that I've designed
or built. It's also exciting to see things work out as you imagined they would."
While it's an exciting career, it is not an exact science. "All boats are
a compromise," says naval architect Pat Bray. "You can't have a fast boat
that can go great distances without refueling."
Technology is definitely changing the field. "With computers, we can plug
a lot of the numbers in and have the computer crunch them for us," says Bray.
"It's a lot easier, but you have to understand what you are putting in and
the numbers that you are getting out."
And don't forget to take an English class or two. "We definitely have to
do a lot of reading and writing. Papers are put out that are shared between
naval architects. In addition, we are always writing up reports for boat designs
for our clients. If you can't spell or write clearly, your client may think
that you can't design well either."