
Contact:
John Adey, ABYC President
(410)
990-4460, x117
jadey@abycinc.org
Ed
Sherman, ABYC Director of Educational Programming
(410)
990-4460, x45
esherman@abycinc.org
ABYC and Westlawn
Institute Announce a New ABYC Certified Marine Technician Online Forum, The
ABYC Tech Forum
June
27, 2012, Annapolis, MD: We are very pleased to announce that
ABYC and Westlawn Institute have created a new online forum for ABYC certified
marine technicians. We’ve done this to enable certified techs to have a place
to share information and questions with each other and with ABYC education and
technical department staff. Exchanging and sharing information in this way will
help marine technicians grow their skills while become ever better able to
recognize and solve problems. It will also help ABYC/Westlawn to keep its
education programs and standards up to date and enable ABYC and Westlawn to
answer questions more effectively.
Even
better, the ABYC Certified Marine Technician Forum (the ABYC Tech Forum) is
part of the extensive Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology boat-design
forum. This way, Westlawn boat design students and alumni can share ideas with
practicing marine techs and marine techs will have access to the vast store of
technical information found on the Westlawn design forum.
To
access the new ABYC Certified Tech Forum, ABYC certified marine technicians can
log onto the ABYC website home page and click on the link for ABYC Tech Forum.
The ABYC Certified Tech Forum login username is your ID #. Your password is
your last name (begining with a capital letter). If you have any questions or
login issues, contact ABYC Education:
Cris
Gardner: 410-990-4460, ext 104
Email:
cgardner@abycinc.org
Or
Sandy
Brown: 410-990-4460, ext 101
Email:
sbrown@abycinc.org
Upon
login, users have a choice of entering either the ABYC Certified Tech Forum or
the Westlawn design forum. They may select, whichever they wish. Once in the
forum selected, users can switch back and forth between these two forums at any
time. They are really one large forum, separated only to keep the subject
matter clearly divided for ease of reference. Only certified ABYC marine techs
and active Westlawn boat design students and alumni can access the forum.
Any
and all questions, information, experiences, stories about boats are welcome:
- Posts
on some handy equipment, tools or test instruments, or questions about test
procedures, or problems with specific models or gear.
- Posts
with questions about standards or about certification courses.
- Posts
of photos of interesting boats or of horrible (or wonderful) installations.
- Posts
of stories about odd or interesting problems or repairs.
- Posts
on any other issues of interest to practicing marine technicians.
All
will help enhance the knowledge and ability of ABYC certified marine
technicians and their ability to deliver the highest standard of service
possible to their customers.
Founded in 1954, The mission
of The American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) is to develop quality technical
practices and engineering standards for the design, construction, maintenance
and repair of small craft with reference to their safety. The Council shall
also disseminate these standards and be the principal source of related
technical information and education for the marine industry.
Founded in 1930, the Westlawn
Institute of Marine Technology is the only nationally
accredited distance-learning school of small-craft design in the United States.
Westlawn is accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council, in
Washington DC, and is listed as an accredited school by the U.S. Department of
Education and by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As the
not-for-profit educational affiliate of the American
Boat and Yacht Council, the mission of the Westlawn Institute of Marine
Technology is threefold:
· To provide our
students with the skills and knowledge required to build a rewarding career in
the profession of yacht and small-craft naval architecture.
· To support continued
growth of the recreational and small-craft marine community through the
development of well-trained, safety-oriented, boat designers developing better
products for the benefit of the boating public.
· To provide continuing
education to marine-industry professionals.
To
learn more about Westlawn, please call (207) 853-6600 or visit the Westlawn
website at: www.westlawn.edu.