In this sail loft we use hand-sewn rings. Either brass or rope grommets. We can use a LOT of them and we are not the only sailmakers to do this. We do make our own liners. I don't know if others do, but we do and it is time consuming, but worth it. And here is why. I have found that liners often crack, or are very thin OR are too thick. Sometimes the liner can actually cut the stitching around the ring. Here we have "liner man" and he is VERY important. Thanks "liner man"! A plug for Port Townsend Foundry. BEST BEST BEST stuff you can get anywhere. Not to mention Pete and Cathy are super nice people. http://www.porttownsendfoundry.com/ Check them out.

I love my job. I love hearing other people say they love their jobs. How did we get so lucky? Hopefully I will be a sailmaker for the rest of my life. A biggish cotton square sail, with all the "traditional" stuff is in the works. Handsewn boltropes and beckets and rope grommets. It is warm on my lap(the wind chill in Maine is -18 today), folds up small and it smells good. Because it is so cold I am not heating the sailloft so it is in my living room and that is a bonus. Life is good.

30 years..........

Well this year I will have been a sailmaker for 30 years. In a way that is exciting in another I am shocked. How can I be that old? Sailmaking has changed so much in the time that I have been a sailmaker. The fabrics are so interesting and the hardware is amazing. We don't use much in the more "new and innovated" fabrics here, but I love to learn about it. Once in a while I get a repair that uses some fabric I don't recognize and I call the vendors and find out who makes it and get some in. That is so fun for us. I am grateful for the time I have had as a sailmaker and hope to continue on. Sadly there are fewer of us and more leave the industry every year. On the floor is some repairs and a funky mizzen that a customer has designed(you know who you are). A blue drifter will start shortly. Blue is only bad luck on fishing boats, so I am okay with doing this for him. I found a unfinished oceanus genoa in my pile of sails. I think we will finish it up and find a home. So this year of turning 30 in the business. I am okay with it. My hair may be grey, but the body is holding up.

How to Avoid Sail Creases | Classic Boat Magazine

How to Avoid Sail Creases | Classic Boat Magazine

A long time!

It has been a long time since my last post. I did make a stays'l out of organic duck. It is okay, we have not tanbarked it yet. I roped it with hemp and we dry it carefully if it gets wet. Cotton sails are not for everyone, if you want to go fast, if you are lazy and if you don't cover your sails forget it. This year we have made a LOT of dacron tanbark sails. Bainbridge, Challenge and Contender are all carrying nice fabrics. I still love Clipper and am using that as often as possible. The economy has hit us all hard and fabrics are going up. It is shocking to see price changes over the past 5 years. Many customers are looking for a value and I get that. Your sailmaker can often call the manufacturers and see what is on sale, overstocked, slight flaws etc. Sadly, had yet another customer succumb to the Hong Kong prices and get an awful suit. At this point we can work on 2 of the sails, but one has to be replaced. UGH. Don't forget to store your sails in galvanized trash cans to keep the wet and critters away! Happy Holidays! Heidi

fabric

I spend a LOT of time thinking about fabric. In fact I woke up at 4am thinking about Clipper Cloth. This is actually good because the company is in the UK, so I could give them a call.

Clipper Cloth is amazing. It is also a real pain to get. I like to order waaaay early. There is an order for me that they SAY is there and they are LOVELY people so I want to believe them, but I have waited as long as 3 months for fabric that was "in stock".

There are 3 suits waiting for this cloth, I will be measuring and designing and praying the cloth is on its way. I expect there will be many early morning wake ups worrying about it.

So what does this mean to you when you order sails? Know your fabric, where it comes from and make sure that your sailmaker communicates with you. Once we had a customer who wanted a specific fabric in a specific color(he even painted the hull the same color) we had to wait to have it manufactured and when we received it, the fabric was grey and shiny. UGH. It took 6 months to get the correct fabric. This was unique and has only happened once, but I will NEVER forget it.

Well, off to the sailloft, a jigger sail awaits(also called riding sail) for a local lobsterman.

