The province is accepting recommendations from an engineering review of the steering system of Bluenose II. You can find the reports Online

The report recommends replacing the steel rudder with either a wooden rudder or a composite made of fiberglass with a carbon stock. Work is underway to design a new rudder, including determining which is the better material to use. The 2016 sailing season will take place as scheduled with work on the rudder being done during the fall and winter.

The province has also resolved the outstanding delay claims with the Lunenburg Shipyard Alliance with a settlement of five million dollars of which one-point-eight million had already been paid prior to the final settlement agreement. The settlement brings the total cost of the project to $23.8 million, which includes the cost of the steering system review.

The cost of the rudder is not expected to push the final total beyond the allocated capital budget of $25 million for the project.

The Bluenose II public harbour tour schedule has been posted now that Capt. Phil Watson has deemed the crew ready to sail.

The restoration work has been completed and the vessel now awaits final certification from Transport Canada.

Before the vessel begins public tours, there will be a community event in Lunenburg to give the public the opportunity to view the newly restored vessel in her home port.

The date and time of the community event will be determined in the next few days. The complete summer sailing schedule of the vessel to ports of call around Nova Scotia will be released in the coming weeks. 

The schedule is subject to change in the event of unfavourable sailing conditions.

The Crew was working on the Bluenose, Rigging and painting were underway. Hopefully we will see her sail this summer.

Bluenose II sea trials have just been cleared to take place today.

Bluenose II left Lunenburg Foundry Wharf at about 10:30 a.m. and will proceed near Cross Island in the harbour for engine, steering and anchor trials. The vessel is expected to arrive back at the wharf by about 2 p.m.

Bluenose II is not under sail during the trials and will be accompanied by three support boats.

When I saw her on Saturday, I was informed the decks had been oiled, so she was inaccessible until Tuesday. See those photos Here.  Photo via NovaScotiawebcams.com

Took a trip out to Lunenburg to check out the Bluenose. She’s done, Save for that rudder issue. Fundamentally, the ship is well built. The issues with this project and the cost overruns fall squarely on the project management firm and the Marine Architects, who managed to let the build get out of control, and apparently are incapable of securing required approvals in a timely manner.