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The Bluenose Class Sloop

William J. Roue turned out a great many designs in his career as a naval architect. His 17th plan, the schooner Bluenose, is without a doubt the most famous, but he produced many other designs that are dearly beheld by smaller audiences. In 1945, Roue produced a design, at the request of a group from the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax, for a small one-design sloop that would be both fast and elegant and could be sailed easily by two or three people. Bluenose herself was still afloat, but had already been sold to the West Indian Trading Company for use as a freighter. The new class was given the name Bluenose to help perpetuate the memory of the great champion. Ironically, the first Bluenose class sloops were launched in the spring of 1946, just months after Bluenose was lost on a Haitian reef.

This collection provides a modest mix of information about the history, design, activities and current status of the class. In compiling it I have drawn on the sources of information readily available to me, but you will soon find that much information remains to be collected. Many details will be available only from yacht clubs in the Halifax area or from conversations with people whose memories have not yet relinquished important facts. Unfortunately, an entire continent currently separates me from those people and places, so I will have to collect the information over a broad period of time as I make occasional visits to the east coast. In the meantime, I would like to regard this as a community project. If you can fill in some of the gaps or correct some of my errors, please email us at admin@wjroue.com.

I have tried to record only those facts about which I am fairly certain, or to make it clear when I have some doubt. Nevertheless, much of the information contained here has yet to be verified and should not be relied upon to be completely accurate. Furthermore, this page has not been officially sanctioned by the Bluenose Class Association, although they are aware of it.

Contents

The information contained here is divided into a number of different categories. An index line at the top of every page will give you access to all of the categories from wherever you happen to be in the collection.

The design

This section offers a brief description of the physical characteristics of a typical Bluenose sloop, the basic dimensions of the hull, and specific measurements and tolerances for rigging and sails.

The fleet

Recorded here is everything that I currently know about the history of the fleet, including both wooden and fiberglass boats as well as more recent additions.

Competition

There are a number of regattas in which Bluenoses compete as a one design class. This section describes the premier event -- the Maritime Bluenose Championships -- in some detail, and summarizes the other events at which the Bluenose fleet is usually well represented.

The Class Association

The Bluenose Class Association oversees a number of different aspects of the class, including official specifications for rigging and sails and the staging of the Maritime Bluenose Championships. This section is currently fairly sparse, but I hope to rectify that as I learn more about what information can be made public.

Gallery

I am a terrible photographer. You will find evidence of this in my gallery. Many people have taken pity on me and sent me additional photographs that I have included in the gallery, at the top of this page, and on many individual yacht pages. For that I am very grateful.

Related links

Included here are links to yacht clubs having at least one active Bluenose, sail makers and other sources of information for the class. It is a bit sparse at the moment, but I hope that it will continue to grow and help to stitch together something of an on-line community.

About the Author Of These Bluenose Sloop Pages

These pages were assembed by Scott Flinn, a former participant in class events who had a lot of fun in a Bluenose and thought the story of this vessel needed to be recorded. Many thanks to Scott for his contribution. The pages were last updated by Scott in January 2004, with a few modifications by Joan Roué in May 2007. We look forward to expanding the story with the recently announced new construction of the Bluenose Classic Sloop by Snyder's Shipyard (Dayspring, NS) - the first authorized builder of W.J. Roué's Bluenose Sloop since 1972.

Joan Roué, May 2007