The author of this commentary compares sailing a Minuet to sailing the Bluenose sloop.
“There is actually a wealth of information available online about the Bluenose sloop. Check out http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/flinn/bluenose/sloop/sloop.html
This boat was originally created in Nova Scotia as a one-design class for the Armdale Yacht Club in Halifax. As the story goes a group of members approached William Roue who designed the Grand Banks fishing schooner Bluenose (the one on the Canadian dime that won every race)to design a boat for racing at AYC.
You will note on the web site mentioned above that the boats were originally built of wood and then McVAy Yachts of Mahone Bay, NS made a number out of fibreglass. The wooden boats are reputed to be faster.
There have recently been at least 2 wooden Bluenoses built (one was on display in Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax for a year) but the cost of a new wooden version is astounding (I think it was selling on Yachtworld for $53000 Cdn).
Herring Cove Marine outside of Halifax is currently manufacturing fibreglass versions but has modified the keel weight distribution (not shape) over the original McVay ones. It is reputed to be faster but is still in the neighbourhood of $28,000 Cdn new. He is not making large numbers. Herring Cove Marine also refurbishes older Bluenoses.
These boats still race in Halifax and Mahone Bay areas. A McVay version just sold from our club on the North Shore of Nova Scotia and the rumour is the new owner is planing on spending tens of thousands fixing it up to race.
Armdale Yacht Club is located on the Northwest Arm off Halifax Harbour. The area is very protected (except in Hurricane Juan last year) and the waters are flat but the winds very shifty. This boat is ideal for these conditions. Our club (BHYC in Tatamagouche Bay (Amet Sound) NS) is sometimes flat and sometimes wavy with choppy waves due to the shallow warm water (< 3 feet). In close together 2 – 3 foot swells the Bluenose is VERY WET and not for a lazy sailor. It does not race well in these conditions but does well in flat water as Jeff suggested.
A smaller sister to the Bluenose was the Minuette made also by McVay in Mahone Bay. Where the Bluenose was 23” LOA the Minuette was 19” LOA. Although it looks very similar to the Bluenose Sloop the Minuette was much slower. However it did sail quite similarly. In the late 70”s – early 80”s my familay owned a Minuette which I aptly named Full Tilt. It came with a working jib and a genoa as well as a spinnaker and main. Our boat was also kept on the Northwest Arm in Halifax less than one mile from the Armdale Yacht Club. The boat was easily sailed by two and a LOT of Fun! Our favourite trick was to sheet everything in tight (using Genoa) and put the boat beam to the wind. The boat would heel so far that the water was unbroken until it hit the cockpit floor. The leeward rail, seat and all was beneath the surface. The boat would hold in this position as the hull deflected the wind over the sails. As I said .. A LOT OF FUN! I am assuming that in the wrong conditions this could easily lead to the sinking of the boat. Note that the Victoria 18 is believed to be made from a Minuette mold.
The Minuette and the Bluenose sloops are wet and open boats. They are a far different experience than the larger keelboats with cabins and in my opinion more fun in many many ways. I would send my kids sailing in one unattended in a heartbeat as they are well built and good for harbour/Bay sailing.”
Regards Mike
on Full Tilt 2
Niagara 26
Halifax, Nova Scotia”
From the amazing blog on sloops (single-masted sailboats) called Knockabout Sloops.
http://knockaboutsloops.blogspot.com/2007/08/well-my-current-ride-is-mcvay-bluenose.html
The McVay Minuet Mainsheet 
I think the boat is called a Minuet instead of a Minuette.
Maybe Mike is mixed up with the !9′ Mouette which is also designed by McVay when he worked for Paceship.
Hello Jack,
Thanks for your comment. I had never heard of the Mouette before! It did make me wonder if the writer was getting the spelling or the boats confused. So I did a little snooping and found this entry from a blog a few years ago and it seems to refer to the same boat. I think it’s safe to say that he was sailing a Minuet because it’s a keelboat whereas the Mouette had a centreboard.
