Farewell to a Friend: John Potter (“Alden Bugly”) 1944-2017
Sad news from Burlington, VT, where the children of John Potter report that he passed away on July 2. He was 73 years old.
A lifelong sailor, John Taft Potter, Jr. was raised on Long Island and was active on the big boat racing scene in the 1960s and 70s, before settling in Annapolis with his family.
While it was just one chapter of his rich sailing life, it was in Annapolis, from the mid-1990s into the 2000s, that John Potter, a.k.a. “Alden Bugly,” became a quirky and beloved fixture on the Eastport waterfront.
“Alden Bugly” is a spoonerism for “Bald and Ugly,” but Potter—with his wavy gray hair, handsome features, and piercing blue eyes—was neither bald nor ugly. He often smiled and winked through questions about his personal history, but it was clear that he was intensely proud of his two children, Emiry and Kate, and that he was real sailor with deep experience. He rode an endless wave of creativity, ideas, and energy. Potter combined this energy and experience with an offbeat vibe and a generous spirit and turned his focus to small boat race management and promotion.
Potter is best remembered as the spark and spirit behind Annapolis’s “Tuesday Evening Summer One Design” series out of Severn Sailing Association (SSA). He named the series, “Tee-Sod,” and for several years ran all aspects of the racing, often singlehandedly.
“SSA always had Tuesday night racing, but it was extremely casual and not very well-attended,” Potter recounted to a reporter in 2007. “I just put a little more oomph in it. I accosted people on the street and asked, ‘Are you coming out tonight?’ I walked the lot on Sundays and bullied the weekend sailors into showing up on Tuesdays.”
The structure and execution of the TESOD series reflected Potter’s unique and authentic approach to the sport. Deeply influenced by his regulars’ desire to maximize starts and tactics, Potter set very short courses and banged off six, eight, even 10 races a night... rolling into the next starting sequence as the last boats were crossing the finish line, sometimes jumping into a second small chase boat to bolt to weather and re-position the windward mark even as the starting sequence was counting down.
Potter insisted on a free and open series. There was no entry fee, and no scores were published. This was well-produced tune-up racing, but for many it became the highlight of the week in a sailing-crazy town. Lasers and Snipes were the core classes, but all small boats were welcomed. On any given night, everything from Optis to J/22s turned out. At its peak, in the mid-2000s, more than 80 boats were on the water every Tuesday night.
As a result, TESOD became a place for all sailors and all small boats. Champions including Mark Hillman, Terry Hutchinson, Geoff Ewenson, Jonathan Bartlett, Derby Anderson, Marie Crump, Ali Meller, Gary Jobson, Ray Wulff, Bruce Farr, and Renee Mehl sharpened their skills on Potter’s short TESOD courses. International Laser class royalty turned up, too, including champions such as Glenn Bourke and Mark Bethwaite.
New sailors and new classes were always welcome, and many used the series as an introduction to the sport and a place to showcase and test-sail new boats. To this day, 20 years after Potter started it, SSA’s TESOD series is still free and open to all sailors and boats under 19 feet.
Laser sailor and former SSA commodore Ted Morgan participated in TESOD from the beginning and continues to race in the series. He recalls, “John Potter was the heart and soul of TESOD. His enthusiasm and support was contagious. John did it all. He ran the races, took the photos, wrote the regatta report, and kept everyone smiling.”
The current commodore of SSA, Kim Couranz, is another long-time TESOD sailor who has successfully raced small boats all over the world. Couranz says, “John always emphasized the joy of small-boat racing in his efforts at SSA. His energy and efforts are a huge part of why TESOD is such an important—and super fun—part of SSA racing today. He fostered camaraderie and community both on and off the water; we miss him greatly.”
On shore, Potter was something of a software and computer wizard. He wrote race-scoring software, coded the original website for the Boatyard Bar & Grill, and piloted multiple technology efforts for SpinSheet and Hillman Capital Management, among many other projects. Potter moved to Burlington about 10 years ago where he was focused on his health and enjoyed time with his children and grandchildren.
An energetic and gifted sailor, writer, artist, technologist, and volunteer, John Potter left the sailing scene a better place than he found it. He will be missed and not forgotten.
~by Dave Gendell, Annapolis
