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Close ups
Your webmaster was on a mooring a few years ago in Bucks Harbor, Maine and saw this beauty tucked up in a small cove off Habor Island, the island that protects Bucks Harbor on its south side. This is such a special place to keep a Dolphin that I had to post this picture. A little investigative work and I managed to track Jim down.
This is Harbor Island, 25 acres - with Jim's cottage on the east shore just peeking out (lower right hand corner) of the trees facing Eggemoggin Reach. The island protects the anchorage in Bucks Harbor and in the V of this heart shaped island is The Rachel K's mooring. A perfect protected little harbor of her own.
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Last November your webmaster made a short trip to Blue Hill, Maine to check out possible places to rent for a family vacation during the summer of 2008. Bucks Harbor is on the southern end of the Blue Hill penninsula. This provided the opportunity for Jim and I meet and have a cup of coffee together in Bucks Harbor on November 5, 2007, talking about Dolphins. He promised a detailed report on The Rachel K's major restoration which was carried out by nearby Seal Cove Boatyard around 1990. We met again June 27-28, 2008 when I arrived with Marionette on her summer Maine cruise and we occupied his guest mooring for a few days.
Jim bought his Dolphin in 1965 from a guy in Lexington, MA. Her name then was Warlock and she was light blue. He kept her at Sachem's Head YC (SHYC) in Guilford, CT - home to a small fleet of Dolphins in the 1960's and 70's. She had the same Palmer one cylinder gas inboard as many other early Dolphins. Jim raced her competitively for 17 years in SHYC and Off Soundings Club off shore regattas. Jim moved her to Maine, and in the early 1990's, commissioned a major restoration project carried by nearby Seal Cove Boatyard. The deck was removed to address seperation and rot in the infamous sheer clamp and also some rot in the main bulkhead. A new toe rail, paint job, new engine, and wood/varnish work resulted in this oldest known Dolphin (at this time) getting a new life. The Rachel K still races in local races at Bucks Harbor Yacht Club.
A picture taking session was scheduled for later in July but your webmaster took this early morning shot of The Rachel K at her very special mooring, framed through Marionette's portlight.
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July 17, 2008
Your webmaster took the following pictures.
Rachel K's nameplate, which was hard to see in detail, was located on the aft inside wood trim of the main hatch. This is not a good picture but you can just make out at the lower left hand corner what might be the number 4? Notice the number 3227. Clearly this is not the Dolphin sequence hull #'s. Maybe it is Marscot's sequential hull numbering system independent of class of boat? There is no number in the Class number box.
Now here is Passage's nameplate. We think she is Hull # 10 but the 10 is shown in the Class No. box. She has the number 3230, only 3 numbers up from the Rachel K's? I've got to go back and check Rachel K's nameplate again. Webmaaster Note: Someday, someone will tell us exactly what Marscot/O'Day's Dolphin hull number system was, and we will sleep better.
This is Rachel K's adjustable mast strut.
Port side galley with Dolphin cutout
Rachel K's inboard track and halyards led back to cockpit
This is Jim's dock on Harbor Island with The Rachel K on her mooring at the left and Marionette on Jim's guest mooring at the right.
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