Potter Yachters Catch the Breeze in the Delta Heat
During Saturday’s Delta Doo Dah event at Delta Bay Marina, four West Wight Potters — Horizon Bound, ReGale, Senior Center and SeaDog — cruised over from Delta Marina in Rio Vista. Six of the little trailer-sailers had gathered in Rio Vista on Friday, and their crews enjoyed dinner at The Point Restaurant. But the nonagenarians in the fleet (that refers the age of the sailors, not the boats!) wisely chose to stay out of the hot sun on Saturday. A few others followed the fleet over by car.
Along with Delta Doo Dah’ers, some of the Potter Yachters tried out Delta Bay Marina’s little solar electric boats.
“Dave Kautz, Abby and I took out one of those electric boats, and the motor quit, so we sailed back with hat assist,” reports Jim ‘Goose’ Gossman, commodore of the Potter Yachters. “They had warned us about overheating, and blowing a circuit breaker — which is what happened. When it cooled down, we reset it, but sailed all the way back anyway. After all, we are sailors!”
“All four boats passed the safety inspection, and got ‘don’t board me’ stickers.”
“ReGale is a 1973 Potter 18, built by HMS, the original US manufacturer of the West Wight Potter 14,” said Goose. “The company changed hands several times, making Potter 15s and 19s, which were evolved versions. I also have Gale, a 1966 Potter 14, which I rescued 20 years ago — before I knew what a Potter was. She was a complete basket case, and I commenced making her whole again using whatever boat parts I could scavenge. I put my dinghy’s Honda 15 on it, twin rudders made from the leeboard and rudder of my Naples Sabot, and a Lido 14 rig. I ended up winning the Cruiser Challenge in 2009 with her! ReGale is her big sister. I’ve taken both to Puget Sound with other Potters several times. They are amazing boats.”
“Going back to Rio Vista, we baked, but eventually got enough breeze to cool off and get about an hour of nice sailing.”