Organic sails??

Well my husband and I were discussing sails(surprise)and how they are petroleum products and we were stuck with it. Or are we?

There is organic duck available. It is expensive and it isn't as heavy as I would like, but we are going to build a suit for our 30' gaffer. Just a main and a stays'l.

I know there is hemp line available. We plan to "tanbark" these sails in hopes to have them last longer. How long will they last? How well will they sail? How expensive will they be?

Stay tuned, I will post pictures as this project evolves. This project will be secondary to my regular sailloft work so it may be a long process!

measurements

I am bidding on a big job. This is fun, I get to think about fabric, bolt rope, hardware, what kind of sailing and what kind of boat this big job will be.

Not so fun.....measuring. Measuring bad. I have screwed up. Twice. I do feel that in 23+ years that isn't bad but still so humiliating. Once with someone who swore they could give me good measurements, but would never discuss tack angles. Yuck. Once the owner told me the sailplan hadn't changed. The damn boat was right there, but I believed him. MY FAULT should have measured regardless.

The bottom line. If your sailmaker is local have them measure the boat. If not, hire a rigger or fly them to the boat. It will be worth it, they could find all kind of things you wouldn't have thought to tell them. Like that funky gooseneck you have. If you provide measurements be ready for a recut.

Fairwinds and Following Seas,
Heidi

This week I am thinking about gaff sails. I have a customer who was wondering if lashing, hoops or slides were better for his gaff main and mizzen. Good question.

Slides are tough because they keep the sail very close to the mast and I have found that the throat will then need to be fiddled with(making the slide farther from the mast) and sometimes this is true with the tack as well.

Lashing can fall on itself and tangle. Its cheap and easy to install, but often a pain when in regular use.

My favorite! HOOPS! They are expensive. They break. You may still may have to fiddle with them, but less likely to. When using hoops put a couple of extras on the mast to sit at the gooseneck to have if one ever breaks. I haven't had one break on my 11 year old gaff cutter. Now one will.

Fairwinds and following seas!
Heidi

Picton Castle

Very sad news for the family of the 25 year old woman who was lost overboard the Picton Castle. The ship was southeast of Cape Cod. A freak wave washed over the deck. Being in the Gulf Stream the hope of survival is longer.

The Picton Castle is a wonderful ship, an able ship and I know that they have put their all into finding this young woman. The ship and the coast guard are searching.

My prayers are with her and her family.

Maritime Heritage Center Plans in Michigan

Bay City Michigan may get a maritime museum a la Mystic Seaport. Today's Bay City Times reports on the concept as presented to city commissioners.

Bay City may anchor its vacant Uptown at RiversEdge site with a Maritime Heritage Center that builds on the success of recent tall ships festivals held here.

Supporters of the idea include officials from Bay City, Dow Corning Corp., the Bay Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and Bay Future, a local public-private economic development group.

The proponents presented their concept, patterned after an attraction at Mystic Seaport, Conn., to city commissioners at a Finance and Policy Committee meeting on Monday.

Uptown at RiversEdge site could harbor a Maritime Heritage Center

Related Tags: tall, ship, maritime, museum

Lady Washington Leaving Monterey

Heidi --- I just saw this article this evening. The tall ship Lady Washington was a big hit in Monterey; nice photo of her sailing in.

Dear readers, Heidi is very reticent to blow her own horn, but I'm not shy. I want to goad her into telling us more about the Lady. Heidi is intimately acquainted with the Lady, having made many of her sails.

Hundreds of young children tromped across its decks during the past two weeks. Tourists snapped countless photos of its billowing sails. Now, the Lady Washington is sailing away. The historic tall ship is scheduled to leave Monterey Harbor early today after making its annual stop at Fisherman's Wharf. It was docked in Monterey since Nov. 16, during a voyage from Alaska to San Diego. The ship has appeared in the films "Pirates of the Caribbean -- Curse of the Black Pearl" and "Star Trek -- Generations," but it is employed most of the time for educational programs.

