BANKRUPT

Analysis--Recently I sat under the canopy as Gene Rankin assembled a lesson nearby. It was joyless, with a total lack of enthusiasm all around. It's not because Gene is old or because he's a grouch, I don't think. Gene and others were behaving as if somebody had died. Well, two people have (see below), but the lack of enthusiasm and joy had mostly vanished years before that.

The end of the sailing season is always a sad time of year, just like the end of UW football's dominance and the end of UW-Madison as a top university.

Like Hoofers, the UW football program is finally bankrupt. A week after being dominated by Alabama, UW lost 27-10 at home on Saturday in embarrassing fashion to Maryland. Maryland--who had never before beaten the Badgers. The Terrapins led 27-3 late in the 4th quarter, so the thrashing was even worse than indicated by the final score.

Sadly, there is no going back, and that's the real tragedy. Starting in the 1990s, UW brass wanted to stress football over academics, thinking that just perhaps, the UW could be good at both. They wanted to run with the big boys--Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State--and for awhile it succeeded.

But now it's over.

The football program has come crashing back to Earth, and in the meantime, the UW's national academic ranking has plummeted.

In the aftermath, UW admins are learning that it's much more difficult to elevate a university and its reputation than it is to improve a football program. The former takes many decades. Nor will dishonest UW administrators even admit that the UW's standing has slipped, even as they continue to cut funding and close libraries, with most being turned into useless study halls. Libraries without books! It's almost unthinkable. The administration blames it on budget cuts, yet even as campus libraries are closed with journal subscriptions cancelled by the hundreds, new hundred-million-dollar buildings are popping up all over campus.

It's an incompetent university leadership in denial.

Indeed, the UW's decision in the 1990s to emphasize football over academics paid some dividends, including Rose Bowl wins and a Big Ten championship appearance (in which they were trounced by Penn State). The flip side is, the UW has fallen steadily in college rankings and now limps in as the 10th best state university. In the late 1980s, it was 3rd behind only UC Berkeley and Michigan--and the 10th best university overall, including private and Ivy League schools. Now it barely cracks the top 50 overall. In the latest rankings, UW has slipped to 12th among public universities (with UC Berkeley still at #1 and Michigan down ever so slightly to #3).

What goes up must come down. Hence the UW's fall may have been inevitable even without the presence of incompetent administrators like John D. Wiley and Rebecca Blank stare.

Similarly, Hoofers' decision to gut their program and replace it with a neutered one led by bland-but-crooked staff like Dave Elsmo has been a disaster. Hoofer Sailing have replaced the rock stars that once drove the keelboat program with asexual, semi-incompetent team players, the result being that two Hoofer sailors have died (link 2) in recent years--the first-ever deaths in Hoofers.

Significantly, both deaths occurred under the negligent oversight of Wis. Union Director Mark Guthier.

Above are late summer photos of two types of HSC craft--a Tartan-10 and a, um, cardboard box, several of which were built for Commodore's Cup this year. And guess where all that cardboard, duct tape, etc. ended up..? In the lake of course. Can you spell m-i-c-r-o-p-l-a-s-t-i-c-s?

So join Hoofer Sailing now! (We urgently need an infusion of cash)

Flying Scot Regatta a success!

This past weekend was the big Flying Scot regatta on Lake Monona, hosted by Lake Monona Sailing Club. The Madison Clinigatta was a special event that emphasized learning and improving skills. It started with a clinic on Friday, mainly for less experienced racers or as a refresher for more experienced ones.

There was also coaching provided throughout, including by former and current North American Champion David Ames! Friday afternoon's events were partly rained out, but it was still an exciting start to the weekend.

Races were held Saturday and Sunday in almost perfect weather with some 30 boats and crews participating. As any Hoofers who were out on Lake Mendota already know, Saturday especially was really nice--partly cloudy with a 10+ kn breeze most of the time. It doesn't get much better than that for the Flying Scot. The wind came down a bit on Sunday but we still managed to get a few more races in.

"The most fun I've had in years," said one slightly imbibed racer at Saturday evening's party.

As expected (or feared?), the incomparable Dave Gorwitz took first place overall--though not by much, with lesser mortals finishing a close second and third. In fact, Dave only finished first in one or two of the individual races, but of course it's the overall numbers that count in the end.

The race results can be viewed here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rUzIVeg1Go6dqGnwHoq7obbYIx3WRnCfVVWV2oHtmBU/edit?usp=drivesdk

We meant to post this yesterday but are just now recovering from some serious Hoofer-style drinking! Photos coming soon.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this event an outstanding one!

