[WWP] Oz Potter

From: Slava Joukoff (shisa@ozemail.com.au)
Date: Wed Apr 26 2000 - 07:38:22 PDT


Bob, Ted, Harry, thanks for your interest. WWP # 655 was purchased in Seattle in the mid 70's by Bud Gooding who was serving in the US Marines at the time. He brought the boat to Okinawa where he served and where he retired after marrying his Japanese bride. He is a great gentleman. I last saw him in late 1997 and could he tell some stories! He is one of those rare men who served in 3 wars -- WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Was a back seat gunner in a dive bomber over Rabaul years ago. He looked very distinguished wearing a formal black kimono at official functions, truly a man who has forgiven his adversaries. He sailed the WWP on Okinawa for many years until it was run onto a reef by a "friend." When I purchased it it looked like a terrarium sitting on the rusty remains of a trailer. I cleaned it out using bleach, rolled it over onto old tyres, ground off the skegs and reglassed and repainted the bottom. The outside of the hull had been repainted in an aircraft shop and boy is that paint still good! The rest of
the boat was original. Jib, Genoa, whisker pole, and Main, the latter with the WWP MarkII logo and the number 655. Bud used two long oars to get in an out of the reef and had a position on the transom to use an oar for sculling. After trying to row the boat with my son, we broke the rowlock seat since the reinforcing block under it had rotted. I still have the oars but have substituted them with a 2HP 4-stroke Honda. The plywood on the floor and transom was badly rotted and impossible to repair without major hull surgery, so I simply painted them heavily with a 2 part epoxy paint using a roller on a broomstick. I also had to replace the diaphragm on the guzzler bilge pump. I have added stainless steel handrails on the cabin roof. Bud had used some kind of iron ballast around the keel box, which had mostly rusted away and left a brown mess on the floor. I have added ballast in an open box on either side of the keel box. The boxes are glassed in place and have a front cover attached with bolts. I made two b
locks of lead each weighing 50 lbs by pouring lead into an appropriately shaped tin chocolate box about the size of a brick. A 2 inch brass shackle was embedded into the hot lead and serves as a handle. So I slide the block into its wooden box, bolt down the cover, and viola, I have secure ballast. If I ever get the urge to race (I prefer to do that in other people's larger boats) I can simply remove the additional ballast. I sailed WWP #655, which we named "QT", in Okinawa for a couple of years and after retiring brought it to Australia in early 1998. It now sails proudly on Moreton Bay, Brisbane. I live at Victoria Point where the islands stretching south towards Gold Coast City and Surfers Paradise start. This gives me large stretches of protected water, calm to choppy seas, many inhabited and uninhabited islands, lots of boats of all kinds, and a great volunteer search and rescue system which spans the region. Southeast Queensland is known for its great scenic attractions and mild semi-tropical climate,
 so sailing is a year-round thing. Most kids here have never seen snow! Only thing missing is a few more WWP's! I will post some pictures via Photopoint as soon as my scanner is hooked up to this computer. Cheers
Slava Joukoff
WWP 14 #655 "QT"

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