Monterey County Herald | 11/28/2006 | THE LADY MAKES A BIG IMPRESSION

Heidi, tell us about the Lady Washington's sails!

KW Kerr

Related Tags: tall, ship, square, sail, rigger, Lady, Washington

Running Rigging

Yuck! I am washing the running rigging for my gaff cutter. This is all 3 strand Dacron line. Everything is dingy, salty and stiff. What I do is soak the line in Ivory snow and then dry in the sun.

As each piece of line is dried I will end for end it and resplice. You can get alot of life from your running rigging this way and it is safer.

This is a thankless job, but someone has to do it.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Heidi

Related Tags: sailmaker, sailmaking, rigging, rope, splice

Thanks

It is Thanksgiving morning. I am thankful this morning, I don't have to go to the sail loft. My family and friends are mostly healthy and happy, we are warm and dry.

What are you thankful for?

Bolt Ropes on Traditional Sails

Today I sit at my dining room table designing sails for a cat ketch. Two problems are really bugging me. One is the cost of sailcloth and how can I charge this much! The other is bolt ropes. Should this sail have bolt ropes?

On a big sail I feel really strongly about bolt ropes. The sail is protected and the grommets have something to lean on when under strain. On a HUGE sail like a main I made last year(2300 sq ft) the leech was roped with 3/4 spun Dacron. This sail will last a long time and take a beating. I am a good roper. It is hard to rope a leech so that it doesn't curl or cup or flutter or what have you.

Back to the little sails. I think not. We are going light, flat, and only a 4 oz Dacron. I will put an extra tape on. That being said, the customer may override me and I will have all of this angst for nothing!

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Heidi

Related Tags: sailmaker, sailmaking, main, sail, bolt, rope

Thread and Sails

Last week I was cutting out a Genoa. A nice cross mitred-cross cut, #7 Oceanus with a a roller furling, so also a suncover. Talking to the staff about thread. What did I want?

Well this sail is going on an off-shore wooden heavy ketch. I feel that with the sun exposure and and use, the stronger the better. We went with a v-92 thread and v-138 on the suncover.

Oceanus is forgiving, needle holes don't show. Unlike hard dacrons or laminates. We can get away with a heavier thread with Oceanus, Clipper Cloth, Duradon, cotton duck and some softer Dacrons. This type of cloth will suck the thread in. Less chafing and as I said before the weave moves to allow the needle more than punches holes.

There are several types of thread; I use a basic Heminway & Bartlett Dabond 2000. Depending on the sail and type of cloth your sail is being built with, it is worth asking your sailmaker what type of thread and the weight. After all the thread is holding you sail together.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Heidi

Related Tags: sailmaking, sailmaker, genoa, thread

Sprits'ls, Lugs'ls, and Gunters - Oh My!

Everyone once in a while I have a year like I'm having this year, one that seems to have a theme. As the title suggests I have had a lot of sprits'ls, lugs'ls, and gunters ranging from 28 square feet to over 300 square feet. Most of the sails have been built using Oceanus, Contender cream, Contender colors have also been used.

Most of my customers are looking for the traditional details on these sails. The boats, that are works of art, really deserve to have pretty sails. They do get expensive. There is alot of time put into a sail like this; hand-sewn rings, hand-roped and beckets, with leathers at the corners really make the sail. Plus they really last a long time that way.

There has been so many in fact I have been thinking about changing the sail loft name to "sprits'ls are us." I have had a year where it was mizzen stays'ls. That was fun, a lot of colors. The year before that was marconi mains'ls with internal bronze headboards. I do many more gaff mains than marconi so each marconi main I had the great debate whether to floor layout or computer design and plot the main. I usually opt for the floor.

Going for the floor layout allows me to compensate for wonky masts. You know who you are! Those wooden masts often get a bend or hook. I can fool with the luff and foot on the floor to make the sail work better for you.

