1. Where were you and your crew sitting? You should be all the way forward
in the cockpit, right up against the cabin. If you sit too far back or have
other weight in the stern, the boat will be a dog and act as you describe.
Add ballast forward in the boat if necessary.
2. By the same token, it doesn't do well with three people in the cockpit.
Put the third person in the cabin or up on the bow unless the wind is light
and you are just casually Pottering about..
3. Don't sheet the sails in too hard. Let them out as far as they will go
without luffing for the direction you are trying to go. You should be able
to sail about 45 degrees to the wind. If the aft end of the boom is pulled
in over the cockpit it is sheeted in too tight. On my boat it works best a
little outboard of the rail.
If your sail is full but isn't driving, the apparent wind is probably
hitting the sail at about 90 degrees, which is a stalled condition. Let it
out until the boat gets moving, then trim it in as necessary as you point
higher.
4. If it is very choppy, fall off a little bit; don't try to point as high
as you could in smooth water. In a chop the boat may seem to point high but
won't have enough drive to punch through the waves and will have a lot of
leeway.
5. The rudder should definitely be down. It is normally made of plywood.
Check the drawings on the various Potter web pages to see if your rudder is
normal. There are basically two designs. Your P14 may have the earlier,
elliptical shape rudder. The later Potters have a straight, tapered rudder.
Either type should work well. Ideally you should have just a slight weather
helm when working to windward.
Usually when I see a new Potter sailor lagging behind it is because of
number 1 above.
Don't give up on the boat. One of the reasons my boat is named "Manatee" (a
seacow) is because I used to think it was slow, but the problem was the
skipper, not the boat. It's surprising how my boat has grown faster with
age, while its skipper has grown slower but, possibly, wiser.
Good sailing next time out!
Harry Gordon
P14 #234, Manatee
Mountain View, CA