The following is the result of Joan Abrams’ desire to see in the journal a series of short articles about members’ boats. As I owned Water Mouse for nearly twenty four years perhaps Potter owning members will forgive my authorship - being now an ex Potter owner having sold Water Mouse to DCA member Les Jeavons last year. I hope that Les does not mind me talking about his boat. The article is partly taken from a letter I wrote to David Beaumforth in 2001 about ‘Pottering’ and partly from an article I wrote for the WWP Association Newsletter; it seemed appropriate to re-use some of the material. I have not therefore changed the tense of some paragraphs but left them as I originally wrote them.

So, what can I tell you about the West Wight Potter that as experienced sailors, you have not already deduced? Well to begin with, the Potter is under canvassed, so unless you look at the boat through rose tinted gasses she is slow. On the other hand she was designed that way; Stanley Smith (the designer) said he wanted to sleep at night. I added to the sail area by (sometimes) using a genoa fitted to a bowsprit and a mizzen sail with a bumpkin. I did try a cutter rig with a minor jib filled to an inner forestay but the whole thing was too much like hard work so I dropped the inner jib. She is of course very small at 14ft. and although refined with a lid you do have to remember that she is little more than a heavy dinghy. But the Potter dreams of glory and feels like a much bigger boat. I bought my ‘A’ type Water Mouse in 1977 and although often intending to go for a bigger boat I somehow could not face up to it until late in 2001 when I cracked and bought a Shipmate Senior, a huge boat at 16ft 3ins.

The advantages of the Potter are many. She is very stable, I have heard of Potters capsizing but I would imagine the weather would have to be very severe or the boat very badly sailed. I have had Water Mouse out in a Force 6 with big waves on the Solway Firth and once I’d got over the initial fright (I had not intended being out in this weather you understand) she always felt safe and I actually enjoyed the experience. Further rough weather experiences include: the battle of Barmouth Bar, the battle of the Helford River, the battle of Milford Haven etc. (my wife Kate calls each of my salty tall tales ‘the battle of’). They are all covered in DCA journal articles.

For her size the Potter is very roomy, particularly the ‘A’ type which was not built with buoyancy so much additional space is available and I have never worried about the lack of buoyancy. In rough weather I merely close the cabin up and unless I actually hit something I hope the cabin will act like a big air tank, at least for a while. I have in fact been knocked down almost flat and she popped up again without taking on any water. I will describe what I manage to squeeze into her when she is rigged for cruising:-

Cabin: (I never refer to my cabin as a cuddy, it is a warm, dry, comfortable haven when I sleep aboard, as I almost always do on meets).

In the forepeak goes the spare anchor, chain and about 30 metres of warp. Also sleeping bag or bags if there are two of us aboard. The weight right up for’ard helps to trim the boat.

The bunk slats are fully cushioned and I have added to shoulder width by fitting removable panels between the bunk sides and the centre plate housing. My wife Kate made matching cushions to fit on the panels. Makes for great comfort and a good nights sleep. In the space under I have plastic washing up bowls in which I store odds and ends, beer, wine, milk and so on. She (the boat not Kate) always takes in a little water at the beginning of a meet so the bowls keep everything dry. On the port side between the bunk and foot of the mast I have the battery, held in place by a top bar which screws down and stops the battery moving. The battery is used to power my cabin light, brass of course, my VHF radio (call sign MQRV7), CB radio and depth sounder; as a result Dave Morton christened Water Mouse the 12 volt Potter. At the fore end of the cabin attached to the mast is a bookcase. Curtains at the windows, fire extinguisher on port bulkhead. I also have nets suspended from both sides of the cabin for more bits of kit.

