I don't know if there was any more Potter cruising than there is now, but
it was all in P14s then since they were just beginning to make the HMS-18.
The stories I recall, other than Diefenderfer's, were no more intrepid than
some we have read on the West Wight Web or in the Potter Yachter, just
minor extensions of everyday Pottering.
No, Van Ruth was not one of the fatalities. He had sold the boat, or so I
recall (but don't ask me the source). I don't know what became of Van Ruth.
The article said he wanted to stay in Hilo, but who knows? Maybe Jerry
knows; he seems to have had a friendship with Herb Stewart and collected a
lot of stories.
I've never read an account of the Potter voyage to Alaska. Do you have that
in your collection? There must be an account of Van Ruth's voyage somewhere
also, other than the cursory one in the Hilo newspaper, I mean. He kept a
log on the voyage; it would be a shame if it was never published.
I would also like to read "The Wind Calls the Tune," by Stanley Smith. A
couple years ago someone on the mail list reported finding a copy in a used
book store. Also one of the early brochures mentioned something by Smith
called, "What Makes a Dry Boat," but there was apparently a typo, and that
paragraph is a little garbled - some words missing apparently.
Harry
>Harry
>
>I'm forwarding to you an e-mail from our man in the library Ron Force,
>answering my note, which he has attached to his reply (so read all of
>that before going any further...).
>
>I'd sure like to read those articles that you have about voyaging in
>Potters in the '70's. Certainly I'd like to read the Diefenderfer
>articles, but I'd like to read the others, too. So, go dig through
>the garage and find the magazines! Maybe if you have one Diefenderfer
>article and Jerry has two, we will be lucky and yours won't duplicate
>his. If you can even find a reference to a specific issue of the
>magazine that would make it easier to get it on interlibrary loan.
>
>Was there more cruising activity, when the Potters were new? Was John
>Van Ruth one of the ones lost when his boat was found without a crew?
>If not, does anyone know where he is now?
>Regards
>
>Tom
>