LUNENBURG, N.S. – The front supports of the Bluenose II were removed Wednesday, leaving the bow jutting out high above the workers’ heads at the Lunenburg shipyard.
It was a small step in the rebuilding process, which has been plagued by delays and setbacks since beginning last year.
The ship was due to be back in the water this week to be a part of the 2012 Tall Ships Festival, in Halifax.
The president of the Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance says everyone would like to see the Bluenose II set sail.
“We definitely feel pressure to make sure the boat’s in the water,” Peter Kinley says. “No doubt all of us would like to knock the blocks out and send her on her way.”
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The cost of the reconstruction has climbed by more than one million dollars, rising from $14.8 million to $15.9 million.
It’s expected the price tag of the restoration could go even higher.
Leonard Preyra, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage, says the government has every reason to believe the budget won’t rise.
He says the delay has to do with the need to use old technology to reconstruct the schooner – a replica of the original Bluenose, a world-renowned fishing boat and racing ship that was called the “Queen of the North Atlantic” during its 17-year hold on the Fisherman’s Trophy.
The schooner struck a reef off Haiti in 1946 and sank. The Bluenose II was built in 1963 and sold to the provincial government in 1971.
The types of wood and steel being used in the restoration aren’t the same as what was used in the original, making it stiffer and heavier.
When it hits the seas, it won’t likely be winning any races.
“It’s marrying up some traditional watercraft construction to meet modern standards,” Preyra says.
The ship is waiting to be certified as having met with standards set by the Houston-based American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
A representative of ABS told Global’s Brett Ruskin he can’t comment on individual applications, except to say ships will be certified when they have met the organization’s standards.
*With files from Brett Ruskin
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