Paid staff, eels, and other slippery things

So today I'm walking past the 420s and scows and there's this guy standing on the foredeck of an I-20 looking up the mast. He says, "Hey, can you show me how to rig this thing? I've only sailed it once, and I have to teach a lesson in half an hour!" He wasn't talking to me. He was talking to another "instructor" working on a 420 a few feet away, and he wasn't joking.

Now, I've been taking I-20 lessons for two years, maybe once a month, not spending a whole ton of time but I'm not all that keen on sailing them. Yet, although I can sail one heeled in 15 knots and jibe it without capsizing, I still don't have that goshdarn rating for some reason. Meanwhile, here's a guy who is obviously clueless, and he's instructing..!?

What if I'd been on his lesson today..? Would I be getting my money's worth? Not only does he not know what he's doing, and not only is he getting a free club membership to sail whatever boats he likes, and not only is he also getting paid by the hour--by me--I obviously know more than he does, and if I'd been signed up for his "lesson", I would have ended up teaching him!

This sort of thing is not the exception but rather is the rule at Hoofers. Instructors can check off whatever ratings they'd like as soon as they're "hired", and it usually takes one quick sail on a boat to get rated. On the other hand, I'm just a "general" club member who paid dues (i.e. a cash cow). Welcome to Hoofers.

Paying wages in a club environment is the root of the problem. If you've got a cush job, you'll do whatever you can to keep it from one year to the next. That means denying volunteer applicants and rehiring your buddies instead--regardless of their sailing or teaching skills. The official interview guidelines (obtained by our operatives) actually state that "how fun" a person is is the most important hiring criterion!! And since it's last year's instructors who do the "hiring", they are naturally inclined to re-hire their friends instead of someone who might actually be better qualified. Think about it. If you're not their sailing or party buddy, your fun level (to them) is zero.

The official explanation is that the quality of instruction must be maintained and that paid staff are the answer. That's a load of bull because (1) there's no way to know if someone will be a good teacher unless you let them try it, and (2) many of the paid instructors are incompetent. Paid instructors are offered whatever ratings they want as soon as they're hired, at which point they can immediately start teaching lessons on those fleets (for an hourly wage, no less). This often leads to poor instruction on the sloops, scows, and J-boats, especially by paid staff (as seen from the true anecdote above). That is to say, paid staff have a shortcut to ratings while everyone else has to earn them. Thus, volunteer (unpaid) instructors, i.e. regular club members, are often better sailors and better instructors!

A final concern is the question of education. It can be expected that any and every organization which is part of the state's largest university has education as its fundamental goal. In particular, this includes teaching teachers. Thus, in Hoofers one should expect to learn not only how to sail but also how to teach sailing. It seems therefore that every club member who wants to teach lessons should be allowed to do so at some point. Yet, the archaic system of entrenched favors persists, its purpose being to serve itself by rewarding popular, fun guys who also happen to be passable sailors.