No idea what 2007 will bring. It looks like it could be heads'ls. Who knows for sure, but that has been where the interest has been.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Heidi

Related Tags: spritsail, lugsail, gunter, gaff, main, sail, headsail, sailmaking

Bermuda Sails Changed the Sailing World

Who better to undertake a serious discussion of the development of the "Bermuda rig" than the Bermudians! In friday's Bermuda Royal Gazette, Dr. Edward Harris, Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum, examines Bermuda's role in development of the sail configuration "which transformed forever the way in which boats are sailed.

The fastest boat afloat
HERITAGE MATTERS by DR. EDWARD HARRIS MBE
Nevertheless, when Bermudians look at the massive America's Cup challenger New Zealand or the simple Finn dinghy and consider the influence that Bermuda, out of all proportion to its size, has had on the development of small boat sailing, they should feel a justifiable pride.

THE reason for the pride that all Bermudians should have is something called the 'Bermuda Rig', written about in detail by Eldon H. Trimingham in 1990 in the second issue of the Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History.

The Journal is an annual publication of the Bermuda Maritime Museum that records the results of research into the history and heritage of the island.

Richard Darrell Butterfield, OBE and Susan Masters Butterfield have supported the series through 16 issues since its inception in 1989, a singular and significant contribution to the accumulation of historical information and education resources about Bermuda.

Publication is a vital matter when it comes to archaeological remains, for the process of discovery must of necessity destroy part of the site under investigation by excavation. In earlier decades, archaeological sites were investigated without the due process of recording. Without records, the publication of discoveries is difficult, if not impossible.

The process of excavation must translate the destroyed evidence of the past into a permanent archive for the present and the future. The publication of the evidence is like a museum exhibit. Its purpose is to make the history recovered by the scientists accessible to the public, the ultimate owners of all archaeological remains and heritage data.

The evidence, archaeological and otherwise, for the Bermuda Rig being of local invention is almost entirely circumstantial, which is why Mr. Trimingham, an experienced sailor of some decades' standing, is shortly to present an expanded case for the prosecution. I believe Bermudians are guilty of creating the Rig, which transformed forever the way in which boats are sailed.

I believe the jury will convict, but you must appreciate that on the demise of a sailing vessel the first evidence likely to disappear without recall is the rigging, that is the masts, sails, and rope and tackle that power the ship.

No Bermuda Rig or associated vessel has survived from the decades of its invention. A few illustrations, such as the print of a Bermuda sloop on the Spanish Main, help with our understanding of the background of this unique maritime revolution. Mr. Trimingham's next thesis ranges world-wide to set the case for our Bermuda Rig.

The Bermuda Rig is related to another local heritage icon, the 'Bermuda Sloop'. The development of the Sloop probably led to the invention of the Rig, but the early sloops still had a gaff on their four-side mainsail.

The triangular sail of the Bermuda Rig, so well known today, eventually replaced the gaff rig. Nonetheless, with its fore and aft rig, the Bermuda Sloop was the fastest boat afloat in the 1700s.

The first HMS Pickle swiftly took the news of Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar to Britain in October 1805. Also built at Bermuda, the third HMS Pickle had success in the interception of ships engaged in the slave trade.

While a few plans of such vessels built here in the 1820s for the Royal Navy have survived, there is little archaeological evidence left of these ships. We need to find a shipwreck of a Bermuda Sloop with an intact hull, perhaps buried in a muddy estuary on the coast of North Carolina. By archaeological examination, we might recapture the essence of such vessels, encapsulated in the shape of their hulls.

After the dissolution of the Bermuda Company in 1684, Bermudians were free to develop shipbuilding, using the local juniper, called cedar. This timber had many of the qualities of oak, but is lighter and therefore the vessels built of it were faster.

Unlike oak, it was impervious to the destructive boring of the teredo worm, the death beetle for oak hulls in the warm waters of the Caribbean. With cedar hulls, coupled with a fore-and-aft rig, the Bermuda sloop could usually outrun all other vessels, especially when sailing close to the wind, the last a feature needed for travel between St. George's and Somerset.