A-scows but no Boc minutes

Summer is officially underway and so are the 2025 A-scow nationals--right here on Lake Mendota! With the hot temperatures come screaming winds, perfect for a race. Strong southerly winds are the only way the temperature can reach the mid-90s in Madison in June. But we're not complaining--summer is finally here!

And not many things are more fun that watching an A-scow capsize. At 38 ft long, an A is a giant version of an E, and we've capsized the E here plenty of times. But unlike smaller boats, an A-scow goes over in slow motion, and it has more lines, which creates a real mess. That's what makes it so much fun to watch! But the skippers in this regatta are too good to let that happen. :)

It's kind of like the Wisconsin Union and Hoofers--a real mess. Run by crooks and incompetents, Hoofers is a refuge for abusers, racists, and child molesters. It's funny that they got rid of most of the alcoholics, yet now they've been replaced by something far worse.

Some think it's funny that no BOC (Board of Captains) minutes have been posted in over two years, but it's a flagrant violation of the Hoofer Sailing Club By-Laws, Article IV, Section 1, which under Commodore Duties states:

8. Shall inform the membership of the Sailing Club of all decisions of the Board of Captains by posting the minutes of all meetings of the Board of Captains on the Sailing Club website.

Combine that with this interesting Wis. statute:

946.12 Misconduct in public office. Any public officer or public employee who does any of the following is guilty of a Class I felony: (1) Intentionally fails or refuses to perform a known mandatory, nondiscretionary, ministerial duty of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment within the time or in the manner required by law;

Is the refusal to post BOC minutes a felony..? Maybe, maybe not. The HSC commodore is a public employee, paid (suppress gag reflex) by the state. And in some sense at least, he's a public officer--he is after all the head office-holder in a state organization with a $500,000 annual budget. But then, the by-laws don't specify a time limit for posting the minutes; however, it's likely that any authority would consider two years ridiculous since BOC meetings are held every two weeks.

Hoofer leaders take their cue from their boss, Wisconsin Union Director Mark Guthier, a known criminal and child molester. So we haven't run it by our attorney yet, but it looks like Matt Keberlein is indeed a crook. And if he designated another BOC member to actually post the minutes, e.g. Lukas Duddleston, then LukasD is a criminal too. The secretary too, probably. At best, they're all guilty of gross negligence.

But who wants to do drudge work when you can be out partying instead?

We'll post photos of the regatta soon.

Winter Seminars

NOAA defines a gale as sustained surface winds, or frequent gusts, in the range of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph). In light of the return of the wind (S 20 mph g37 on Friday, S 33 g41 on Monday) and warmth (77 deg on Friday, 60 this past Mon), we just wanted to remind everyone that there are still a few more Winter seminars to go. Today, winter has returned just in time.

The seminars, usually on Wed evenings starting at 6:30 PM, cover everything from cruising to weather to first aid.

As you may know, they're taught (led? hosted?) by more experienced club members who've done things that you might want to do in the future, like sailing around the world, experiencing gale force winds on the open ocean, or setting a broken bone 1,000 miles from the nearest doctor. I personally would like to do two of those things. You can even do two of them right here in Madison (not the same two).

Hoofer Sailing Club is about sharing knowledge and helping others to learn, and of course about getting paid to do it, but who can blame someone for wanting to get a piece of the pie? (especially if they're a good talker, good at politics, good-looking, buddies with the right people, etc.) Note that the individuals presenting the Winter Seminar series are not getting paid for their presentations. They do it out of love of sailing--and love of loot! Plus, teaching is a great way to meet people from a position of authority.

The remaining seminars include:
Mar 12th: Radio maintenance and operation EVENT HAS ALREADY STARTED
Mar 19th: Cruising the Pacific (Adam Hughes)
Mar 26th: First Aid for Sailing (Bob Cape + VC Scafati)

You can find more details on the seminar series at https://lessons.hoofersailing.org, organized by HOI Nathan Holman and presented mostly by keelboat, J-fleet, and other instructors.

You do not have to be a current HSC member to attend. The semenars are open to anyone*.

We're not sure why TV meteorologists get such a bad rap. Sure, weather is boring most of the time, but not when you're 500 miles southwest of Acapulco and the sky begins to darken.

*Except for certain people we don't like because they reported us for embezzlement, discrimination, sexual harassment, underage drinking, and other stuff.

End of season

The end of sailing season is always a sad time of year. Not as sad as it used to be, perhaps, but then Hoofers ain't what it used to be either. But it still has sailing, at least. Just a couple of weeks ago it was almost 70 degrees out and we were still sailing.

The season's end is about as sad as the UW football team which just ended a 22 year streak of bowl game appearances by falling to Minnesota 24-7. What an embarrassment. Actually, what's even sadder is that Wisconsin could still potentially get into a bowl game, despite a 5-7 losing record this year. Who wants to watch losers play losers?

