A View From the Helm

The Year in Review

2011 has been great year at International Marine, the exclusive builder of West Wight Potters and Sanibel Sailboats. Our mission "Building Your Adventures". in the best built Trailerable Sailboats yet from our company These  historic boats have offered   mariners a chance to explore their adventurous nature for many years. We love our owners and feel priviledge to be able to be part of the adventure. Hearing about and  seeing the images of these adventures excites us.  

Let me share with you some of the exciting events we championed this year.

As new owners we stepped aboard with boundless enthusiasm and began the journey of bringing this famous company and its unique sailboats to the next level in the social media arena.

Our theory is that sailing (especially small boat trailerable sailing) has captured a new generation of enthusiasts who cherish the great outdoor adventures and the camaraderie of fellow sailors who meet up at unique and exotic destinations. After all, going up or off the wind at 60 knots allows you to travel to destinations that 5 or 6 knots does not allow.

Several powerful articles have been written recently on the Zen of Small Boat Sailing. It is a niche that we love so well and Potters have been at the forefront since the beginning

There are ,many Potter Groups around the county one particularly notable group, "The So-Cal Potters" with Captain Howie at the helm that have realized the dream of destination sailing.  This group meets monthly at various destinations. Of course, the preferred spot is Catalina.Antoher great group is the Potter Yachters  PotterYachters   who sail the Bay area of SanFransico I had the pleasure of sailing in Monterey Crusiers Challange aboard  Pinky  this summer with Bud Kerner the Commodore

Pinky 1, the pink Potter 15, was berthed in January of this year with the express duty to draw attention and raise funds for the breast cancer effort. We felt our company needed to connect with this cause as  this affliction affects so many people in our lives. As the year progressed we worked with famous country singer, Heather Myles, on a music video titled, "Together We Will Find a Cure". Pinky, with Heather aboard was featured sailing all over Marina Del Rey. This video brought national awareness to the cause. As part of Pinky's press she was featured on "The Price is Right" television show during the National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Boat shows have been an vital part of our calendar this year. Our first stop was at the Seattle Boat Show in January of 2011. This was my first time in Seattle and a great group of Northwest Potters joined us on that Saturday to help with the display and lend a hand to the meet and greet. The result of this show was the privilege of building four boats for blissful new potter owners.

Our journey carried on to Lake Havasu in February There we met an amazing group of people that Sean Mulligan put together for a weeklong symposium on sailing, racing and, above all, partying. We sponsored a cocktail hour and exhibited our brand new Potter 19. And that was not all... we also sponsored the "Potter Cup".

Next on the agenda was the LA Show which we expanded our horizons with the American Sailing Association who featured our boats in their fall newsletter. It was this connection which gave us the idea of supporting sailing education with a "Coupon for Sailing Lessons" for new Potter owners.

On to Oakland California for "Strictly Sail" and, our friends, the  

"Marina Fest" in Marina del Rey was next. This enjoyable show provided lots of visitors and sailing enthusiasts. We displayed all three of our boats, the Potter 15, Sanibel 18 and the Potter 19.

Next stop was Dana Point.   A beautiful location! Great people and awesome weather made catching up with Captain Howie especially enjoyable. This show we lived aboard our boats. It was a treat to wake up in the morning on the water. Of course Pinky made the trip and we also connected to the   Dana Point West Yacht Club.

July brought the San Diego Boat Show. My dog ,Jake, and Debbie's dog, Captain Jack, accompanied Deborah Tallent and myself to the sunny shores of San Diego. Pinky hogged all the attention as people lined up to have a photo taken with the bright pink boat.Pinky even caught the attention of the Hooter Girls during a photo shoot.  

They happily climbed aboard Pinky, posed for the crowds, and then treated Debbie and I to a bucket of their famous chicken wings. Ahh... the memories of brilliant sunsets, great music and wonderful people will bring us back next year.

After that great event was the "Monterey Cruisers Challenge". I took Pinky and Jake and joined in with Potter Yachters group for Sailing Racing and then presented the Tinker Award at the Peninsular Yacht Club. Pinky did have a spill during the Challenge but her seaworthiness kept her afloat and she became a survivor very fitting for her cause that she champions.

Well off to the East Coast for Newport Rhode Island Show where we had a terrific following and lots of help with from fellow Potter owners Clint Pickett  Richard Earley and Ed Hartwell and Vania Prusak  and of  course Jakie was there. Captain Jack and Debbie stayed back to hold down the fort.

Annapolis was next on the hit parade. An historic sailing town home to the Naval Academy and the Capital of Maryland.   All went great and we had a amazing  help from our new affiliate Nancy Wigel. In addition, Pinky was represented in a poster and we raised over $1000.00 in sales of pink hats supporting finding the cure for breast cancer. Charlie Coles and His wife helped out and we had the opportunity of learning about Chasey the sea creature of the Chesapeake. Charlies wife also has a great little book "Small Boats Big Appetites". Vania Prusak help out and

added her  Brazilian Charm  and Zest for Life  Jakie was  not invited this time.

The last show we did was Long Beach. It was great to be on the West Coast again with Captain Jack, Debbie and of course Jakie. It gave us some time to prepare for the "Sail for the Cure Race " Oct 30^th at the Santa Monica Windjammers Club.That Day was amazing George, Jessie, Heather and myself raced two Pinky Potter 15's. What a great time we had with that race. Everyone got into the spirit.

So now it is the Holidays and we send you lots of good cheer and wish you the best for the 2012.

Do you know in Chinese mythology it is the Dragon Year? Very mysterious and powerful. We hope to see you on the high and low seas

Let's stay in touch and Stay tuned!

Ken Lange

Captain International Marine