John-
I'm sure it's legal to take a Potter out the Gate and to the Farallons if
one is so inclined, but most of us bought our Potters for the purpose
implied by the name, that is to Potter about, not to cruise offshore. The
Bay itself is large and challenging enough, it would seem, and there is
much more to look at. Personally I have always avoided even the central
Bay, where the wind and the fog funnels through the gate on summer
afternoons, but some Potters do sail there. The winds, currents, seas, and
fog under and beyond the bridge make navigating there in a small sailboat
dangerous.
Occasionally, some Potters will get together and make a brief excursion
under the Gate, mainly just to say they have done it. De Marsh successfully
sailed his P15 out the Gate and down to Half Moon Bay. I don't know of any
Potters that have gone to the Farallons. This past weekend, incidentally,
there was a disastrous race around the Farallons, in which there were
numerous dismastings and some fatalities due to high winds. Those of us
sailing four P15s in the relatively sheltered waters out of Redwood City in
the South Bay Sunday found it a little too windy to be enjoyable, but
nobody got in trouble.
In 1978, local Potter sailors gathered in a Redwood City restaurant and
organized the Potter Yachters, the Northern California Potter association.
One of the attendees was an enthusiastic young man named Don Craig. About a
week after the meeting, Don's Potter washed up on the beach near Pacifica,
and his body was found a few hours later. We don't know the details of what
happened. As I understand, he had been sailing down the coast from Drakes
Bay toward Half Moon Bay. He had gone ashore each evening until the last
night out, when he did not report in.
So far the only offshore sailing I've done in my P14 in Northern California
was a sail across Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz to Monterey, accompanied by
another Potter. Another group of Potters made the same trip later. Mike
Brownlee routinely sails out of Santa Cruz. On one of his early excursions
there his P14 turned turtle, and he and his crew had to be rescued.
Southern California is a different story. My first sails in my Potter were
out of Huntington Harbor south of Long Beach. The air and the water are
warmer there and the winds are generally gentle. Catalina is an attractive
and attainable destination. The Southern California Potter Association use
to routinely race offshore from Marina del Rey to Santa Monica. There have
been some group Potter sails to Catalina, and I may participate in one this
year.
You didn't say what kind of Potter you have ordered. All of the above is
from the viewpoint of a P14 skipper. Bruce Little, the previous owner of
Judith's P19, Redwing, did some extensive offshore trips along the
California coast in Redwing. Dik Richardson sails his HMS18 in the Sea of
Cortez.
But the waters outside the Golden Gate look cold, lonely, and uncomfortable
to me. (But perhaps I should have retained the original name of my boat.
When I bought it the boat had a large tuna can label on the transom -
"Chicken of the Sea.")
On the subject of storm anchors, there is an excellent article in the March
1999 edition of Latitude 38 on various storm tactics, including sea
anchors. Stanley Smith, designer of the Potter 14, used a unique sea anchor
design on his Potter sail from England to Sweden. He found it very
effective, used in combination with a riding mizzen. See "October Potter"
in the story section of the Potter Yachters web page
<http://songbird.com/py>.
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA