[CLICK for Randy's full eval (requires Javascript)]
First attempt: They cruised in, spun up into the wind, and... came up short. Then they backwinded. Why? There was a motorboat anchored about 100 ft. E of the sloop pier. Their problem was that they backwinded to port instead of to starboard, which tried to swing the J29's stern the wrong way! Fortunately the motorboat was able to get out of the way, and the wind shifted and they were able to power up before getting to the swimming area.
They came in again. Bam! Stopped 10 ft from the pier on starboard tack, the bow turning slowly in toward shore and toward the large red keelboat that was tied up alongside the near end of the sloop pier... Randy is so soft spoken, he just let his poor students solve their predicament themselves. They powered up just enough to thump the pier on starboard tack in front of the red boat, with NO margin for error.
Third try: not bad--came up short, but at least they were on port tack this time.
Fourth try: came up short again, once again on the wrong tack, powering up on starboard tack again, but it's hard to power up on a close reach, getting precariously close to the red keelboat now, with no room to even think about a gybe, desperately tossed bowline to Randy on pier, but... no one taught them how to heave a line so the line just flopped into the water! Reeled it in, tossed it again, Randy got a wrap. That's all I could stand to watch.
In Randy's defense: no one around here ever teaches how to heave a line. Nor is heeling the boat taught as a way to steer it (with keelboats). All four students just stood there on that first attempt instead of jumping to the starboard rail (or should they have jumped to port..? If you know the answer, then you should have been teaching this lesson!)
Sailing skill: 5
Teaching skill: 4
Party value: 4
Ruthlessness: 4 and climbing
Intangibles: 7
MEAN SCORE: 4.8/10
They came in again. Bam! Stopped 10 ft from the pier on starboard tack, the bow turning slowly in toward shore and toward the large red keelboat that was tied up alongside the near end of the sloop pier... Randy is so soft spoken, he just let his poor students solve their predicament themselves. They powered up just enough to thump the pier on starboard tack in front of the red boat, with NO margin for error.
Third try: not bad--came up short, but at least they were on port tack this time.
Fourth try: came up short again, once again on the wrong tack, powering up on starboard tack again, but it's hard to power up on a close reach, getting precariously close to the red keelboat now, with no room to even think about a gybe, desperately tossed bowline to Randy on pier, but... no one taught them how to heave a line so the line just flopped into the water! Reeled it in, tossed it again, Randy got a wrap. That's all I could stand to watch.
In Randy's defense: no one around here ever teaches how to heave a line. Nor is heeling the boat taught as a way to steer it (with keelboats). All four students just stood there on that first attempt instead of jumping to the starboard rail (or should they have jumped to port..? If you know the answer, then you should have been teaching this lesson!)
Sailing skill: 5
Teaching skill: 4
Party value: 4
Ruthlessness: 4 and climbing
Intangibles: 7
MEAN SCORE: 4.8/10
[CLICK for Chris Frye's evaluation]
Having obtained several large keelboat ratings in exchange for favors, Chris can now "teach" lessons. Chris has proven to be a marginally competent instructor who likes his ice cream breaks. From inside the boathouse, he can watch his students bomb the pier with the J29. Last year, Chris realized that he'd really like to get paid for teaching on the J29, so he used his considerable weight (no pun intended) with the BOC to push for paid keelboat instruction. Now in 2010, there is $1100 budgeted just for Chris to teach on the J29. He's hoping the keel doesn't fall off before he can get ahold of all that cash. In all, $2950 is budgeted in 2010 for teaching on the large keelboats that wasn't budgeted last year--or ever before. That's about 20 paid annual memberships-- assuming people get their deposits back. In reality, most suckers, er, paying club members cannot ever get their deposits back, even if they want to.
Prior to his romp as an instructor and as commodore (for which he got paid a $1000 stipend), Chris was J Fleet Captain and presided over the demasting of a J24 (after forgetting to secure the stays at lift-in), the sinking of a J22 in the mooring field (God only knows how), and other screw-ups. In 2008 he was amazed when Knotty Rascal's mast came down under sail. Then, he ran the J29 aground so hard that the keel almost broke off. Chris' party value is high.
