ARUNDEL, Maine — The Landing School is an institution, unlike most others.
Nestled in Arundel, the small school's students take courses fixing boats, designing boats, and managing boatyards. Friday was a most special day for those who built them; it was "flip day."
Since September, the students in the eight-month wood boat building program have been crafting two sailboats by hand.
The school takes adults of all ages and backgrounds — tuition is $26,850 — and quickly turns them into craftsmen. The flip comes midway through the boat-building course, and it’s a simple change in perspective for some. But the students had never seen the boats right side up.
"Flip day is special because, up to this point, you’re looking at this assembled collection of wood," wooden boat building instructor Jake Greiner said. "And yes, it’s boat-shaped, but it’s upside down. And, once we flip it over A) it’s a big milestone in the build, but, B) it’s the first time that the students can actually then climb into the boat that they’ve built."
On Greiner's direction, classmates excitedly crowded into the workshop Friday morning to help lift.
One vessel at a time, they surrounded the boat, lifted straight up, shuffled over to a padded structure, slowly tipped it over, and just-as-slowly lowered it down.
It may be the simplest task done by adults to draw a room full of applause.
Max Keaz, 26, wasted no time in hopping in the second boat once overturned.
"This started from an empty shop floor and, now, I’m sitting in a boat. So, it feels pretty good," Keaz said. He is a Coast Guard veteran from Colorado who served in Washington State and was drawn to Arundel, Maine to begin another career.
"Learn how to build the boat that I used to drive, that’s kind of what brought me here," he said with a smile.
Emmett Scribner, 18, came straight to the school after graduating from high school in Portland and decided he wanted to try something other than college.
"Being able to sail a boat that I build, that’s something I’ve never had the option of doing before," Scribner beamed. "So, I’m sure it’ll be incredible."
The Landing School's interim president, Jim Borsig, boasted that his school has 100% graduation job offer rates for his students.
"If you take a boat to a boatyard, regardless of what kind of boat you have, odds are you’re gonna run across a Landing School graduate," he said.
But, before they think about their careers, the students must first finish their sailboats and be ready to test them, as is tradition, on Sebago Lake in May.