From: "Michele Sladko"
To: "NW Potters List" ,
"Potter National List"
Subject: Oak Harbor Synopsis
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 09:56:45 -0700
Hello all Potterers,
Saturday morning folks started arriving at nine-ish, and one by one
we got
them launched, until about 2(?) we had all TEN Potters in the water!
We
headed out for a light sail in light breezes. My favorite thing was
to see
all the colorful Potter sails backlit by the sun against the cliffs
and
green fields, a mostly blue sky overhead!
It was just delightful! It was fun to try to get everyone close
enough for
me to get them all in one picture. I heard on the VHF the Coast Guard
issuing a Gale Warning for the west side of Vancouver Island. I
warned the
folks that the winds may well be picking up soon. They didn't.
Those of us
without motors got towed back to the marina, as the winds were
basically
gone. We sailed until nearly 5:30-ish, (obviously I wasn't watching
the
clock that precisely), docked all our cute little boats at the slips
marked
"Potter Rdv" just for us, and we carpooled to the pizza parlor where
they
had set aside a room for us to eat all together. After dinner I had
to go
take care of my birds and whatnot, then I returned to the boats and
a few of
us had a fun chat sharing sea stories and laughing at the strange
croaking
sound a couple of seals were making, arguing over who gets the buoy to
themselves. It was just so neat to see all the potters clustered
together
in the slips. The night was peaceful, no wind or rain.
Sunday Morning there was the most fabulous sunrise at 7:30, just
glorious.
Slowly everyone got up and we began chatting over hot drinks which
Tim was
sharing. I took some folks to see my other new-to-me catalina, and
it was
fun walking along the docks discussing the various boats we saw.
Finally we
decided, Let's SAIL !!! We decided on a destination for lunch.
Coupeville,
a two and a half hour sail away, round trip expected: five hours.
So we all
began rigging our boats. One by one folks got underway, and soon
there were
8 Potters on the water! (Two had left the night before.) We now had
six
15's and two 19's. Again, colored sails scattered about the harbor,
the
breezes stronger today... as we rounded the corner in the harbor,
heading
out toward Saratoga Passage on our left and Penn Cove on our right,
the
winds continued to pick up. The NOAA weather predictions were for
Gale
Force winds in all the inland waters from monday thru thursday (or
so.) Now
they were building steadily, from the southeast. So we found
ourselves
beating to windward against some pretty gusty winds! I myself found
it to
be an invigoratingly challenging sail. I had been practicing my
reefing
skills in the calm, so now was the time to try it under some wind. It
worked out quite nicely and I was glad I had reduced some sail. It
really
helped me to maintain my course more consistently, instead of
constantly
loosing my main a bit or heading up into the gusts. No one else
reefed
though. My guess was the winds were around 15 knotts, but I'm no
authority.
What do the rest of you figure they were out there past the channel
markers?
Shoot, we had two foot at least swells with breaking tops. We kept
in touch
by radio and decided once we'd made it half way, that we'd never get
back
against this wind, so we turned back and had a broad reach and run
all the
way in to the last turn. I don't know, does anyone think the winds
reached
20? Maybe 15, gusting to 20? I had serious weather helm on that broad
reach, got whipped around 180 degrees twice when I took my hand off
the
tiller. I lined up so that I could run instead of broad reach, and
my GPS
said one time I hit 6.4 knotts surfing with one of the waves. It
was a lot
of fun, and I found it challenging in that it took constant
concentration
and attention to the sheets and the helm. Once inside the harbor we
dropped
sails and motored in. Wow, hardly any wind in there, in the lee of
the
land. I had to get a tow as my motor had quit on me the day before,
for
whatever reason.
Everyone hauled out, rinsed off their boats, and pulled out, one by
one.
It was a fine, fine weekend. 100% attendance, 100% successful.
(One of the
original 11 had to cancel due to the flu, so I don't count that as a
cancellation.) No one chickened out because of the questionable
weather, and
we were rewarded with a full weekend of Potterings, new friends, and
two
very different but good sailing-weather days!!!
The prize for the farthest distance travelled goes to John Purdy
with his
yellow P-15, who came from Portland. I think that's 5 hours by car,
and he
had a motor home with the boat in tow, so, how long did it take you,
John?
The prize for the longest time travelled goes to Jim Devaney with
his green
P-15 Sea Biscuit, who motored for 12 hours in order to be with us!
(Not to
mention spent 10 or 12 hours in the middle waiting for the right
slack tide
to go through Deception Pass.)
I was able to return the favor to him by trailering Sea Biscuit back
to
Friday Harbor for him. He paid for the ferry and we took him all
the way
home! Because of having to catch that ferry, we had to leave and
disband
the potential last group dinner. But I'm sure everyone was happy to
get on
the road by then anyway.
A huge word of thanks to Tim and Steve Spofford, Tom and Val Mayer,
and Jon
Freeman and Tom... our Potter 19's. And to John Purdy, Brian
Binning, Jim
Devaney, Bill McLure, Cecil and John Hayes and Dave and Tyler
Panco... our
15's.
You are who made it happen, by showing up! If no one showed up,
then my
part would not have mattered. THANK YOU ALL for the wonderful
weekend. You
made my dream come true. I look forward to many other Potter
Gatherings in
the future. We'll periodically post the schedule for next summer,
and if
anyone wants to have a gathering in their area, you can claim one of
the
still available months.
Thanks again!
Michele Sladko & SeaHorse
Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, WA
