Transcription of Matt Barton for the show Sailing Maine #151
Dr. Lisa: One of the things that I enjoy learning about are new and innovative programs that bring people to the waters, the waterways of Maine and the Landing School is one of these innovative programs. Today we have with us Matt Barton. Matt is a former student at the Landing School in Arundel and now works as an engineer at the Hinckley Company. Thanks for coming in and talking to us today.
Matt: Thanks for having me.
Dr. Lisa: So Matt, let’s back up and get a little bit of information on you and how it is that you came to be at the Landing School. You’re from Cape Elizabeth originally?
Matt: Yes.
Dr. Lisa: You graduated from that school?
Matt: Cape Elizabeth High School.
Dr. Lisa: Then what direction did your life take?
Matt: In high school I never really to be honest thought of going to the Landing School or doing anything of that nature. I always grew up on the water around here and I always thought I wanted to work in the marine, the boat industry because I had a passion for that, but I wasn’t sure how to do that. I guess going through high school I always thought I was supposed to go away and get the four year degree in economics and that’s the path I took. I studied economics and when I came back I landed in Boston and worked at a financial company for two or three years before I realized that I wasn’t overly happy doing that and wanted to do something else. I actually happened upon a brochure for the design program at the Landing School and I decided that I should apply and that’s how I ended up there.
Dr. Lisa: Tell me about the Landing School because I don’t think everybody is familiar with that?
Matt: The Landing School is a small school in Arundel, Maine. It has several different programs. It has a yacht design program, which is the program I attended and graduated from. It also has a marine systems program, a composites program, as well as a couple boat building programs. They’re all one year courses. I think you can now choose to do multiple years and actually get a Bachelors degree out of it is my understanding, but when I attended it was a one year program. That’s what intrigued me most about it was that I had already spent a lot of money and been to school for four years and couldn’t spend another four going back to get a degree in marine engineering.
This one year program really interested me. It’s a one-year or ten month intensive boat design program that encompasses everything from structural engineering to design and aesthetics and really opens a lot of doors and prepares its graduates to enter the marine industry. For me it opened the doors and I luckily enough landed a job at the Hinckley Company which is growing up in Maine was a company that I was always quite interested in and decided to work there now.
Dr. Lisa: When you were a student at Cape Elizabeth, did you do any water-related activities as sports or were you encouraged in any way to do things that had anything to do with boats or the water?
Matt: Not particularly. Cape High School has, I’m not sure if they still do, but they did at the time had as part of the carpentry department they had actually a boat building class where you could take for I think it was a full year, rather than just a semester. There were just a few students and then you could build a kayak or a canoe and I built a Rangely boat. I think it was my junior year. I learned a lot of boat building skills doing that, basic carpentry skills, but I always had this passion for the water. I grew up sailing in Casco Bay on boats with my family and just always spent a lot of time at the beach surfing or on the water in the summers, but in school that was I guess the one course that led to me in the direction of boat building.
Dr. Lisa: Do you think there is something that maybe, I don’t want to say is lacking, but in the educational system right now do you think there’s a hands-on aspect that people are craving?
Matt: I think so. I think there’s probably a lack of emphasis on the trades now in school. I think students almost frown upon the technical schools in my opinion. The technical schools and the trades opt more for whether you’re studying politics or economics or the arts or business, things of that sort. Whereas, for me, I went and studied economics, but I really came back to was the hands-on engineering and the technical side of things which I don’t think there were … Maybe I just didn’t steer in that direction, but I don’t think there was as many opportunities in that area for me growing up.
Dr. Lisa: As you’re doing design and the work that you’re doing now, you actually have to utilize lots of different parts of your brain?
Matt: Definitely.
Dr. Lisa: That’s very hands-on, but there’s a lot of math involved. There’s a lot of creativity.
Matt: I spend a lot of my day … I love the position I’m at work because I sit in this office that has a big window open to the shop floor and I spent a lot of my day on the shop floor and spend a lot of my day behind the desk working in computerated design programs, as well as sketching on paper and doing calculations with the calculator. There’s all aspects to it. There’s the engineering aspect and then there’s also the shop-floor aspect of it. Nothing’s more rewarding than being able to draw, design on your desk, issue a shop-floor drawing and then be responsible for that drawling on the floor, knowing that the carpenter, the mechanic that’s assembling that part is going to come knocking on your door if you made any mistakes. I found that very rewarding.
Dr. Lisa: Do you have a chance to see what happens once the things that you’ve helped build are born, where they go?
