Alumni Profiles
MIKE AKEROYD
Mike Akeroyd’s journey to starting his own marine systems business began far from Maine’s boat shops; in San Diego, where he found himself looking for a career change. “I just went online and found the school,” he recalls. “I gave them a call, and they said they had one spot left in the composites program. I said, ‘I’ll take it.’”
Four days later, Mike had packed up his car, loaded in his dog, and was driving across the country.
What stuck with Mike most wasn’t just the technical training — it was the people. “I’d say the most valuable thing I got from the school was meeting the people there,” he says. “Now that I’m out in the world… I know I have a whole bunch of people I can call.”
One of his strongest influences at the school was his systems instructor, Roger Hellyar-Brook. “He had this motto: ‘Keep them boating,’” Mike says. “His point was, if someone’s boat keeps breaking down during the short season, they’ll eventually end up selling them. Your job is to make sure you keep them boating.”
After graduating, Mike was hired by Great Island Boatyard in Harpswell. “They hired me because I went to the Landing School,” he says, specifically crediting his ABYC certifications. He worked there for nine years before starting his own shop, Shift Systems, in Portland. “I don’t think I would have that without the Landing School,” he says.
JOSHUA KOCH
Joshua Koch’s path to the Landing School started with a recommendation from a friend in the tall ship industry. “Nick Patey was a buddy of mine,” he says. “I mentioned I wanted to get kind of a formal education, and he recommended the Landing School because he was an alumni. He took me on a tour — and that was it.”
Originally from Michigan and spending winters in the Florida Keys, Josh moved to an apartment on Old Orchard Beach and made the 40-minute commute to campus each day. As the second-youngest student in his marine systems class, he found himself surrounded by older classmates from a range of backgrounds. “I was kind of an odd duck,” he says. “I’d already spent a lot of time in the industry before going to school, which was kind of backwards.”
Josh credits his instructors — especially Pete Worthington — with shaping his approach to systems work. “Pete had this thing where he’d say, ‘Start stupid early,’” Josh recalls. “If an engine isn’t starting, don’t jump into the complex stuff. Start simple. That stuck with me.”
What the Landing School gave him most, though, was confidence. “Ripping an engine out of a boat and putting it back in sounds simple enough,” he says, “but I gained a lot of confidence by actually doing it, and having the chance to mess up and learn.”
Even before graduation, Josh landed a job as the engineer on a Tall Ship in Washington. Currently managing a portion of a company in Boothbay, Maine, Josh also serves as an engineer and the traditional rigging consultant.
Though he’s currently connected to the school mainly through social media and the occasional update from Nick, he says, “There’s a part of me that would like to be more involved… maybe come back as a systems instructor someday.”