This last saturday Pamela and I decided to go a gunkholing in the potter
15. Fern Ridge Reservoir has lots of shallow swampy marshy areas to do it
in. Also, the Oregon Country Fair (tie dye version of any regional
renaissance-type-Let's-go-out-in-the-woods-and-do-things-we-would-never-do-in
town-in-in-mid-summer kinda deal) was happening this weekend and one of
the riparian areas that flows (sorta) into Fern Ridge is the Long Tom
river, which runs right through the fairgrounds and is a public riparian
zone. Since the reservoir was built the Long Tom doesn't really flow much
and floods in the winter and is subject to log jams, blockages, etc.,
which in a canoe would be no problem...but...in a Potter 15? We set out to
try it.
We left Orchard Point Marina around 7pm, sailed pretty much close hauled
for a while and then added the thrust of the tohatsu 2.5 to speed our
approach to the mouth of the Long Tom, which we had to rummage around for
a while to find. Then, doused the sails, flaked and bagged 'em. Unstepped
the mast and tied it on. Tied the motor up high out of the water. Hauled
up the centerboard. Broke out the oars AND paddles for tight spots. And
away we went. What FUN! just gunkholing along with the birds, frogs, bats,
bugs, fish....just a wandering slowly round the winding channel. We took
turns rowing and 'navigating'- looking forward for trees in the water,
bushes hanging over the sides, etc. Got to learn so much about what two
people married for two years can learn about cooperation....kinda like
two folks wearing one big pair of pants...."ok, let's move the right leg!"
And Obstructions. Wow. Lots of trees down. We went over, under, around,
sometimes even through these downed trees. lots of leaves bark twigs on
deck. The only thing besides Bogey not in our movie were the
leeches...GOOD! or amphibious reptiles, didn't even see any snakes.
We did finally get stopped short of the fair grounds...yup, a tree that
did effectively block the whole channel. If it wasn't 1 am we probably
could have gotten past it if we both got out and pushed the boat over, but
it was late and time for bed, so we moved everything out of the cabin and
into the cockpit and settled down. A little bug spray kept all the
mosquitoes away. In the middle of the night a rodent-sounding creature was
crawling around on deck so I got up and moved the mast over and put the
hatch on from the inside and shut the sliding top so the poor guy wouldn't
accidentally fall into the cabin and probably onto my face and maybe feel
scared and BITE!!!
We woke up in a peaceful, quiet marsh setting. The water was like a mirror
so beautiful! And in the daylight the 3 hour inbound was a 1 hour outbound
voyage to the river's mouth. We motored to the marina, stepped the mast,
shut the boat and biked 3-4 miles to the busstop, Pamela with a 13 pound
organic seedless watermelon we'd brought but not eaten. We shared the
melon with other dog-owners at the dog park near our home that morning.
I am so happy with the potter 15. it is an amazing boat! It can do what
big boats do and what they can't either....maybe we will get a larger
vessel someday so we have more room for our family and friends, but I hope
we never ever sell this sweet little boat!
Sincerely,
Ken Silverman, p-15 "Vegan Lorax"