Matt: Absolutely. Again that’s one of the neat things about working at the production plant for Hinckley in Trenton, Maine, is we are where the designs come into the door and we do a lot of the production and engineering. We do it all in-house and then we see the boats literally be built outside that window in the shop in Trenton. We say, “They come in as a drum of resin and a pallet of lumber and they leave a million-dollar yacht.” We put that boats through their paces. If it’s a new design we go and we do extensive sea trials on the boats locally in the water at our service yard in Southwest Harbor. Then the boats come out and they’re final assembled for delivery to the owner.
Dr. Lisa: I’ve been to Hinckley and Southwest Harbor and I have talked to some of the people who have Hinckley boats I guess. I want to call them “vessels.” That sounds very grand, but it seems like such a happy group. People seem to really like their boats.
Matt: Yes.
Dr. Lisa: Is that another one of the benefits of working in this industry?
Matt: I think so. You’re absolutely right about that. The owners of these boats are very proud to be Hinckley owners and they’re always happy with their boats.
I’d say 95% of the people come and visit the actual production facility while their boats in build. The pride on their face when they walk around the shop floor just grinning ear to ear just seeing their new boat taking place. There’s all levels involved. We have some owners that may visit once and check in and more or less just want the finished product. Then we want some owners that will come for a week at a time and literally pull up a chair on the shop floor and just watch their boat go together. Whatever the cases, the owners are very proud.
Just like the owners, I find it amazing how proud the crafts-people at Hinckley are. It’s a name that people are proud of and the employees of the company, their commitment to the boats is amazing and their skill. We have some 35 year veteran carpenters that have built Hinckley upon Hinckley and they treat each one like it’s their first and they’re really amazing both to see go together.
Dr. Lisa: If I was someone looking for a boat, what would be the benefit to me be of being involved in the process, working with Hinckley to create a boat that was uniquely mine or uniquely my families?
Matt: I find us to be a little bit of a unique company. Some people would consider us a full-on production boat builder. Others would consider us a semi-custom boat builder. I think we fall more in the semi-custom area because we have a number of designs. We don’t build a custom boat from scratch, typically. We have a number of designs that are “This is the boat that the an owner purchases.”
But what Hinckley offers is the ability for that person to come in and work with a project manager at the company and to come to the plant and basically test drive other boats and walk through other boats and see, “I want to customize this piece.”
Hinckley is known for its trademark teak and cherry carpentry work. People may come in and say, “That’s good, but I want to add teak here. I want to add a teak weather deck to my boat. I want to add cherry in this area of the boat,” and Hinckley offers that. We offer the ability for someone to come in and buy this very well-designed boat that is sort of a production boat, but to come in and customize that and that’s what really makes us what I believe to be a semi-custom boat builder.
Dr. Lisa: Do you think there’s something special about boats that come out of Maine?
Matt: I think so. Maine has a rich boat building history and Hinckley has always been rooted in Maine, started in Southwest Harbor. I think you’d have a hard time finding the talent crafts-people outside of Maine. Not just because some of these people had experience building many Hinckley’s, but because there’s a rich history of boat building in general in Maine and you have generations of boat builders that’s what’s in their blood. It’s in the family and I think that’s a unique thing about Maine and special about Hinckley.
Dr. Lisa: As far as the Landing School is concerned, how was it determined and maybe you can answer this, maybe you can’t, but how was it determined that there was a need? Who came along and said, “OK, it looks like there’s a gap. We want to bring out a new generation of individuals who can help in this trade with this very specific and very important craft.”
Matt: I can’t say I know the history of the Landing in School probably as much as I should after I attended there a year. I probably I spent more time studying boats than studying the school I guess. It certainly does meet a real need. I have to believe it was created to meet that need for those people and I think we need more schools like the Landing School to be honest.
Hinckley’s at a funny spot where we have a lot of these 35 year veteran carpenters and mechanics at the company and I don’t want to say we struggle to find new, young talent because there’s definitely some out there and we have a lot of it, but we try to recruit students out of the Landing School because they’re well-prepared for this industry. They have a passion for this industry. I think the state would be well-served to have another school like the Landing School.
I think there’s a definite need for it.
Dr. Lisa: When you were at the Landing School, where did the other students come from? What were their backgrounds and what caused them to decide to go in this direction?
Matt: Yeah. I think what caused everybody to go in that, what drives everybody in that direction is there a passion for boats and boat building and engineering and design. As far as where the people came from, it was a real variety. I’m just thinking in my program we had some international students. Some had owned an international business and were maybe in the position to spend a year at the Landing School. We had other students that were out of high school. This was their first bit of education beyond high school. We had other students, like myself, that had been to a four-year college and had a degree and had a change of heart and decided they wanted to go back for that reason. What really brought everybody together was their passion for boat design and boats in general.