In late years, the Bermuda Sloop caught the imagination of outstanding marine artists. The fine lines and rigging of these vessels was captured by Deryck Foster in paintings commissioned by the Bank of Bermuda and now on exhibit at the Maritime Museum. For workmanlike sloop, hull down and racing through the sea, Montague Dawson's view of the first HMS Pickle is wonderful. The local craftsmen built other vessels, such as the brigs, shown here in the image of Spheroid and 'Bermudians', a type of schooner illustrated on the right in the Deryck Foster painting.

Bermuda vessels, especially sloops were sold widely and favoured by pirates, privateers and the Royal Navy, each having a different reason for speed under sail.

A few weeks ago, the first 'Bermudian' to be built in many a decade slipped into its new home berth at the old Royal Navy Dockyard, as the Spirit of Bermuda.

This was an event and a vessel in which we can take pride and hopefully find a renewed interest in the great tradition of sailing at Bermuda, in which all sectors of the community took part. It is the hope of the Bermuda Sloop Foundation that the Spirit will be used to train and reconnect all segments of Bermuda with a tradition that has been ours nigh on four centuries. With our Sloop and Rig, we were the first and fastest in a tradition of small boat sailing that is now practised world-wide, thanks to our innovations and inventions in the search for speed under sail.

* * *

Dr. Edward Harris, MBE, JP, FSA, Bermudian, is the Executive Director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum. The views expressed here are his opinion, not necessarily those of the trustees or staff of the Museum. Comments can be sent to drharrislogic.bm, to PO Box MA 133, Sandys MABX, or by telephone at 799-5480.

Royal Gazette

Related Tags: tall, ship, bermuda, sloop, sail, Spirit of Bermuda

Tall Ship Vacations - Enjoy Them While You Can

Want the tall ship experience without the riggors of sail training? Today's Detroit Free Press spotlights a vacation aboard the schooner Yankee Clipper. A week on the YC would be a great vacation, but wouldn't a season on the YC be a great job!!??

Cruising under sail is adventure
October 22, 2006
BY GARY A. WARNER
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Monday morning, the passengers of the Yankee Clipper, a former millionaire's yacht, squint into their first sunrise.

The deck is pitched at a 20-degree angle as the schooner carves through the waves of the south Caribbean north of Grenada, its sails rattling and lines groaning against the masts.

There are those passengers who are wide-eyed and smiling, the breeze in their hair, ecstatic at being at sea under sail. Then there are those who realize they have signed on for a week sleeping in a windowless broom closet that heaves, creaks and shudders. They might agree with the 18th-Century English wag Samuel Johnson, who said going to sea has "all the comforts of jail, plus the chance to drown."

The first group are veteran "Jammers," lovers of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises' highly eclectic collection of vintage sailing ships, along with new converts. "I have been on all the Windjammer ships, and from a sailing standpoint, this is the best," says Bill Fleming of Omaha, Neb.

A Windjammer cruise is not for you if you need luxurious accommodations, tight schedules, defined itineraries, fine dining, don't drink or don't like to be around people who do, and can't stand off-color jokes.

For my seven-day cruise, I chose the smallest and fastest of the four sailing ships in the Windjammer fleet: the Yankee Clipper. It sails the most unique itinerary, threading between the small islands of the Grenadines in the far southern end of the Caribbean chain.

My fellow passengers, mostly couples in their 40s and 50s with a smattering of older folks and a quartet of 30-ish professionals, meet on Sunday night at a gritty wharf in St. George's, the capital of Grenada.

We would soon be off to the beaches and snorkeling spots of Carricaou, Union Island, Bequia and Mayreau. But in what order, for how long and where else we might go was up to providence and Capt. Julian Peterson. "The Caribbean is La-La land," the captain says. "We don't ask where we're going or when we're going to get there."

