Oct 20 UPDATE: As a result of being left on the concrete steps for a whole day, the J-24 is totaled, so the club is filing an insurance claim on it to help balance the books. Note to commodore: whenever you need cash, just go out to a mooring on a stormy night, set a keelboat free, and in a few months if you're lucky you'll have another $10-25K in insurance money! (Just kidding. We know you'd never do that.) It's everyone's worst nightmare: putting one of the keelboats onto the rocks. Well, last night's 40+ mph wind gusts did just that, and an odd sight greeted visitors to the lakefront this morning (see photo). Incredibly, the J24 is still sitting there, bouncing on the concrete steps, 12 hours later at sunset!
Here's a crutch for J-boaters on "HOW TO TIE A BOWLINE":
The gopher comes out of his hole, runs around the tree, meets the squirrel, they have a couple of drinks, then the gopher grabs the squirrel by the tail and tries to have sex with it, then they do a couple more shots, the squirrel runs up the tree and the gopher crawls back into his hole.
That's it! An easy bowline, tied the Hoofer way!
(Actually, it was the mooring that failed, but more than a few J sailors do have trouble with their knots.)
I heard the mooring in question was the guest mooring. It's not clear why the J24 would have been there.
ReplyDeleteEverybody's worst nightmare? Hardly. More than a few of the lifer paid dinghy staff hate the keelboats because it requires unselfish, group effort to operate that fleet successfully. And most people like them better than stupid dinghies; children's boats really. Lifer-dinghy-paid-staff are jealous of the sense of real community the builders who volunteer around the keelboats feel, which is why they would lash out to make money for themselves this way.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know if this is real? Somebody shared it as reported here, but per usual, the Club's corrupt "leaders" don't publish this stuff, so it's hard to confirm. The corrupt employees running the Hoofer Board can't outlaw and punish anybody for exercising their constitutional rights, can they? "Hoofer Sailing Club Firearm Policy
ReplyDelete-Zero tolerance policy
-MOTION: Brittney moves that the Hoofer Sailing Club adopt a zero tolerance policy
for concealed carry weapons. Punishment for violating being expulsion from the club,
Pascal seconds.
In Favor: 11
Opposed: 0
Abstain: 0
Motion passes"
You are correct that the boat remained on the steps for over a day. During that ~30 hours the winds never dropped below a sustained 25kts and gusts never dropped below 35. The boat had a below the waterline through hull hole when it was discovered (and therefore could not have been towed off even if it was safe to launch a motorboat). The crane operators deemed it unsafe to hoist the boat until winds dropped below 15kts, and when they did the boat was retrieved.
ReplyDeleteThis post appears to have 2 main themes: 1) That the boat shouldn't have been left on the steps as long as it was; and 2) That the damage resulted from either intentional insurance fraud or negligent attachment of the boat to the mooring. (reluctant nod to conclusive evidence to the contrary included as a parenthetical at the end notwithstanding)
The second point appears to be simple ranting on an unrelated topic; while it's dishonest, it pretty much speaks for itself.
My question then is what would YOU have proposed as an alternative to leaving the boat on the rocks until it could be safely retrieved?
The wind was around 13kn gusting to 23 all day, NOT 25 gusting to 35, although the peaks the night before were 35 (when it broke free). See:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KC29/2011/9/30/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA
(if that link doesn't work go to the club's weather page--wunderground--Madison and go back to Sept 30).
If I had been down there that morning, I would have grabbed some help, grabbed the motorabot and pulled it off the concrete. You can temporarily patch a big hole with an old sail like an I20 jib. Then duct tape or whatever, possibly from the inside. The water pressure 1 or 2 ft under is negigible.
The wind was dropping below 10 knots by 5 pm, yet the J24 was left there for *another* night!
An interesting idea, but 1) The crane operator, not Hoofers, decided that it was unsafe to lift the boat until it was actually done, and 2) with 3 foot waves coming directly out of the north I would be extremely curious to see how you would have launched a motorboat (transom first) without causing even more damage to club property than there already was...
ReplyDeleteYou're making excuses. Three foot waves are nothing out in the real world, and they were only 1-3 anyway on Sept 30.
ReplyDeleteJust get a couple of people, a very long line or to, and lower it in for crapsake. I think the real issue is, had you done that the club would not have reaped the insurance money from the J24.
p.s. I hear the plan is *not* to replace it with another J24. What a surprise.
so so so so so sad
ReplyDeletewho did it