Dr. Lisa: Was there a pivotal moment that enabled you to see that your life really wasn’t going in the direction that felt the best for you and you needed to just step out of that track?
Matt: I don’t think there was a pivotal moment per se. I found myself, it was in Boston and I loved living down there. I had a lot of friends down there. A lot of my friends, a lot of friends from the Portland area end up in Boston so there was a lot going on down there. It was a lot of fun, but I found myself escaping the city every weekend. In the winter it was driving to Vermont to ski and in the summer it was driving to Portland to spend on the water. I felt like I was living in a city to work and leaving to enjoy myself and that was when I … I certainly wasn’t unhappy by any means, but it was sort of that when I realized that was, “Wow, maybe I should think about doing something else and following my passion more?”
Dr. Lisa: Did you ever get any feedback from anyone who said, “Well, you have a four-year degree in economics. You’re doing finance. This is what you’re supposed to be. Maybe you’re wasting this if you go do something else?”
Matt: No. I don’t think so. I think my family definitely encouraged it. Everybody definitely, everybody said, “Hey, realize you still have this economics degree,” but I think I was almost encouraged because of that and I knew that I would have that to come back to and this being the Landing School being a one-year program, you’re making this huge commitment of a year, but it’s not a four-year commitment. You may be giving up things for ten months, but a lot of people encouraged me and I knew I always would have that fall back on.
At the same time, there were the people that discouraged. At the time this was 2009 when the leisure industry in general wasn’t exactly booming. There were people saying, “You’re crazy. You’ll never get a job in boat building out of this.” Those people are out there, but I got a job at the company that I really like and I’m proud to work for and I started two days after I graduated school so
I couldn’t be happier.
Dr. Lisa: Do you still get out on the water?
Matt: Absolutely, all the time, probably not as much as I’d like to because I’d like to get out every day. My wife and I have a small boat that we keep local and we get out on evenings and weekends during the summer and I am fortunate enough to get out on when we launch new designs. There’s quite a bit of engineering and C-trial that takes place on a new design so I can certainly get to be part of that and that’s very rewarding.
Dr. Lisa: What are some of your favorite places to bring your boat?
Matt: Somes Sound, definitely a favorite, sort of the local spot. We actually keep our boat at Some Sounds so we’ll make the run up and down Somes Sounds and maybe anchor up and have a picnic in Valley Cove. In the sound there’s a beautiful area as well. It’s just cruising around Southwest Harbor and the Cranberry Islands and that area. Just in the Bay it’s just a beautiful area before boating.
Dr. Lisa: Matt, how do people find out about the Hinckley Company or the Landing School?
Matt: Let’s see? The Landing School, I think they always try to attend the boat shows and that sort of thing. They have a booth and offer their information on their programs there. I think people should be encouraged to contact the Landing School directly if they’re interested in any of their programs. They have a fantastic staff. It is a small school and they’re more than willing to speak with you about their programs or put you in touch with a graduate, like myself. There have been more than one instance where I’ve been contacted by the school to speak with a prospective student and encourage them one way or the other and just speak about the program and what it’s offered to me.
The Hinckley Company, we’re local in Southwest Harbor and the production plant in Trenton, Maine. I’d encouraged people to stop by and just look at this facility in Southwest Harbor. It’s a beautiful spot. If you’re ever in the area to just swing through the yard there and take a look at the operations and what’s going on. It’s a busy boat yard and it’s neat to see.
Dr. Lisa: Well, Matt, thanks so much for coming down and making the drive, obviously from Southwest Harbor in Trenton. We’ve been speaking with Matt Barton.
He is a former student at the Landing School in Arundel and now works as a engineer at the Hinckley Company. Congratulations on living the dream.
Matt: Thank you. Thanks again for having me.
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Dr. Lisa: As a special gift to our Dr. Lisa Radio Hour friends, today we listen in on our conversation with next week’s guest, Ted Carter and Alan Gunter, co-authors of the inspirational and newly updated book “Earth Calling.” We hope you enjoy this.
Ted: At the perfect moment when the worm should be available for the birds to eat for their offspring and everything like that, the seasons are all screwed up so you can’t really get to those. It’s off-sync so they can’t be nourished in time to feed their young so we’re having die-offs in animal populations and bird populations that are just part of an imbalance that we have set forth in nature. What we’re doing to nature is not natural. This is not natural. It’s very unnatural.
What we’re doing as human beings as earthlings, is also equally as unnatural.