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=3830
Here is another description of the Full Tilt:
“All things must change and one year we moved off the lake to an inlet off of Halifax Harbour. The Northwest Arm was a wonderful sailing venue but cold water, a no wake rule and increasing contamination made speed boats and water skiing a thing of the past. Sailing became the new hobby and the 13 foot dingy morphed into a 17 foot Paceship. This lasted about a year until my brother and I started venturing miles away under sail. This resulted in a 19 foot keelboat – a McVay Minuette. This extended fin keel design had LOA of 19 feet and was very stable. Being as foolish as we could be we never managed to swamp the boat despite some great attempts. A thesaurus is a great tool for a high school aged teenager and in searching for a name that implied fast and large heeling the choices were Flat Out or Full Tilt. The boat became Full Tilt and was a mainstay of my summers for the next 5 years.”
http://www.angelfire.com/ns2/fulltilt2/ourstory.htm
The Minuet designed by my father GW McVay in 1966 at McVay Fibrerglass Yachts
Hello Bob!
Thank you for your message. As you can see your father’s sailboats are still generating a lot of attention and are much admired for their beautiful lines and handling. Hopefully this blog helps Minuet enthusiasts stay connected and learn more about the boats. Any information you’d like to contribute about your father is most welcome. What a legacy! So glad to hear from you. Best regards from Leslie & Dave
Hello. I owned Minuet sail number 112 and sailed it out of Bluffer’s Park, Toronto. It was a turquoise sort of colour and had a roller genoa in turquoise and white stripes. I sold it quite awhile ago and often wonder what happened to it. Today would have been a perfect day to have it back for a day – that’s why I’m cruising the site. Robert Kent.
Thanks Robert! I will post this on the main page. That genoa sounds pretty nice!
Hi. I was just checking up on the site again. I added a couple of details in the comments in hopes maybe someone will recognize her. I don’t think there are too many like her out there – for instance, she came with a bow pulpit which I proudly claim to be the only one on a Minuet.
Robert,
I own Minuet 112. I bought her in Parry Sound around 2001. (Pretty rough condition) We restored her and painted her dark green. I had new sails made in Lunenburg where the originals came from. The boat is currently indoors for the winter near Huntsville. I can send you a picture if you wish. This boat sails great and turns heads every time we sail her. We had a Cradle Ride trailer built for her with an extendable tongue.
Love to hear from you re “Dusty”. (We’re you the original owner?)
Cheers,
Tom
Hi. I am so glad she’s in good hands. She was in showroom condition when we had to sell her. I know that she sat in the boat yard for a couple of years, for sale after us and the guy who bought her next had never sailed before.. He wanted to trailer her from home to Frenchman’s Bray in Pickering every weekend so he didn’t have to pay dockage. It didn’t look like she got her yearly scrape and varnish either. My brother owned a body shop and he used to come down every spring and grit grind the hull – looked like new.gel coat. The new guy never seemed to put the anti-fouling on, either. ever. We had her, I would say, from about 1978 to 1984, when I my wife could no longer do it physically. It was a treat every time we took her out, except for the motor. We sailed in Lake Ontario. which is kind of rough sometimes and if the motor ran out of gas you had to hang off the back by your toes out pouring into the little cap – you lost half.. “Mugwunp” was also roughed up when we got her – had been in the boat yard for a long time.when we got her, and we spent a summer first ashore bring her back to life before we actually sailed her. My wife was differently enabled, which explains the bow pulpit and the furling gear. Still have that?. When we last saw her she was turquoise with tan decks, a black strip on the shear line, and the sails were from Stevens in Mahone Bay – which is where the boat cam from too. Not all did. She sailed wonderfully with a light touch We had a dog Muffy who loved to sail more than anything in life. Knew where to go on a tack or a jibe.. We always talked about putting on winches but it never actually seemed necessary. Sitting at dock all week, she always needed a pump before we went. Never found out why, never considered it a big deal. Had the pump mounted on the post just inside the cabin doors. Embarrassing story: we were often quite far out on Lake Ontario. My wife bought a big mother of a funnel and stuck it in the cockpit drain hole. Shazam, instant head. So, like her as much as we did, take care of her like we did (and someone apparently didn’t) and it was just wonderful to hear from her new owner.. Do you still have the crappy little allen key to raise the sail? All the best, Bob Kent (and in memory of my 1st mate, Rochelle)
Hi. It is Bob Kent (ex-112) I have a picture I would love to get to Thomas and yourselves. Can you explain if I could do this( caution ( caution:old guy speaking ) Bob
Hi Bob! If you would like to send the picture to me at ttlcatling@hotmail.com I can post it on the site with the updates to the story of 112 (which I am enjoying tremendously) and forward to Thomas if you’d like.
