WoodenBoat School Accommodation Advise

[TideDrifter]

Last June my wife, two kids and I visited Brooklin, ME on vacation and stayed next to the WoondeBoat Student House. I am now registered to take my first Wooden Boat School class this September and I am looking for some unbiased input about the school’s accommodations. My wife will join me for the week this fall, but she is not taking the class. She plans to explore the surrounding area and just relax by the waterfront reading books. I am certain that she would definately not enjoy a dormitory environment. Nor would she enjoy camping for a week (without somewhere to run to in case of non-stop rain). I am wondering whether the school’s accommodations would be appropriate for my wife and I, or whether we should find somewhere off campus to stay. Please advise.

[Raka025]

You can charter Sea Hawk right in Brooklin Harbor - it is sort of like camping, only better...

http://www.northpointyachtcharters.com/seahawk.html

[3Swissys]

Five years ago, I took a WoodenBoat School sailing course on the Belford Gray. (I wish I could attend every year!) My wife and I both stayed at the The Eggemoggin Lodge. I went to school each day while she read and joined in the Lodge's daily activities. We had family style breakfasts and dinners at the lodge. It was a great way for us to be together but not have to drag her to a class or sleep in a dormitory.

"The Eggemoggin Lodge has beautiful views of Eggemoggin Reach on the Atlantic Ocean. The beautiful post and beam lodge offers a fieldstone fireplace and all of the comforts of home including fine dining. We offer daily adventures - 35.00 USD per person additional (we pack you a picnic lunch) such as a Sea Kayak Tour, Sunset Cruises, Lobstering Adventures, and Whale Watching."

Blah, blah, blah...I'm in now way affiliated with the above lodge...just a satisfied customer.

[Steve Lansdowne]

You may find that there are other wives there at the same time as yours, as was the case for me a few years back. They all took 'field trips' together while the husbands were taking classes.

[TideDrifter]

Thanks for the ideas. I would love to stay on a sailboat in the harbor, but the wife just laughed at the idea. From the maps it looks like the Eggemoggin Lodge is some distance from WoodenBoat – it appears to be along the highway between Brooklin and Sedgwick about 10 miles from WoodenBoat. I can't really imagine staying that far from the school. If we are going to stay off campus we will try to go back to the DragonFlye Inn. We stayed there last summer and two of the other Inn guests were WBS students and the wives spent each day together. The husbands had already walked over to the student house for breakfast each morning so we barely even had a chance to meet them. My wife wants to go back to the Inn, but I am hoping to save a couple hundred dollars by staying at the school’s dorms. I was hoping for some advice about the School’s accommodations. I got an impression from the students and wives we met while in Brooklin, that the school’s dorms were just one step away from camping. Are the dorms appropriate for a married couple? Are they really just one step above camping (group campground type showers…etc?).

[jackster]

As I would guess you know, Woodenboat can make the arrangements you seek, they do it every year for many students.
They know of local accomadations from B&B to cottages and apartments in the area. Ask!

[David McCollum]

My wife and I stayed there for a week and enjoyed it immensely. We were given a room to ourselves, shared bath down the hall. The food was great.

[Sailman58]

Staying at one of the student houses or the campground is as much a part of WoodenBoat School as the classes. You get to dine not only with the members of your class, but those in other class and the instructors. Both of the dorms have a great selection of reading material, boat related naturally. Even when camping, I would stop by the farmhouse on my way back from the shop and either read or join in the 'bull session' that would so often develop.

Ron

[bamamick]

I have family that have stayed at both the Dragonfly Inn and the Eggemoggin Lodge and they were pretty happy in both places.

Mickey Lake

[Tom Robb]

Dorm life hasn't changed much, but most of us have.

[Steve Lansdowne]

The "dorm" next to the shop, whatever its name is, has some rooms with two single beds that would be fine for a couple to share, though I don't know if they try to reserve such for two students, rather than a student and spouse. Staying there puts you close to the water and the shop, rather than in town, though you've gotta hoof it 'downtown' for breakfast and dinner.