Sailing skill: 3
Teaching skill: 3
Party value: 8
Ruthlessness: 8
Intangibles: 5
SUMMARY: Not recommended (not for sailing lessons anyway)
Prior to his romp as an instructor and as commodore (for which he got paid a $1000 stipend), Chris was J Fleet Captain and presided over the demasting of a J24 (after forgetting to secure the stays at lift-in), the sinking of a J22 in the mooring field (God only knows how), and other screw-ups. In 2008 he was amazed when Knotty Rascal's mast came down under sail. Then, he ran the J29 aground so hard that the keel almost broke off. Chris' party value is high.
Sailing skill: 3
Teaching skill: 3
Party value: 8
Ruthlessness: 8
Intangibles: 5
SUMMARY: Not recommended (not for sailing lessons anyway)
[CLICK for Jeanne Morledge]
Were it not for the club's sailboards, Jeanne might have fled Hoofers long ago. It's unfortunate that she can't pass her frame of mind along to more Hoofer leaders, but that would be like turning crocodiles into vegetarians.
Sailing skills: 8
Teaching skill: 8
Party value: 5
Ruthlessness: 2
Intangibles: 6
SUMMARY: Highly recommended
Sailing skills: 8
Teaching skill: 8
Party value: 5
Ruthlessness: 2
Intangibles: 6
SUMMARY: Highly recommended
[CLICK for George Friou]
Back for action in 2010 is longtime keelboat instructor George Friou. Eyes on the target, George, eyes on the target!
Sailing skills: 8
Teaching skill: 6.5
Party value: 6
Ruthlessness: 5
Intangibles: 6
SUMMARY: Recommended
Sailing skills: 8
Teaching skill: 6.5
Party value: 6
Ruthlessness: 5
Intangibles: 6
SUMMARY: Recommended
[CLICK for Dan Jenkins]
By sticking with it for more than a decade, Dan has finally been rated on the big boats. Unfortunately, ratings aren't everything.
Sailing skills: 3
Teaching skill: 4
Party value: 1
Ruthlessness: 7
Intangibles: -0
SUMMARY: Avoid like blue-green algae
Sailing skills: 3
Teaching skill: 4
Party value: 1
Ruthlessness: 7
Intangibles: -0
SUMMARY: Avoid like blue-green algae
[CLICK for explanation of ratings]
Instructors are here evaluated primarily based on their sailing and teaching skills, though as far as the HSC Hiring Committee is concerned, those crucial skills are secondary. Three other factors are listed for each instructor: (a) Party value--though irrelevant to an individual's qualification to teach sailing, party value is the single most important factor used by the Hiring Committee when deciding whether to "hire" someone! (b) Ruthlessness is a measure of the individual's political leanings, e.g. will they slander someone when called upon or capriciously remove a rating to keep an upstart in check..? That sort of thing. Think fraternity hazing. (c) Intangibles are intuitive and are not given too much weight although they obviously affect a person's interview and interactions with others. Scores are on a scale from 1-10.
You could call the latter three the A-B-C's of getting hired in Hoofers.
You could call the latter three the A-B-C's of getting hired in Hoofers.
Check back as evaluations are added throughout the season. For the time being, new instructors will not be evaluated.
NOTE: All HSC instructors are government employees employed by the State of Wisconsin.
Hey Fleet Commander, you ought to check out this article by Robert Logan.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you can see the parallels. The Hoofer folks are just simple-minded children who ape the bad behavior they see in national politics. Just a bunch of little Clintons and mini-Bushes running around wreaking havoc.
In Hoofers you learn to sail by trial and error. Even the instructors are still learning (or not).
ReplyDeleteMost instructors are taking this whole weekend off in spite of the high demand for lessons which are all full. Many lessons even have alternates listed.
ReplyDeleteThe excuse is that teaching all summer is such hard work so they should get to go party and bond with eachother for a weeknd. But they get paid to teach!