More praise for Mr. Potter

Posted By: Harry Gordon, WWP14 #234, Manatee, Mountain View, CA
Date: 10/27/08 5:26p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Steve Potter deserves the Potter-Yachter Medal for Valor . . . (pic) (Carl P-19 #1432 "Dagmar" on SF Bay)

It may not be an accident that Steve was handy when Paul got in trouble. When we sailed out of Loch Lomond one day, I encountered more wind than anticipated and decided to drop the lateen sail to put a reef in. In the process I managed to get things fouled up, and the boat was going in circles while I fumbled in a cockpit full of blowing sail to fix the problem. Steve had followed me out of the marina and he now circled close by until I got things back under control. The rest of the fleet was long gone. He has managed to be ready at hand on other occasions. He was there at Del Valle to hold my boat off the shore while I struggled to get the centerboard back on the pin after beaching with the board down. Yesterday he helped push my boat off the beach when it was getting too high and dry in a falling tide. He pays attention. After a Cruiser Challenge, there was a drawing giving away various goodies. When the last Potter cap was taken, I mumbled something like, "Too bad, I could have used one of those." At a later Potter gathering, a few weeks later, Steve presented me with a new Potter cap. I had thought about the buddy thing yesterday, after a less-than-relaxing sail back to the unfamiliar China Basin area. We had launched four boats from there that morning--my P14, Mike's catboat, Carl's P19, and Dave's O'Day. We were in different boats, traveling at different speeds, and we each had our own ideas on how to navigate to Clipper Cove, so we were soon widely separated. That was no problem in the gentle conditions. I was unaware that a fifth boat, Dory's P14 arrived late and also sailed alone. The trip back was something else, with more wind and swells and a strong ebb current. Singlehanded, I had numerous small problems that kept me working harder than I like, but I managed to avoid getting sucked under the Bay Bridge by the ebb current and was able to dig out some batteries for my GPS while simultanously pumping the tiller as I surfed on the mid-Bay swells, trying to maintain a heading to a still invisible destination, running with an overpowered sail, and now also with the outboard working in order to get away from the threatening bridge. About the same time, I spotted Dory's Potter, even closer to the bridge. I presumed they had launched at Alameda and were just taking an excursion on their way back. With a lot of help from the GPS, I found my way back to the ramp even though the glare and haze made it hard to identify landmarks, which I had try to mentally note on my departure since I was in unfamiliar territory. Dave and Carl and Mike had preceded me to the ramp. I learned that Dory and Kathy had also launched there that morning, so I became increasingly concerned when they hadn't returned, but they soon arrived okay also. What I would like to see in future sails is an attempt to sail in pairs or small clusters of three or four, but that is not so practical with different types of boats. Part of the problem is that we all tend to be competitive on the water and like to show that we can go a little faster than the boat ahead, behind, or alongside. That is much of the fun. Another difficulty is that we are sometimes so busy coping with our own boat in challenging conditions, especially when singlehanded, that we don't seem to have much left to help our buddies. As busy as I was on the return sail yesterday, I remember thinking that if one of the other boats got in trouble, maybe I could drop my sails and motor to the rescue. I was wearing an inflatable PFD on top of a foam PFD yesterday, kept my hatch closed, and had the centerboard tied down. I don't usually bother with a tether but probably should have. I need to spend more time on boat maintenance. Today I found that a wire had come loose from the power receptacle I plug the GPS power cable into, which is why the internal batteries were dieing yesterday. I had the problem previously and never got around to checking it out until today. I'm sure there are other things I can do to make the boat more reliable and easier to handle. I monitored VHF 16 and 68 for a while yesterday but didn't hear any Potter traffic. I think this photo shows all the 18 boats that had arrived at Clipper Cove at the time. Dory arrived soon after, and a 20th boat turned back in the Estuary. Quite a turnout!