One of the more interesting nonagenarians you are likely to meet is Ian Nicolson C.Eng. FRINA HonMIIMS, a marine surveyor based in Scotland, who is not your average ninety-plus-year-old. For one thing, he has been marine surveying for over 70 years – in itself a remarkable feat.
IIMS is delighted to be hosting the Ian Nicolson Lecture “Lessons learned from 78 years of marine surveying” live on Thursday 13th April between 10.30 and 12.30 (UK time). The lecture is open to anyone who wishes to attend.
The lecture will be broadcast from the IIMS HQ at Murrills House. There is space for 15 people to attend the lecture in person, but most are expected to join in an online capacity via Zoom. If you cannot make it live, there is an option to request a copy of the video.
Ian has a unique presentation style and format and will use his own beautifully hand-drawn diagrams as the basis for his lecture. He is known to be a stickler for detail and will demonstrate the importance of that in his own inimitable fashion. This is one lecture not to be missed and no matter what your marine surveying experience is, you are bound to learn something from one of the doyens of the industry!
About the lecturer, Ian Nicolson
Ian Nicolson was apprenticed to the traditional yacht designer, Frederick Parker. He was one of the team involved in the first post-war rebuild of the large Fife schooner ALTAIR. He did his journeymanship with John I Thornycroft Ltd, the ship and yacht builder.
Ian was a doughty pioneer in the field of ocean cruising. He emigrated by sail in 1952 to Vancouver where he worked under Canada’s finest designer of traditional wooden fast motorboats and power cruisers, Thorton Grenfell. His return passage to Britain was made by hitchhiking across Canada and building himself a small wooden yacht cruiser near Halifax. He sailed her ‘home’ single-handedly across the Atlantic in 1954.
After working for Alan Buchanan on wooden yacht designs, Ian was the naval architect for ‘Yachts and Yachting’ magazine and then became a full partner in A Mylne & Co, the design firm set up in 1896 by Alfred Mylne, the First. When Alfred Mylne the Second died in 1979, Ian Nicolson took over as senior partner.
He is a much-published author having written a string of books on design, construction, operation and handling of small marine craft. He was a recipient of the Geoff Pack Memorial Medal for his contributions to yachting literature.
