~ WEST WIGHT POTTER ~ An Abbreviated History

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[Credits:

Judy Blumhorst (http://www.blumhorst.com/potterpages/…)

Jack Horner (via https://www.spinsheet.com/boat-reviews/west-wight-potter-used-boat-review)

Eric Hughes & Steve Kaba (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEsR-AE2TEg)

References / content sources:

https://www.dinghycruising.org.uk/uploads/7/6/9/7/76979649/westwightpotter_bruce_longstaff_bob__lomas.pdf

http://bills-log.blogspot.com/2009/12/west-wight-potter.html

https://www.westwightpotter.com/company/history/

https://sailingmagazine.net/article-564-west-wight-potter-19.html

https://potter-yachters.org/stories/teplow_to_hawaii.htm

https://potter-yachters.org/stories/vanruth.html

https://potter-yachters.org/oldbroch.html ]

It all started back in the early 1960’s with the first WWP 14, designed and built on the small British island known as the Isle of Wight.

The first West Wight Potter 14 was designed and built in 1960 by Stanley Smith of the Isle of Wight for a planned transatlantic crossing. Smith and his brother had previously made a crossing in a larger vessel and Stanley intended his design for a personal, single-handed attempt. As the story goes, on his first sea trial there was such demand for Smith’s new design that he gave up on his transatlantic plans and became a boat builder, eventually producing more than 150 copies of his little yacht. Smith did eventually sail one of his designs from the Isle of Wight to Sweden but he never did make his planned Atlantic crossing.

HMS Marine, owned by Herb Stewart, bought the US rights to produce the West Wight Potter from Stanley Smith. Herb started building the Potter 14’s in the early 60’sor late 50’s. In 1970 or 71, he designed and started building the HMS18. In 1975 the price of resin went through the roof (remember the oil embargo?), and they stopped building the HMS18’s.

Some have argued that the P19 should not be thought of as a derivative of the p14. However, on closer examination, the lineage is clear. The HMS18 design clearly was inspired by the lines of the original p14’s, and Herb Stewart, the architect of the boat was also the owner of HMS Marine at the time of its creation.The flat bottom, the hard chines, fullbodied stern, generous freeboard, and high initial stability. The cockpit grab rails, retracting keel, and the emphasis on seaworthiness as opposed to light air performance. All attributes of the two vessels having much in
common.

Indeed both craft have logged many a sea voyage and several have crossed oceans. Remarkable journey’s include…

Stanley Smith, P14 – Isle of Wight to Sweden

Bill Teplow, P19 – SF to Hawaii

John Van Ruth, P15 – Mexico to Hawaii

David Omick, P14 – One of the longest voyages, was a young sailor just 21 years old, who sailed his Potter from Seattle to Ketchikan, Alaska.
(‘https://www.westwightpotter.com/links-and-clubs/potter-articles/the-david-omick-interview-from-small-craft-advisor-2000/’)

Today, the West Wight Potter is no longer in production and the last company to produce it has long since gone out of business. Still, there is a vibrant fan base for these vessels, some of which are still being sailed 50-60 years after they were built.

Chubby Commutes to Hawaii

One of the most remarkable voyages was that of the P19 named “Chubby”, which in 2002, sailed from Berkeley Marina, out under the Golden Gate Bridge and on to Hawaii.

He also raised the overall freeboard of the cabin by installing a hinged and latched lower companionway door. Bill took 40 days worth of food and water. Generally he relied on canned goods to supply the bulk of his meals. He started the voyage with 26 gallons of water and arrived in Hilo with 12 gallons remaining.

On day 10 he hailed the tanker Selendang Ratna out of Manzanillo, Mexico bound for Korea. The officer of the watch asked him if he had been hit by the hurricane. Bill’s reply was

“What hurricane?”

When there was any kind of steady wind at 8 kts or higher, anywhere beyond 60 degrees off the bow, Chubby would easily do over 100 miles a day. Her two best days were 139 and 122 nm and she ran off a total of 13 days of over 100 nm out of the 24-day voyage.

All in all, not too shabby for a 19 foot trailer sailer!

Here we have a direct copy of Stanley’s first boat; this A-type boat is the original plywood version.
The B-Type, the first-UK fibreglass Potter 14, was built in the late 60s
Afterwards there came the C-Type which was produced by different companies, including West Wight Laminates on the Isle of Wight.

In 1987 the Potter Boat Company in Dorset was building what they called the Nova version and by 1991 she was sporting a quadrilateral sail similar to US Potters, but essentially, she was the C-Type without side decks either side of the cockpit. This boat had quarter berths instead of V-berths up forward.