Bluenose II could sail again this summer

The remaining work on the Bluenose II could be complete in time for the famous schooner to sail this summer, if all 25 outstanding items are completed without problems.

• Bluenose II sail date still unclear; 25 items to be addressed

"Many of them are sort of nothing," said Lou Boudreau, who worked on the Bluenose II as a young deckhand in the late 1960s. 

"What surprised me, I suppose, is the fact that items like adjusting the height of the vents under the goose neck are in the same line items as a stability book and that sort of thing, which are really the utmost importance."

He comes from a seafaring family and has served as captain on the schooner Mariette and some of the world's finest yachts.

He says the stability issue concerns him because it's been "fiddled with" so many times. "It's very, very important that it's done right and in my opinion it hasn't been done right."

We've paid for a very, very top of the line schooner. That's not what we're getting.- Lou Boudreau

He said there's a reason that even though the ship has been floating for almost two years, they still don't have stability papers.

"It needs to be stopped and assessed by people who know," he said. "Instead, we continue to throw good money after bad and in the end, what are we going to end up with?"

As for the government's hope that it will be sailing early this summer, he urges caution about its safety, rudder and stability.

"Is it going to be safe?" Boudreau asks. "That's the question. We've paid for a very, very top of the line schooner. That's not what we're getting." 

Could be a quick fix

Andy Davis owns Tricoastal Marine in Richmond, California, which bid on the design of the rebuilt Bluenose II. He says the 25 items looks like a normal list that would be drawn up by a regulator, with the exception of the trim ballast and stability book.

Davis says his company did its own stability analysis of the Bluenose II as part of its design work, but he's unsure if that was done sufficiently on the Bluenose II when it was rebuilt.

"My guess is they haven't done the stability booklet and the allocation of the trim ballast, because they're stuck."

But, he says, if they have done stability, the other things are trivial and could be accomplished in a week.

The early summer sailing goal will  depend on completing the outstanding 25 items and then undergoing sea trails, which need to be approved by the American Bureau of Shipping.