The 197-foot white schooner pulls out at 11:30 p.m., motoring from the harbor before the notes of "Amazing Grace" come on the sound system, first a bagpipe version, then a dreamy vocal version. This is the signal that it is time to raise the sails, and guests scramble to join the crew in grappling with the great ropes that lift the sheets into the stiff evening breeze. The ship takes on a slight tilt as the wind bites the canvas and we glide off under a star-pocked sky.

"It's just wonderful to be out here," says Joe Vulcan of Madison, Ohio. We spend a day ashore on Carricaou, sipping odd but tasty concoctions like linseed and milk.

We take a swim with the brilliant small fish in Chatham Bay on Union Island. Best of all is lolling on the beach at one of the tiny Tobago Cays, the water such a brilliant azure that it seemed the bottom of the ocean had been painted as white as a suburban swimming pool.

"I want to snorkel every day," says Frank Zellerhoff of Seattle. "On this itinerary you can do that. No shopping. No fancy restaurants."

Afternoons are spent back on the ship. Time for drinking rum swizzles and waiting for the sun to set. Dinner is in the polished mahogany dining room, then more drinks of choice, from coffee to rum and coke, served up by Oxford Toussent, a bear-like bartender and shore-excursion leader. Jimmy Buffett, Caribbean steel-drum music and the Eagles play well into the night.

The Yankee Clipper crowd is like a big cruise human manifest in miniature. There are socialites, wallflowers, jokers, drinkers, romantics, adventurers, grumps and the people who seem to be counting time until the next chance to eat. Finally each night, I head off to bed. That's the part that creates most of the grousing I hear on board.

The Yankee Clipper began life as a millionaire's party boat. But when Windjammer bought the ship in the early 1960s, the interior was sliced up. Today it can accommodate 64 passengers and 30 crew. The luckier (wealthier) passengers have larger cabins on the top deck, with windows to look out. The rest of us are below, in standard cabins with sealed portholes that are minimalist in comforts.

My 12-by-12-foot room has worn polished dark wood walls, a beat-up carpet and an open closet. Bunk beds press against the hull. Fluorescent lighting gives a harsh glow. A small bathroom with very old tiles has a sink and a toilet. My aft cabin is so small the bathroom door cannot swing open without hitting the toilet. The third night, the sink springs a leak and floods the cabin, the crew racing to help me throw my belongings out the door and onto a dry cabinet. I move to a cabin near the bow.

Despite the impromptu gusher, I find the cabins to be perfectly serviceable for a single traveler. I sometimes retreat for the solitude that is hard to find on a small ship. But if I had to share the space for a week, it might be different. In fact, after the first night, Jack and Jackie Cole of Washington, D.C., swing a deal for an upgrade, threatening to cancel the second of back-to-back trips on the Yankee Clipper. "We weren't going to stay in that small cabin for two weeks," Jackie says. "Wasn't going to happen." Many Jammer veterans prefer to forgo their cabins altogether, sleeping on the deck.

Before we know it, we are in Bequia, the northernmost point of our trip. The village cascades down the green hillsides around the harbor. It's become a popular retirement spot for Americans, French and Italians. Lobster is plentiful. You can have the monster-sized crustacean broiled at one of the bayside cafes.

Turning back south, the silly times aboard become more frequent. We are no longer strangers. A game called the Sea Hunt is organized one night, with passengers divided into teams and assigned outrageous tasks. Winners get a piece of Windjammer gold -- extra chits for the bar.

The next morning, the crew dresses in full pirate garb as we sail into Mayreau and slide up to Club Med 2, a hulking French-operated cruise ship. Capt. Julian, in a long, flowing red coat, short breeches, with a flintlock pistol in his hand, gets out a bullhorn. "Hand over your Grey Poupon or prepare to be attacked!" he bellows.

That night, we have a barbecue dinner on the beach followed by a pub crawl across the island led by Oxford, who lives on Mayreau when not at sea.

The morning of the sixth day we have Grenada in sight. By noon, we are moored next to a visiting British warship at a foul-smelling St. George's dock. The early return seems to be for the benefit of the crew. For those of us still entranced by Tobago Cays and Bequia, a night on the backside of St. George's is a letdown.

