Wisp - A West Wight Potter...

Wisp is a 1971 14 foot West Wight Potter mini-cruiser with a red hull. She was delivered on New Years Day, 1999 by her previous own from Rochester, New York. I found the advertisement on the Internet and made arrangements for her purchase and delivery by email and telephone. It worked out quite well.

Sail the main course
In a simple sturdy craft
Keep her well stocked
With short stories and long laughs
Go fast enough to get there
But slow enough to see
Jimmy Buffett

I spent a lot of time looking at ads and drooling over boats at the boatyards. Then I started saving with the goal of having or building a boat by next summer. I also spent a lot of time surfing the net and found some very good sites:

Jobst Vandrey's Comfortable Pocket Cruiser Sailboat site started me thinking about what I really wanted in a sailboat.

Trailer Sailor was a great source to get some feedback about the different types of boats.

Sail away, that's the way I survive
Sail away, that's just no shuck and jive
It just makes my whole life come alive
Jimmy Buffett

And finally, I kept coming back to the West Wight Potter site which is no longer in operation, unfortunately. I decided that what I really wanted and could afford was a boat that had a cabin in which I could sleep, could handle the Long Island Sound, was capable of some coastal cruising, could be pulled by a small car (Ford Escort), was sturdy, safe, and affordable. The Potter met all of the criteria! I had not seen one before I purchased it, but was impressed by the design and the enthusiasm of the owners.

I've had Wisp out several dozen times now. Taking her out on the weekends before "boating season" actually started gave me some time to learn how to sail her. I am very pleased so far and can't wait until I get skilled at sailing her. She trailers easily at 55-65 mph which was better than expected and can be rigged in about a half an hour. It is a nice boat for single-handed sailing or with a friend aboard to help crew. I've sailed on the Long Island Sound mostly from Branford, but also to Fishers Island, New York from Noank, Connecticut. My fresh water sailing has been in several lakes around Winsted, the Connecticut River near Hartford, and Pleasure Lake in New Hampshire where I sailed with Storm Connors with winds about 20 knots and gusting higher. Storm and Wisp did better than I did!

The West Wight Potters are manufactured by International Marine in California. Visit their new web site at www.westwightpotter.com. This site promises to be more extensive and informative about their fine small craft.

The use a boat gets is in inverse proportion to its size.
Larry Brown
Sailing on a Micro-Budget

On May 8th, I went to Essex, Maryland for the annual East Coast Potters Association' Gathering. It was truly a great event and more than lived up to my expectations. These Potter Yachters love their boats! Make sure that you visit the Gathering page!

This is an aerial view of Spicer's Marina. I launch Wisp in the second left-to-right row of boats. Wisp moored or anchored just beyond the upper left-hand corner of the pictures. There were some wonderful sunsets. The mornings tend to be foggy and mystical. Wisp moored there this summer. The mooring is the farthest one out and has a totally unrestricted view of the Sound and the shore to the west. I am looking forward to more beautiful sunsets and great sailing. Wisp will be moored at the same mooring this summer.

Mystical, fog-shrouded boats in Noank...

Sunset on the water at Noank...

Another glorious sunset at Noank...

In September, Wisp returned to the Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Maryland for another group sail with the East Coast Potters Association. We launched from the Great Marsh Park and sailed just off the Chesapeake on the Choptank River. It was another glorious day with fair skies and a steady wind. There were 5 other Potters and Bill Zeitler's converted Bay Hen - now a motor launch - the official ECPA Courtesy Launch. The people are wonderful and the sailing grand. I anchored and slept on Wisp. The sky was perfectly clear and I could see layer and layer of stars - millions of them. It was truly a beautiful and very special night. After the sail, we went to a local restaurant where I had a Chesapeake specialty - soft-shelled crabs. I'd go back just for the crabs.

Wisp and the other "cute little boats" on the shores of the Choptank River in Cambridge, MD on a fantastic sailing day.
Kate at the helm at the ECPA group sail.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psalm 107

The October ECPA group sail was in Rehoboth Bay in Delaware. It was a gray, cloudy, windy day. We had troubles getting off the beach where we ate lunch because the tide was going out when we landed and we pulled the boats on to the beach too far. I broke the shear pin on my motor and had to be towed out of the shallow water so that I could lower the centerboard and sail away. The winds were 20 plus mph and provided some good sailing. None of the Potters had a bit of trouble handling the wind. I sailed on the Choptank the day before and had some glorious sun and wind. This was "Wisp's" last sail of the season. It was a glorious year sailing.