I wanted to explain my quest for speed, in hopes of a little vindication.
Reasons I want to go faster in my potter:
* I informally race my potter, and fast skippers/boats win.
* On a long passage, speed can mean the difference between finding a moorage
in the daylight vs. at night.
* I enjoy the challenge of manipulating physics for boat speed.
* Why don't i get a soling, melges 24, other fast boat? couple reasons: I
LIKE my potter. I HAVE a potter. I'd hate a Melges for anything but racing
(but they are glorious to watch).
* I want to be the best sailor i can be, and one factor of that is getting
the most from the boat I have.
* Nobody EXPECTS a potter to be fast.. (remember the potter reference in the
SAIL horoscope?) nobody gets proud of picking off a potter in a race. If I
had a soling, melges, etc, I'd be expected to be fast :) I like the
'sleeper' factor of it.
* Its fun picking off longer, faster cruisers like SJ23s when they don't
expect it :)
I would dearly love to get together with other P19s to test things, like
they do with some race boats - one boat just sails normally, while the other
tries a different sail, or different sheeting angle, etc, so you can help
determine relative effects of adjustments. Light air performance is an area
of particular interest to me.