Killing time in Grenada gives me a chance to talk with Jammers about their least favorite subject: new international maritime safety rules that endanger their beloved fleet of four old sailing ships. The laws that go into force in 2010 are designed for modern cruise ships. They're almost impossible for older sailing vessels to meet.

"We don't know what is going to happen," says Yankee Clipper purser Joanne Dalaklis of Boston. "My advice is if you want to try this, do it soon."

The next morning, we all split up, some to the airport, some to resort hotels on Grenada, and a lucky few leaving with the Yankee Clipper on another loop to Bequia.

"A week has been great; you really get to unwind," says Bill Weick of Toronto as he heads down the gangplank. "Two weeks and they would have to scrape me off the deck, I'd be so relaxed."

Cruising under sail is adventure

Thanks Gary Warner. The real news here is the new international rules that endanger this kind of travel.

KW Kerr for Heidi Sawyer

technorati tags: tall, ship, schooner, Yankee Clipper, Windjammer, Cruise

A Third Schooner Bluenose?

Another Bluenose? A news item from the Chronicle Herald in Halifax reveals a very confused situation regarding any plans for Bluenose III.

Future foggy for third Bluenose
Original designer’s relative disturbed by tourism minister’s comments
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau

LUNENBURG — The great-granddaughter of the man who designed the Bluenose is "disturbed and disappointed" by comments made by the province’s tourism minister concerning plans for Bluenose III.

Len Goucher said Bluenose II is in fine shape and does not need replacing for some time. "There’s no urgency to build a new boat when the Bluenose II is being maintained and performing her duties well," Mr. Goucher said in a release. He went on to say that "when the time comes to build a Bluenose III, the province will be doing so in partnership with the Town of Lunenburg, home port of the Bluenose, and others who have an interest."

That’s news to Joan Roue, who said her family owns the intellectual property rights to the famous racing schooner. Ms. Roue announced plans this summer to build a Bluenose III and she said the province declined to respond to a number of overtures to collaborate on the project. Mr. Goucher’s comments, she said, are "curious, considering they have not ever approached us regarding the availability of construction rights for the plans drawn by my great-grandfather W.J. Roue, which remain within the Roue family as well as the intellectual property rights associated therein."

Ms. Roue has formed a company called Queen of the North Atlantic Enterprise Inc. and is raising money to build Bluenose III. The company plans to lay the keel of the replica on July 1, 2008, and launch it on July 24, 2010.

The province sent out a news release Friday to tout the sailing ambassador’s summer successes of travelling 4,000 miles, carrying 7,000 passengers and welcoming 30,000 visitors during 12 ports of call.

Capt. Wayne Walters, director of operations for Bluenose II, said in an interview the schooner is in good shape and can sail for years to come. "She’s in great condition for her age," he said. "For a 43-year-old wooden vessel, she’s in great shape." Capt. Walters stressed the ship has been well maintained over the years and can sail for a long time yet.

The hull is being caulked at Lunenburg Foundry. Peter Kinley, the company’s president and chief executive officer, spent two summers as a deckhand on the Bluenose II beginning in 1975. "She’s in great shape," he said as he stood on scaffolding leading up to the ship’s deck. "She could go indefinitely because she has been kept up."

But Joan Roue said she fast-tracked her decision to build a second replica of the original Bluenose based, in part, on letters she received from Capt. Walters. She quotes him as writing that the Bluenose II is getting more expensive to maintain every year.

The original Bluenose was an unbeaten schooner racing champion in the ’20s and ’30s. Bluenose II was built by the Oland family in 1963 to promote Schooner beer, but was acquired by the province in the ’70s as a sailing ambassador for Nova Scotia. Bluenose II underwent a major refit in 1994 that was expected to be good for 10 years.

The ChronicleHerald.ca

KW Kerr for Heidi Sawyer

technorati tags: tall, ship, schooner, Bluenose