The highlight of Friday's game, played in 20º temperatures, was Head Coach Luke Fickell blowing his nose, biker-style, straight onto the ground on the sideline in the second half. Yes, we were there watching for some inconceivable reason, shivering on the Wisconsin sideline and low on vodka.

As for Hoofer Sailing, today it's basically a glorified day care center for irresponsible college students. That was the wet dream of Wisconsin Union Director Mark Guthier who wanted control so he could make money off of it, and to puff up his ego some more. Even if Hoofers doesn't make money for the Union, it gives him a rush to know that he's finally running the show. He even refers to it as the "Tong Family Marina" or The Marina. Laughable.

Over the past two-plus decades, Guthier and other UW admins have grown increasingly out of touch with UW students and with the UW's mission. That puts some students out of touch too, creating a vicious cycle of ignorance and narcissism. It's elitist and reminiscent of some Ivy League colleges.

Eighty percent of Harvard professors identify as liberal or very liberal. On 60 Minutes last Sunday, U. of Austin (a tiny right-wing school in Texas) admins slammed that as biased and out of touch:

"Any university that is identifiably political isn't fulfilling its mission."
--U. of Austin spokesperson

But the fact is that intelligent people tend to be liberal/Democratic, whereas the uneducated tend to vote Republican. Why? It's because the brain is like a muscle--you need to use it or lose it. Education isn't indoctrination. It's development, and if you don't develop your brain and your mind, you'll get dumber--and in the end you'll have a stronger tendency to vote Republican.

Republican correlates with lots of stupid things, like guns, dogs, low taxes for the wealthy, ATVs, etc. There's nothing really wrong with any of those things, but they won't solve the world's problems or any of the growing problems here in Madison. It's more complex than that, of course, but a blog post can't go into that much detail. But the faculty at Harvard and other "elite" schools are not out of touch. They're educated, they're enlightened. They've developed their brains instead of their brawn. Unfortunately that can some across as elitist to the laboring class.

As for Director Guthier--a known criminal--he is a closet conservative who found a home at the UW which continues to slide to the right along with the rest of Wisconsin. One side effect of the creeping conservatism is the dramatic increase in surveillance, although it might be needed keep Outdoor Rentals staff from stealing anymore. Too bad there are no surveillance cameras in Guthier's office. That might turn up some really interesting stuff.

By the way Mr. Tong, we need more money--some of the new piers are already wearing out. Plus, we want to build an offshore bar next summer.

Infected Mushroom

Welcome to the 2024 sailing season! We're posting this today in honor of the amazing weather and wind we've been having lately, especially today. Most boats are already in the water although a few are not, but then it's still only June. Keep in mind that the water is still cold, with dangerous upwellings that are cold enough to kill, despite some very warm days recently. We also have a new HOI and lessons are underway.

A quick refresher for the partiers: NO alcohol is allowed on Hoofer boats (wink-wink). If you're caught with beer on board, well, just don't get caught. We were out on a [boat type redacted] in that great wind today (Saturday), and we didn't not have no beer on board. Anyway, beer doesn't kill--incompetent Union directors do, but there is still officially no beer allowed on Hoofer boats. Drugs? Yes. Beer, no.

Note that there is now a $200 work-hours deposit (which most of you will never see again). Of course, instructors and other preferred members don't have to pay a deposit. Only you the customer do.

With the season getting into gear, communication becomes more important than ever. Among other things, that means the club's email lists. You may need to be logged in to view or add comments.

There is also the keelboat list, but that appears to be dead in the water. In fact, the only posts over the past year have all been by Pete Mooney (see image)--not exactly what you would call "interaction" or a healthy exchange of ideas. Most of the posts aren't even about sailing--they're on off-topics like silent movies, folk concerts, sex organs, etc. The list's webpage (or is it here?) says "for Soma, Toy Boat, Decoy, Knotty Rascal and Spray..." Do we even still have any of those boats? One, maybe.

Facebook seems to be the preferred method of communication for club leaders, but as we all know Facebook is in its death throes and is a mediocre alternative. The anal wet dream of billionaire scumbag Mark Zuckerberg has just about run its course.

We strongly encourage the club's email lists for communication. Several are used regularly, some only sporadically, but they are the official venue for interaction and announcements. Check them out at the above link to the lessons site.

Speaking of communication, there haven't been any BOC minutes posted in over a year. How's that for pathetic, not to mention dereliction of duty? Nor has the club's website been updated to show current club leaders and instructors. It seems the webmaster has a free membership for nothing.

Of course, you can always use this blog for communication!

And who was that fetching young (not!) Treat Williams-lookalike with the blonde 'do teaching windsurfing the other day? (see photo) Meeow....