Bluenose II Relaunched

The Bluenose II splashed down about six weeks ago, and they stepped the masts a few days ago. I blogged about the Bluenose last New Years, when my wife and I were in Luneneburg, visiting her parents. Back then the Bluenose II looked like this:

This makes it one of the fastest restoration projects I've ever heard of, but it helps when you've got an army of both professionals and volunteers on the case.

Now she looks like this:

And here are the masts going on:

You can read all about the history of the Bluenose and Bluenose II here, and you can see more photos on the Bluenose II's Facebook page, but in a nutshell she is Nova Scotia and Canada's ambassador, and few boats in the world hold as much identity for their home country. She is featured on the Canadian dime, she was the only non-human to be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and people from Nova Scotia are called Bluenosers.

The original Bluenose fell into disrepair, was sold, and foundered on a reef in Haiti. The Bluenose II, an exact replica, was built in the sixties and has done sterling service for all these years, but she hogged and needed extensive reconstruction, which she has now recieved. It's a Theseus's Paradox as to how much of the original ship remains, but I know they've reused the masts and much of the superstructure.

She should be back in service in another few weeks for tours and outings, and for sailing the world's oceans as Canada's ambassador.