Oh, one more thing about 112. for Tom. If you look at the starboard side beneath the waterline about midships you will find a very rough patch. The guy before us had hit a rock or something and holed her. pretty badly. My brother the body shop guy fixed it as nearly good as new as possible. Check it out and make sure it’s still holding.
Bob
Hi, Bob Kent (former driver of 112) here. I have a couple of photos I would like to share of the time 112 went under the name “Mugwump” (don’t ask) and certainly looked a lot different. think you might like them So here’s the deal. I am off the scale dyslexic (my spell checker is on o/t right here) so I am pretty well limited in my computer skills. Computers don’t work real well when you have to wear a red glove and a green glove! So, I went to Staples today and had them transfer some paper photos onto a usb Step one. Now,for your share: step two: what do I do with this little thingy to get my photos to you? My grandson, who is my consultant, is playing OHL hockey in Sioux St. Marie, so it is just you and I.Be perfectly welcome to opt out of all this any time it may not seem like fun. Be very well, okay Bob
Hello Again Bob,
I am going to send a few pics of hull 112. We bought her in Parry Sound in poor condition. We sanded her down to discover original light green gel oat with white waterline stripe.
We then painted her Sea Green Interlux Briiteside 1 part urethane. The topside was repainted a lighter beige and white with the same type of paint. The bottom was painted with 4 coats of flat black anti fouling. We removed the old patch on the side of the keel and levelled off the lead where it had bulged from water in bilge freezing and filled it with epoxy. We also added a brass drain plug just above the lead level in the keel to prevent this problem in future. The old sails were useable but after a couple of years we had a new mainsail made at Stevens Sail Loft in Lunenburg and picked it up there while on vacation. The new Genoa Jib was made by Sobstad sails in Barrie shortly after. She Will do 6 knots full speed now as compared to 5.8 with the old sails ( but looks much nicer). This little boat is so beautiful that it was on the cover of the 2005 Chamber Business Directory (10,000 copies). There was no name on her when purchased so we named her “Dusty” after our old yellow lab who went sailing with us often The dog sailing in the pics is “Cody” who replaced “Dusty” but sadly now has gone as well. We have kept “Dusty” on a mooring on Horn Lake north of Burk’s Falls at our friend’s cottage each summer for the last 10 years or so.
Cheers,
Tom & Betty Boal
Utterson, ON
Hello
I am in the process of rescuing a McVay Minuet, also in Parry Sound. The lower end of the rudder shaft is hanging loose behind the keel. Was there a lower bearing bracket on the keel, or was the shaft merely faired into the lover aft end of the keel? Appreciate any advice
Bluenose owners!
I am doing a complete restoration of a McVay Bluenose this winter and need some info and some pictures. Need a picture of the original mast step that Mcvay provided in the cabin floor. Appears that mine went by the wayside before i purchased the boat and all that remains is a rectangular hole in the cabin floor.
Pics and info can be sent to me via my email.
Thanks
Gary
I have pictures for you ;-0). contact me by email Capture d’écran, le 2021-07-06 à 03.56.19
My family has #114 Minuet. Still lots of fun. Needs some work on loose tiller handle to tiller shaft. Any body else dealt with this ?
Hi Jim, I think you could tighten the bolt on the tiller shaft or shim around the shaft to solve your problem. I own #112 mentioned above. These are beautiful boats and very smooth sailing. We have had ours almost 20 years and have no plans to sell her.
Regards,
Thomas Boal
does anyone know how to remove the rudder assembly from the boat?
To remove the rudder there is a brass casting on the bottom of the rudder post.
That brass casting is connected to the keel with 2 bolts
By removing this the rudder will slide down
You may have to remove paint and filler to expose the brass casting with the bolts
Hi Jack
I just rescued Minuet hull number 182. The brass casting you describe at the lower end of the rudder is completely torn off so I will need to fabricate a new one. Would you be able to describe it a bit more or perhaps send a photo? Thank you, Richard- Parry Sound