It’s been a quiet week here on Bluenose II. That’s okay — there has been enough excitement elsewhere in the province. Last Friday our American Bureau of Shipping inspector attended the ship and watched as the mates put the crew through their drills. With the inspector pleased with the crew’s progress, we received the certificates required for our summer travels. It’s sort of like a driving test and a motor vehicle inspection all at the same time!

After our inspection we have been splitting our time between training the crew and hosting open decks for the public. In our training cycle we have been practicing raising and lowering the “four lowers” which is normal sail to carry. With our 4100 square foot mainsail, and its associated boom and gaff weighing in at near three tons, our gear is heavy for our young crew to learn. They all learn though; they now know how to pull a halyard and hold the weight while the line is made fast on a belaying pin. This is all serious work and there is little time for play.  We did ease up a bit for some more fun training and we had all hands take turns getting into, and out of, our rescue boat while the ship was under sail. This of course is very exciting, and many photos were taken while the mate circled the ship with each successive group. It’s good for the crew to see the ship under sail and to appreciate the work they have done.

We have also been hosting open decks for our visitors to Lunenburg. We have seen people from all over the world already this spring. Sometimes they come in waves attached to a bus from a cruise ship docked in Halifax. Some are school groups taking an end-of-year trip and some are small family groups with a “before the kids finish school” trip. We have been busy, with Sunday’s visitor numbers topping off at over 1000 people across the decks. This week we have taken the opportunity to pass along the ship’s donations to the relief efforts for those affected by the wildfires. Our visitors donated over $3300 for relief efforts. These will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

This week we will continue our training and open house schedule and mid-week I have been invited to speak at a school in Terence Bay. Due to a convenient break in our schedule, I can visit with the grade three class there and share some stories of our fine ship. This is usually an impossibility due to our sailing schedule so I’m quite excited to make a recruiting tour. It’s incredible to me that we now look at 10-year-olds as small children. In the 1920s and 30s they were headers and throaters in the North Atlantic fishing fleet, expected to do a full day’s work and then clean up after the men. How difficult a life it must have been.