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Bluenose Class Racing
Although the fleet is now more than fifty years old, many of the
boats are in very good condition. It is not uncommon to have
twenty or more yachts from the Halifax and Chester areas, mostly
wooden, competing at a single event. Individual clubs also
run smaller one-design races, and handicap racing in club fleets is
quite popular as the size of the fleet makes it possible to
establish a reasonable handicap without unduly penalizing the
best skippers and crews.
The most coveted prize by far is the Russell-Youla Trophy, awarded
each year to the winner of the Maritime Bluenose Championships,
but there are several other events that are also hotly contested.
By the summer of 1949 the fleet was nearly fifty strong. In August of
that year, the Halifax Herald
donated the International Bluenose Class Championship Trophy,
as it had done for the International
Fishermen's Trophy twenty-eight years earlier. The winner that year
was a crew from Marblehead, Massachusetts.
A championship competition, open to all Bluenose sloops, is still held
every year. However, the international format was abandoned after
several boats sank during a particularly stormy weekend of racing. The
Maritime Bluenose Championships are now contested by boats from
the local fleets and are held in Halifax and Chester in alternating
years.
The Russell-Youla Trophy, pictured at the left, has been presented every
year since 1955 to the winner of the Maritime Bluenose Championships.
(I do not yet know what became of the International Bluenose Class Trophy
donated in 1949 by the Halifax Herald, or when the word
International was replaced with Maritime in the
name of the contest.) It was presented to the
Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron
(RNSYS) in 1955 by Miss Kathleen Wylde. It had originally been donated
to the Squadron by General Lord Alexander G. Russell, and was first won
by the schooner Wenonah in 1886. I hope one day to learn
something of its history between 1886 and 1955.
The format of the contest has changed only modestly over the years.
It is always held during the last weekend of August and, since 1986,
has alternated location between Halifax and Chester. For many years
prior to 1986 it was held exclusively in Halifax, but I am not aware
of the full history. Five races are sailed, ideally with three on
Saturday and two on Sunday. Occasionally, conditions are such that
three races can not be completed on Saturday, in which case at most
three are sailed on Sunday. If fewer than three races can be completed
in total, the trophy is not awarded, although this circumstance has yet
to arise. The course is an Olympic triangle or, in more recent years,
a windward-leeward arrangement, with legs ranging from 1/2 - 2 miles in
length (a detail I need to check), depending on the conditions. The
winner is determined using the Olympic scoring system. Each yacht must
comply with class specification rules and carry a crew of exactly
three.
Since many of the participants remain the same from year to year,
a high level of comradery usually attends the event. There is a dinner
of some description followed by award presentations -- first, second and
third place overall, most improved and best fiberglass yacht -- and
the traditional throwing of the winning skipper from the dock, no
matter how cold or polluted the water may be.
There are several other major regattas in the area at which the Bluenose
fleet usually has sufficient representation to qualify for its own
one-design class. I hope eventually to provide at least brief
descriptions of these events. For now, a simple list will have to
suffice.
Main Bluenose Class page
Main schooner Bluenose page