A Day With the International Boat Training College
Last week we had the pleasure of hosting a visit from 16 members of the International Boat Training College (IBTC), based at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The visit was specifically from final year students who have specialised their skills on the making and repairing of wooden sailing crafts – big and small.
These mature students have given up their previous careers to work in the timber trade and to study to become shipwrights and boat builders. The IBTC in Portsmouth stands for excellence like the sister collage in Lowestoft, on the Suffolk coast. Further, the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard has had naval prominence since Edward the 8th and is steeped in history, once also being considered the biggest employer in the city.
Unfortunately, the International Boat Training College is having it’s funding cut and will close in March 2023, which means the students we hosted are some of the last full-time students. Not only is this very sad for the industry but it is also frustratingly ill-timed. Shipwrights will be needed now more than ever, with major works planned for the HMS Victory and maintenance work on the HMS Warrior, as well as on other small ships in the South Coast region. The UK need skilled woodworkers and shipwrights are a select few who can magic quality pieces of timber into functional, decorative and sustainable parts of a boat.
It was a real pleasure showing the team some of our timber and the merits on how they can be used for different purposes. The kit we have here at WL West & Sons includes the Mebor sawmill, the new Flexirip, beam planer and the 5 axis CNC and edge bander, which the students were really impressed with. We also presented a real pitsaw and a 197cc Villiers two-stoke chain saw with a 6′ cutter bar.
The IBTC supports a fundamental part of British core history – building boats – and it will be real loss to see it go. We wish the organisation and students the very best.
WL West Timber is a family-owned sawmill & timber merchant in West Sussex with over 155 years’ industry experience. We provide a wide range of air-dried oak and kiln-dried oak timber products and supplies. We also build and install custom projects for our customers.
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