-----Original Message-----
From: lduffy@wcvt.com <lduffy@wcvt.com>
To: wwpotter@tscnet.com <wwpotter@tscnet.com>
Date: Thursday, June 03, 1999 3:24 PM
Subject: first launch / no go upwind / what's wrong?
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>I proudly launched my recently aquired Potter 14 #456 in a bay of Lake
>Champlain last week, knowing it would be a shakedown cruise. But I
>didn't expect to be towed back, exhausted. DO THESE THINGS GO UPWIND?
>We tacked close hauled back and forth on the same line (+/-90 degrees to
>wind)for several hours in reasonably steady moderate winds and simply
>side slipped, actually loosing ground. Occasionally we caught a
>momentary surge but then lost all momentum. Sails were full all the
>time. Half the time we couldn't even come about. Yes, The centerboard
>was down! The tiller has some (correctible) play in it but not enough
>to justify continuous full tilt to the sideboards. It didn't seem to
>matter whether rudder was up or down. Also didn't matter whether jib
>was up. The lower rudder appears to be homemade of plywood. Was the
>original metal? Can that explain it all? Any other ideas? PLEASE tell
>me this is not what Pottering is all about.
>
>Totally frustrated in Vermont
You most certainly need weight in the bow. I had the same experience the
first time I took my P-15 outL I put three 25 lb bags of bird shot in the
bow , and it tacks superbly.
Larry Longerbeam
P 15 ARIEL #2208
near Chattanooga