For those who haven't heard the latest on the club's largest boat, Soma--a.k.a. the Cow Boat--there is discouraging news.
Having sat at the farm for the past year, and now in need of significant repair, Soma may be destined for recycling. (of course, big fibreglass boats aren't actually recyclable, but that's a topic for another post.) Soma was in decent shape at the end of the 2015 season, but instead of getting standard off-season maintenance, some overeager yahoos started major projects without consulting anyone first, and now the boat needs major repairs. Unfortunately, it looks like Soma might not get them because it's easier to accept new donations, even if they're of junkier boats.
This is bad news for everyone in the club, even if you've never set foot on Soma. Soma is a unique boat unlike anything else the club has. At first glance, it might seem better to have two T-10's than a Mull 34 and one T-10, but that's fallacious for two reasons: (1) Variety makes for more learning opportunities. What if all we had were Techs and J-22's..? (there are people who actually support that idea.) (2) T-10s are mediocre boats. Compared to Soma, a T-10 is like an old Ford vs. a custom Rolls.
25 years of Hoofer abuse has taken a toll, but Soma is well built, so what it comes down to is: are enough people willing to put time in to get Soma seaworthy again? Losing workspace at the farm doesn't help, but that's a reflection on the lack of HSC leadership. Unfortunately, certain club "leaders" (hi Mark G!) are eyeing Soma's trailer like vultures circling a dying horse. They also have another, more insidious motivation: by getting rid of Soma, they can (they hope) get rid of a few individuals who have Soma ratings by making sure that, once Soma is gone, those individuals never get skipper ratings on any other keelboats.
Welcome to Hoofers, where your money goes a...way.
Remember the Soma vs. Maria keelboat wars? Phew! Those were intense times. Nice to have some big bad boats like Soma and Decoy that ruled Lake Mendota. J's have their place as a stepping stone to mastery of the big rigs but they should not be the end all.
ReplyDeleteA well balanced portfolio of fleets is necessary to meet the diverse needs of a diverse group of people.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the highest caste members of society in Brave New World get more SOMA than the others? Boat was named appropriately. The Hoofer elites will just have to wean themselves off of SOMA and learn to live like the lower caste in the club.
ReplyDeleteR-E-L-A-X. The pyramid scheme will find a big jolly boat to replace Soma. The few at the top soon to be sailing, again. Seamanship apparent in their lubbardly sails, slurping sustainable wines and noshing on sustainable cheese whilst sloshing past Tech students floundering in Lake Mendota's primordial broth.
ReplyDeleteHoofers is suffering from mismanagement at the highest levels. Ever since David Elsmo seized control, people are dying, boats are falling into disrepair, and morale in general is the lowest I've seen in 20 years. It's time to (Pardon the expression) "Ditch the Bitch" Fire elsmo, and return the club to student leadership. This will never happen, however, because the union would rather the appearance of doing what's best, rather than actually doing whats best. Ironically driving the club into the rocks under Oberfuhrer Elsmo has a better "Appearance" than student leadership and less liability than NOT killing people does. Go figure. Many more will perish, but the union will appear blameless on paper. Cést la Vie, or lack thereof.
ReplyDeleteLast year for the club. Elsmo and the 420's will be down at the Porter Boathouse. Canoe rentals maybe.
ReplyDeleteAny decent keelboats pending donation to the club? We need the big cruisers like Decoy that can handle huge winds while crushing the competition in races. Would be nice to have a few of these for some serious boating.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the status on SOMA? Hope it makes back into service!
At the keelboat meeting last spring I agreed to take over leading the restoration of Soma. This summer I moved everything out of the container I could find that belonged to her. I also heard that there was an effort by our fleet leaders to dispose of Soma to use her trailer for another impending T-10 donation. Perhaps realizing that rebuilding her trailer to hold a cradle could be problematic, the fleet captain posted that he found money elsewhere to buy another trailer for the T-10.
ReplyDeleteSo, Soma is still with us. She is structurally sound and has unique features like a big, flat deck that make her an especially useful asset for the club. Over the winter I will organize enough restoration to get her on the water in the spring. If you're interested in helping to organize please send an email to
hfschmidt@wisc.edu
and we'll get a core leadership group together.
btw, Soma is still famous outside the sailing club. This video is from MG&E's greenview pages. It's a fun story about the two days that this was shot.
ReplyDeletehttps://storybridge.tv/greenview/sustainability-sailors/
Nice video, never saw it before. (at least the first half is very cool then it turns into something of an ad for green power which I didn't watch all of.)
ReplyDeleteSoma is an icon, so it's nice to hear she's still in good shape and will be sailing again next year.
I don't know what to believe but current the fleet captain, who said more than a year ago that he didn't want to continue his position, is still there ad claims Soma will be put up for sale immediately via UW-Swap. This was announced the day after I sent him and PeterK a picture of testing being able to load Soma's mast onto a j-24 trailer in order to move it from the Exp Farm to the Slaughterhouse. I was going to do it Sunday but put it off due to the rain. Maybe now I won't bother.
ReplyDeleteWith a usable trailer and a new diesel engine maybe someone's friend is looking forward to Soma being listed without notice for only a few days.
who is wu.sailing who pays $1500 for 40 year old fj's? is it the club bidding up the price on its own boats? (search for "sail", check "completed")
http://swapauction.wisc.edu/Listing/Details/651301/1978-Vanguard-Flying-Junior-Bow-2-UW-Madison-35838
I shared on the 'friendsofsoma' list that, right after the damage was discovered last year, 20 people put in weekends of effort to try to get Soma ready for 2016 liftin. The person who took charge after than just didn't motivate anything. I agreed this summer to take over and was planning to put people together to finish the retrofit this winter. But the two people who currently own the fleet want to populate it with a bunch of 25 to 35 year old Tartan 10s. The first arrived with rotting floorboards and stringers, soft core, wire rigging, etc. You have to remove the engine cover to turn off the engine. It looks like no maintenance and upgrades have been done this summer. These boats don't appear to be near the original quality much less condition of Soma which was built like a battleship.
ReplyDeleteIt was like this during the Stenbol era when, ironically, Pete Mooney publicly announced that 'these people are evil'. He and his in-crowd friends feel like the old Foreplay crowd revisited.
These guys gave T-10 ratings to only to each other (PeterM, PeterK, BobC) and it took most of the summer before they even hold a testout for rated Decoy/Soma/Toyboat skippers - and that was only after petitioning the Commodore - and then only for instructors. I wrote the Commodore and asked who paying members had to petition to get a rating - the Union Director? Dean of Students? - and got offered a testout on short notice. I had other commitments and could make it and was offered to join to the instructors being tested out, but I was out of town then. Did I hear that only one instructor signed up for six positions? I wonder how many ratings there are now and who has them.
I had to snipe but the it's standard hoofers upper fleet culture to take private control of public property.
That's sad. Soma is very well built, it just needs some work. Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said "work". Tartan 10's are junk, but they're free. Of course, Soma is free too since we already own Soma!
ReplyDeleteIt is illegal to sell anything under the table via UW Swap, maybe not even possible, but there might not be a rule against bidding up your own auctions as someone is obviously doing with that FJ. $1,500? Ridiculous.
Unfortunately some club leaders aren't professionals or academics. They're simpletons endowed with the authority to royally screw things up. Only a plebe would choose a T-10 over Soma.