It’s not natural to be this way, but I think greed and a lot of self-interests drives this. We have to keep that in check and we have to bring ourselves home and say, call ourselves home and say, “What are we doing here? Are we all going to let this beautiful ecosystem fall into this great abyss or are we going to really do something about it?” I just can’t sit back and not do anything anymore. I just can’t do it.
Dr. Lisa: I know that as somebody who has really wanted to do good things in life, it has been overwhelming for me at times and I know for people around me to see that you know sooner have dealt with Hurricane Katrina then you have another natural disaster over here. I read the Barbara Kingsolver book about the monarch butterflies and then it actually comes to be. You feel as much as you’re composting and trying to walk instead of drive and you’re doing your thing and not eating as much meat and not using as much water, it still feels so overwhelming. How do you reconnect with what keeps you moving forward in a purposeful and mindful way?
Ted: Lisa, you are a spark, OK. Think of yourself as a spark to ignite the passion in other people because your actions they may seem very inconsequential, but you influence other people and you’re in a place to influence other people through your radio station, through everything that you do so just remember that. You throw the pebble in the water and it ripples and you’re touching a million other people and especially people … Look, the poor and disenfranchised aren’t going to be able to do anything. They’re too busy surviving. It’s the people like us that are really connected and that are running in this economy that can really do something. We have the resource. We have the influence and we should be taking this and stewarding this great opportunity that we have and this great blessing we have in a way that really sparks something in others.
Alan: Right. What you’re talking about is network. This radio station, this broadcast, reaching out is networking as Ted said, “You influence one person and you don’t know where that goes,” because it doesn’t just happen now. It doesn’t just influence somebody now. That happens into perpetuity. This broadcast will be affecting people for a thousand years if we’re still around just because of the nature of influence and because how memory works with our species and the collective unconscious and a whole bunch of other things.
But to get to the first part of your question, yes, it’s frustrating. What can I do? How can I act and that’s really what the action piece is about because everybody’s different. However, many people are listening to this, every one of you has a different calling. Yes, we designed the book so that you could figure that out. First, you re-connect. You re-sensitize yourself to nature, but then join a network. Get involved with other people. That’s where that alchemy of action comes in. That’s where it generates and it is completely out of control. I’ve seen this time and again.
I’m a big activist with the Keystone XL Pipeline and that started out with a 1253 people getting arrested over a period of two weeks and now it re-ignited the environmental movement. There’s no way. It’s blood over into the fracking movement. It’s all over the world now. You never know what you’re one action is going to do in the long term so get into a network. Join one of these organizations. The infrastructures are all set up already and then that’s that alchemy that begins.
Dr. Lisa: You quoted as you were talking about stepping into your soul’s journey, [Telhard De Shardin 00:55:36]. “It would seem that our time is calling us to awaken from our be-numbed and bewitched state to a wonder at and reverence for the astonishing, miraculous and mysterious creation of which we are a part,” and
I think this is important. I think that first we have to start with that wonderment. We have to start with that re-connection to get out there and really feel this in some way so that it’s not just something that we’re dealing with on an intellectual level.
Alan: Right, exactly. It’s that heart connection. We get it cognitively. We can get it intuitively. That compassionate heart is what is awakened when you’re in nature. I like to tell people, “Go out and sit outside. Nobody goes to Times Square to relax.” They go on at in nature and your state is emblematic of the facts. You are the one. You are a magnet for this so people are drawn here because it’s so beautiful. It’s so peaceful. It re-generates people. It heals them. It’s just an amazing place to be. Go sit outside and just take some deep breaths and when you sigh that’s when your cognitive side is giving way to your intuitive side, that genius that is innate in us.
Matthew Fox says, he’s a modern day mystic and he says, “We are starved for awe. We are starved for it. We want to be blown away by something besides video games and FX on Movies. We want to see what’s really there.” That’s part of our connection. That’s what’s nature gives us. Nature is built in awe.
Dr. Lisa: You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, Show Number 151: “Sailing Maine.” Our guests have included Janet Acker, Jess McGreehan and Matt Barton. For more information on our guests and extended interviews visit D-O-C-T-O-RLisa.org. Read our “On the Radio Q&A with Matt Barton” in the August issue of Maine Magazine.
The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast is downloadable for free on iTunes. For a preview of each week’s show sign up for our e-newsletter and “like” our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Get Twitter updates by following me as D-O-C-T-O-R Lisa and see my daily running photos as “Bountiful One” on the histogram. We love to hear from you so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also, let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our “Sailing Maine” show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.
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