Re: David Diefenderfer's Inland Odysseys

Gordon (hlg@pacbell.net)
Sun, 1 Nov 1998 15:41:47 -0800


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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I have, or did have, one of Diefenderfer's articles. I just went through my
voluminous folder of quaint and curious Potter lore, and didn't find the
article. I would not have disposed of such, so it is probably still in a
magazine buried in my garage. It is most likely a Sea Magazine story. Sea
published several articles on Potter adventures in the 1970s, but most were
just weekend trips. Ones I remember include Tomales Bay to Bodega Bay and
return, and a Colorado River trip to Topock Gorge. Since I don't have any
of these in my file, I'm sure I have the magazines somewhere, but it will
be a major project to dig them out. I believe the Diefenderfer article I
have was about an excursion into backlands of Mexico apparently accessible
only by boat. I believe he was searching for a "lost city" he had spotted
from the air.

When I uncover the magazines and articles I will report my findings to the
West Wight Web mail list.

Have you read the article "Bumblebee sails to Mexico" on the WWP web page?
I found that one in Pacific Skipper magazine. It's about an attempt to sail
a P14 from California to Hawaii, but after a dismasting, the skipper jury
rigged and sailed back to Mexico, also losing a rudder gudgeon along the
way, so he had to fabricate a new gudgeon of rope, which quickly wore out
and had to be replaced repeatedly. He just missed getting blown past the
tip of Baja.

Harry Gordon
P124 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA

>In a sidebar to an article which first appeared in the old _Small Boat
>Journal_ (February/March 1985), Larry Brown noted that, beginning in
>1970, David Diefenderfer launched his Potter on a series of "inland
>odysseys" exploring the "remote and untraveled waterways of North and
>Central America." This tantalizing hint is echoed in the "Abbreviated
>History" compiled by International Marine, Inc. and reprinted on the
>Potter web-site.
>
>I'd like to know more. Mr. Diefenderfer apparently died before 1985
>(at the age of 80), without publishing anything that I've been able to
>locate. Can anyone point me toward a source for further information
>about Mr. Diefenderfer and his voyages?
>
>
>And, in a more-or-less related matter, any reader who shares my
>interest in small-boat adventures might want to visit Eric Eldrid's
>"Eldritch Press" web-pages <http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/index.html>
>before they're shut down for good on 11 November. Mr. Eldrid has
>scanned a number of out-of-copyright tales by Stevenson, Bishop,
>MacGregor and others and made them all available on-line, often with
>the original maps and illustrations.
>
>The small boats in question aren't Potters, of course, but the site is
>still worth a visit.
>
>
>Forrest Brownell
>
>South Colton NY
>forrest@slic.com