Cockpit:

Starboard. bulkhead in net, 2 fenders Starboard locker next to cabin bulkhead - tools, mooring spikes, bits of rope and assorted grot. Port bulkhead near top, compass. Port locker next to cabin bulkhead - food (lots of it), crockery toaster etc. Just aft of the lookers are slatted benches under the starboard seat is a waterproof flare container (lashed in position) with power horn, 2 harnesses and other bits, also sealed loo bucket. There or thereabouts are two fenders. On the port side I keep 2 x 5 litre cans of pre-mixed petrol for the outboard (jammed home). On the aft locker bulkhead is my whale pump, never used in anger, with pump handle fixed to boat by a line. Aft locker contains more fenders, Bluet gas cookers, gas cockpit lamp in tin, spare gas cartridges, 30 metres nylon climbing rope, assorted slings, kettle, tea pot etc. Above the locker is another flare canister containing hand held flares, pistol flares, break stick lights, spare outboard cord, spare gloves. Around and behind the container is a mooring warp lashed to a side deck cleat.

Engine:

Lives permanently on its lifting bracket and is a venerable 4 hp Seagull which will run forever but attracts weed like a magnet attracts iron filings.

On deck, up for'ard:

I have fitted a stainless steel pulpit which is worth its weight in gold for foredeck work (you can stand quite happily on the foredeck of a Potter), to port in a net is the main anchor with chain and about 30 metres of warp, to starboard also in a net, is a long mooring warp. Both bitter ends are lashed to the very substantial samson post mounted on the foredeck which runs right down to the keel. All lines run back to the cockpit. Main and jib halyards run through turning blocks at the foot of the mast. Jib sheets do not run through the cabin top mounted fairleads but through turning blocks lashed to them. I did this having been knocked down once and finding that to release the jib I had to go a long way downhill when my every instinct was to move uphill as fast as possible. I can now cleat the working jib sheet on the side on which I am sitting, usually to windward. The main sheet is fitted from the boom end to a horse traveller back up to and along the boom then down to a cleating block mounted on the centre plate housing. I cleat the main but always keep my hand on the sheet ready for instant release. I do carry emergency navigation lights but they are only torch battery powered, they do however give out a good clear light.

For fun I have also fitted a mizzen sail, optional use. A bracket is fixed to the transom just off centre into which is fitted the bumpkin which is held in place by stainless steel bolts, there is a slot for the mast which is held up by port and starboard shrouds fixed to side deck and an aft shroud fixed on the end of the bumpkin. As with the bowsprit a bobstay is fitted. Incidentally the calculation for the mizzen mast height and bumpkin length were exceedingly complex. The luff of my old storm jib determined the mast height and the foot exactly matched the length of a pick axe handle. Bob Lomas, West Wight Potter Association Secretary, seemed to agree that my calculations were correct for a boat the size of the Potter.

At night I put a tent over the boom, supplemented by two carbon fibre hoops to give a roomy cockpit area. I cook on the stern locker using an old piece of plywood as a base to avoid damaging the varnish. Kate made windows out of an old tent window, one fits (using velcro and ties) between the cabin top and the tent giving a for'ard view, one fits between the transom top and the tent and the other is fitted in the tent top as a roof-light. The sides of the tent fasten over the side coaming using elasticated hoops to hooks - very comfortable.

Water Mouse was the star of the West Wight Potter fleet for many years, being P3 and the oldest known Potter still afloat. Then I removed a bracket from the foot of the mast and discovered that the number was 53 not 3. Argh! The shame of the confession to Bob Lomas. Even so she's still about number seven or eight in the known survivor list and, I hope, good for many more years yet. Perhaps when I go I should arrange for a Viking funeral but that would deprive some other nutter of a good boat (left in for Les’s benefit).

I think that about wraps it up, I've had enormous fun out of my Potter over the years. She’s big enough to take two in reasonable comfort for a weekend if you are organised, light enough to launch and recover single handed, heavy enough and with sufficient initial stability to walk around the side deck without feeling tippy, very stable, dry and safe in a seaway and seems to attract interest wherever she goes though I’m not sure I like the oft description of her as ‘cute’.