Students at the Landing School come from many different backgrounds, so it’s rare when we get two as similar as Eliot Erickson and Zachaios Fitts. Both are recent graduates of Port Elizabeth High School, with Eliot coming directly to TLS and Zac having a freshman year at a Plymouth State, NH. Both are keen lobstermen and both are here for a Marine Systems diploma.
As with many that head from high school to a traditional four year college, Zac was “undeclared” and not sure what his future held. He did learn that the four year college experience was not suited to his style of learning. What would work for him, and what he should “declare” (at least to himself) that he wanted to do, wasn’t clear.
Eliot, on the other hand, has been on a mission for some time – he’s a lobsterman and will be working on the water. He has his student license, which enables him to fish with up to 150 traps. He is short of logging 1000 hours for his full commercial license…although he has probably done the time, just not kept the records! His boat is a 19’ Seaway “pointer” powered by an Evinrude, which he has operated…and kept going. For the last three years Zac has been his sternman.
Eliot’s grand plan (grand for someone so young) is well thought out. He wants to work on the water. He reckons there is a career in the fishing business and is thinking about a second (bigger, of course) boat. He has also seen an opportunity to provide an on the water repair service, for both the commercial and recreational fleet. This second line of work keeps him on the water and compensates for variations in the fishing industry. Running his own boat has taught him there is a lot of upkeep, so a year in Marine Systems made sense to fill in the gaps and provide him with the breadth of knowledge he’ll need.
Eliot didn’t know what to expect from the program, and it seemed everything was new. “I’ve been running a boat without the knowledge to even see that I wasn’t doing things right. Wow – I did that wrong on my own boat!” He has realized there are “lots of crazy little things” you need to understand. Proper wiring is more than just matching colors!
Both Eliot and Zac worked over the summer at Maine Yacht Center http://maineyacht.com/ This cemented things for Zac, resulting in him joining Eliot in this year’s class. Zac is hoping to return there after graduation. Brian Harris, GM at Maine Yacht, saw their potential and supported their tuition with a generous contribution through the Marine Trades Referral Scholarship https://www.landingschool.edu/scholarships This was matched by a contribution from the Virginia Hodgkins Somers Foundation http://www.vhsfoundation.org/ With this, and other merit awards they each had close to $10,000 in financial support. Richard Downs-Honey, TLS President says “It is fantastic to see the local industry and community backing young men like this who want to get the training that will enable them to stay in Maine and work in the marine industry”.
This semester the Marine Systems students get to work on “project boats”. Traditionally we have had a mix of sailboats (Peter Whitman’s Bristol 41 is in for a second year), power boats (Alum Dave Mason’s Sisu 30’) and mostly recreational craft. A new development is the BHM 25’ commercial lobster boat (see Notes from the Shop Floor), which is tailor made for these two students. As Eliot commented, “Its different learning. We are working with the instructor, who is also learning about lobsterboats, so the whole team is working together to solve the problems”
Zac sums up his experience with both the traditional and Landing School approach to post secondary education. “I don’t think there is a better place to be, especially if four year college is not for you and you want to work on the water. The Landing School gets you going, with real work as well as classes. Then you can have a job being outside, enjoying what you do”.
