Top Things to Do in Newport

  • Sail on a classic 12-metre
  • Watch the Museum of Yachting’s Classic Yacht Regatta Parade
  • Stop by the Newport Shipyard to see which mega yachts are at the docks
  • Witness the start of the Newport-Bermuda Race
  • Head to the Jazz and Folk Festivals at Fort Adams
  • Sail year-round at Sail Newport
  • Throw on some green and catch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
  • Blow off steam at O’Brien’s
   

Top Things to Do in Bristol

  • Visit the Herreshoff Marine Museum and America’s Cup Hall of Fame
  • Head to the country’s oldest 4th of July Parade
  • Watch Grand Illumination, a Bristol holiday tradition
  • Blow off steam at Aidan’s
   

IYRS Campuses

IYRS campuses are located in the heart of the marine industry, in Newport and Bristol. Each campus is uniquely suited to the programs offered at its locale.

Newport

A shot of a workshop   The Newport Campus   A girl sanding a board

The 2.5-acre Newport campus is home to the Boatbuilding & Restoration Program. What most students in this program notice first about this campus is the atmosphere. Studying on Newport Harbor’s famed waterfront inside historic buildings that once housed local industry places you in the center of New England’s maritime heritage.

The 1903 Restoration Hall—a large, impressive brick building that was formerly an electric generating plant—now serves as the school’s main teaching facility, housing an open-space shop where students work in teams on their projects, a drafting room, and a lofting area.

Restoration Hall shares the campus with the 1831 Aquidneck Mill, a newly restored building on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill contains a maritime research library, school offices, and commercial space occupied by world-renowned marine businesses.

The campus is the site of the restoration of the 133-foot schooner yacht Coronet, a rare survivor from 1885. Students are fortunate to share campus space with one of the most significant restorations being done today.

The doors of IYRS are open year-round to the public. An elevated catwalk inside Restoration Hall allows visitors to watch IYRS craftsmen at work. In summer, the school docks are home to a fleet of classic yachts. The Museum of Yachting stages exhibitions on the campus that help visitors from around the world learn more about the maritime history of the region.

Bristol

Inside one of the Bristol workshops.   An outside shot of a workshop.   Three people working on a component

While boatbuilding drives nearly every category in the industry, it is only a small part of the big picture. The industry is made up of people with a deeply ingrained passion for boats and boating. They work at businesses that design, engineer, build, sell, use, store, and service boats and their many related components: propulsion systems, electronics, sails, canvas, and hardware. Rhode Island’s marine industry reputation is unrivaled in the U.S.—and Bristol, another bustling seaport, is a big reason why.

Bristol’s Franklin Street Marine Corridor, an eight-acre commercial complex developed expressly for the marine industry, houses a number of these businesses and thus is a natural home for the IYRS Marine Systems and Composites Technology Programs. The satellite campus in Bristol is 9,800 square feet and houses a range of equipment to give each student a comprehensive, hands-on experience.