Molly 1979 Albin 36 Blog

We spent a calm, restful night anchored off Heart Island in about 7' of water, then weighed anchor around 9:30 in the morning and headed a few hundred yards toward the west end of the Boldt Castle guest dock/seawall, which had 4'-5' of depth. The park prohibits docking before opening, so we (I) practiced maneuvering Molly and laying her up alongside the dock, first on starboard and then on port, while waiting for 10 o'clock. Molly tied up on the seawall. The water gets a bit shallow to the right of the frame. Boldt Castle today is an impressive structure, reminiscent of the Vanderbilt mansions, but it wasn't always that way. George Boldt, millionaire proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, began construction on the castle in 1900, intending it as a gift for his wife. Four years later, however, his wife passed away unexpectedly. Boldt ordered all work to stop immediately. Masons, carpenters, sculptors quite literally walked away from the...

After a night at anchor in Henderson Harbor, located at the south end of Henderson Bay, we departed for Sackets Harbor, an 8 nautical mile hop to the NE. On this day, like the other two travel days before, we were alone on the water under gray skies. But not for long. A Coast Guard response boat appeared ahead of us, sped past, then carved a quick arc and fell in pace alongside Molly. I'm not sure if everyone else's heart skipped a beat at the sight, but mine did. We've spent 15 years upgrading Ariel, our Cape Dory 36 sailboat, but our efforts aboard Molly, though focused on safety, weren't nearly as thorough. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Two Coast Guardsmen climbed aboard Molly and began a safety inspection. Fifteen minutes, or so, later and they were done. Molly passed with flying colors. In fact, one of the gentlemen commented that it was rare to find an older boat that was so well prepared and maintained. Our only deficiency was not having ...