When friends Molly Mulhern and George Emery went in search of a boat to co-own, a tired 40-year-old racer was not what they planned on buying, and they certainly didn’t expect to end up with one with an intriguing pedigree.

Wildwood, a 36-foot cold-molded mahogany one-tonner from the IOR age of the 1970s and 1980s, was in need of some work when Mulhern and Emery bought her three years ago from a couple winding down their cruising. 

“She came for a song with an implicit promise that we would use her and care for her as long as we were able, “Mulhern said. 

The boat was designed by Doug Peterson, whose designs made the most of the IOR rule. It was built by Goetz Custom Sailboats in Bristol, Rhode Island, in 1979, commissioned for racing by groundbreaking woman sailor Romeyne “Rusty” Everdell, who at 9 years old petitioned her yacht club to allow her to race and went on to become one of the best women sailors of her time. In 1972 she was the only woman skipper in the inaugural North American Interclass Solo Sailing Championship, racing against Ted Turner, Gary Jobson, Robbie Doyle, Tom Allen and other noteworthy sailors.

The Everdells later converted Wildwood to a cruising boat. By the time Mulhern and Emery took ownership, the boat was in need of refit and the pair tackled the electrical system, installed a composting head in place of the holding tank and suited her out with new sails. They’ve since built a shed to store Wildwood in winter so they can work on the boat in the off season.

The work, Mulhern said, is led by Emery, who is “a boatbuilder by trade and a creative problem solver by nature.” Mulhern, the author of nautical how-to books is a well-informed apprentice.

With the ongoing update of a nearly 50-year-old boat combined with a design and build that has stood the test of time, Wildwood has proven to be a stellar sailer, said Mulhern.

“She’s a solid boat that sails like a dream,” she said. “Going to windward, rail down, playing the shifts, watching  the telltales is a trance, a dance, a flow. Everything else slips away.”

Wildwood is moored in Rockland, Maine, during the sailing season where the co-owners cruise on Penobscot Bay, and annually race in the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta in August.

Most of the time, the pair sail together, but Mulhern also sails with female friends.

“With my girlfriends, there’s a different dynamic,” she said. “I can be the teacher. I have some female friends with backgrounds as schooner captains and on those trips I am again the student.”

The co-owners also take turns singlehanding. 

“What I love about the boat, and our partnership, is that we each get to explore the edges of our comfort zones—adventuring as the time and weather and circumstances allow. Wildwood suggests possibilities,” she said.

Those adventures are what make for perfect sailing on Wildwood, Mulhern said. Sailing around the bay’s islands sometimes on a circuitous route only to appreciate a different point of view before tucking into a cozy new anchorage with a new place to explore might be a perfect day on the boat.

The co-owners have plans to sail Wildwood to destinations farther afield, she said. Both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are places they are hoping to explore in coming seasons. What will happen to Wildwood after they are done enjoying her is unknown.

“I often joke that when we are done sharing and exploring on our boat I want Wildwood to land someplace where we can leave the boat, donating it for its next life to a community or a family group that can make good use of her,” Mulhern said. “I’m not sure where or when that would be. It’s just a fantasy to help me consider how Wildwood can continue to provide health and prosperity to her next stewards.”

It’s clear that Mulhern and Emery truly love Wildwood, not just for her steadfast sailing ability, which Mulhern describes as “dazzling and dancing under sail,” but also for her legacy, the trust that was placed in them to keep her sailing and a joyful friendship and co-ownership.

The pair has many more adventures and sails to come on a boat that some people who have not been fortunate to experience sailing on the boat might think of as a washed-up racer. 

Says Emery, “The best sail is yet to come.”

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Wildwood 1979

LOA 36’5”; LWL 29’; Beam 11.5’; Draft 6’ 11”; Displ. 11,243 lb.

Designer: Doug Peterson

Builder: Goetz Custom Sailboats