Worse, the club is still paying people to teach sailing, as if teaching sailing were a job.
HSC instructors shouldn't be paid because there's no need for it, and hiring should be based primarily on prior evaluations, which would help to weed out the cronyism and nepotism that infects HSC. To facilitate this, all students should be required to fill out evaluations after every lesson. All first-year instructors would be probationary and evaluated as the season goes along because they won't have any prior evaluations. Unfortunately, this will never happen because the "club" as envisioned by Jim Rogers and now Dave Elsmo is a jobs program for buddies of current employees, with no accountability.
The same article goes on to quote new instructor Ed LeBlanc as saying, "The worst thing you can do is take a swim." Was Ed raised in a bubble, or is he trying to insult swimmers? On hot days, we used to capsize our Techs just to go swimming! Harvey didn't like that, of course, nor lowering the main to do it, but in a light wind you can go swimming off a Tech and just hold on to the painter. The larger boats including the sloops and keelboats are excellent swimming platforms. The water is much cleaner out in the middle of the lake than by shore.
An article in last summer's issue of On Wisconsin noted that the sailing team manages to squeak by on just $65,000/year. Sixty five thousand dollars?! So that a few undergraduates can travel around the country racing dinghies for fun? This includes an annual spring break "training trip" to Florida. We've noticed before how big their budget is. It should be slashed immediately.
One wonders where the increasing instruction costs combined with decreasing membership and all those large, frivolous budget items will lead. If nothing else, they create an incentive to rip off customers*.
We didn't actually go and dig out the latest budget due to lingering hangovers, but I think the club could save another $50,000 by firing Dave Elsmo.
Next time, we'll look at Hoofers' ASA instructors and why the ASA program sucks.
*Customer: a paying "club" member.
Fleet Commander, of all the ridiculous posts I've seen on this nonsensical blog, this one better than any other illustrates how painfully out of touch you and the other administrators of this blog have become. I wonder how long it's ben since any of you were actually current members of the Sailing Club? A few years at least I would imagine. If you could manage to quit living in the past and try to take a look at the sailing club with a fresh perspective, I think you'd find that the club has changed for the better.
ReplyDeleteGiven that the majority of the information you've written here is inaccurate, again perhaps drawn from outdated experiences, I feel compelled to correct your errors for the benefit of your readers. As one who abhors (usually imagined) slander and libel, I'm sure you wouldn't want inaccurate information being passed around.
As a preface, I've been in leadership role is some form or another with Hoofers for the last 3 years, including a position on the Board of Captains. As a result, my knowledge of policies and the inner workings of the club is more up-to-date than yours. I've also been an instructor for the last 5 years. I can't speak in detail to what the club was like before my time, and I suspect there's some accuracy to your concerns about Hoofers' issues in the era of around 2005-20013, but a great deal has changed since that time, and the club is a better place for it. Contrary to what you believe, much of the progress that the club has made is due to the hard work and tireless dedication that Dave Elsmo and the other Hoofer advisors have shown not just to the Sailing Club, but to the entire Hoofer Organization. I also have a number of friends on the Wisconsin Sailing Team, and am well versed on its policies and practices. So there's my background and my credentials, I hope that lends some credibility to my argument.
In the On Wisconsin issue that you cited, I believe Dave is referencing the number of new memberships that the club sells annually, not the total membership. The current total membership, according to a report run through the lessons website, is hovering right around 1000 members, which is pretty typical for this time of year. The numbers are down slightly (~50-100), but that's to be expected given the infrastructural issues that the club had been having with the sloop and windsurfing deck, which have now been rectified by the club's extraordinary shop staff. The On Wisconsin article also notes, contrary to your rather pompous attitude about how the club treats its members financially, that "At around $250 for an annual student pass, it’s one of the country’s most cost- effective sailing programs." You'd be hard pressed to find a cheaper opportunity to get on the water and learn to sail than that.
(My comment here appears to be too long for one post, it continues below, this is 1/3)
(continued from above)
ReplyDeleteTo your point that the sailing club should not have paid instructors, again, your information is outdated and inaccurate. With the state of the world and the economy these days, time is becoming a more and more valuable commodity for everyone. Fewer and fewer people can afford to spare their time for volunteering. The number of lessons in the sailing club reflects this, as volunteer instructors are teaching substantially fewer lessons than they had in previous years. That's by no means a dig at the volunteer instructors, I have always admired their dedication to the club. If anything, I empathize with the constraints on their schedules, and I understand how difficult finding the time do what you love can be. The paid instructional staff are the ones teaching the overwhelming majority of lessons. If the club were to quit paying its instructors, most of them, myself included, would be forced by financial necessity to find employment elsewhere. Furthermore, the paid instructors at the sailing club work for incredibly low rates given their skill sets. US Sailing level 1 certified instructors make almost 3x less per hour at Hoofers than they would teaching at a private summer camp or a yacht club elsewhere in Wisconsin, with an identical skillset. Teaching sailing well is not an easy thing, particularly when you take into consideration that those instructors are directly responsible for the lives of their students. The training and background that goes into really being able to do the job well warrants the pay that the instructional staff receive. Lastly, many of the instructors are college students. Again using myself as an example here, the income I generate teaching sailing in the summer, along with scholarships and another job during the school year, have helped me pay my way through UW Madison. Without that coming from Hoofers, I, along with many other instructors, would have to seek employment elsewhere to financially make ends meet. The resulting loss of instructors would cause a precipitous drop in available lessons, followed by a precipitous drop in the membership, followed by the crumbling of the sailing club entirely. If anything, the club should increase it's instructional wage budget. The club's first and foremost obligation to its members (or customers as you call them) is to provide the infrastructure, instruction, and equipment necessary to teach people to sail. Raising wages would allow the club to attract a greater number of instructors with a broader skillset, improving the quality of the instructional program as a whole.
As to your accusations of cronyism and nepotism, I suspect once upon a time that your assertions were somewhat accurate, if slightly exaggerated due to your (largely self-inflicted) bad experiences with the club. However, the club these days operates with significant oversight from the Union, and its policies and practices are quite transparent. Furthermore, the club and the Union as a whole, are both student governed, with assistance from program advisors. Those advisors do not have totalitarian authority as you seem to believe Dave has, they usually can't even vote on the governance boards (In the sailing club's case, that's the Board of Captains), nor can they remove student leaders from power. Hoofer Council (again, a student governance board that is elected by the entire Hoofer membership) has the authority to do that, but only in situations where the leader has committed some egregious act or completely failed to meet the expectations of their position.
(this is 2/3)
(continued from above)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why you felt the need to go on a tirade about swimming, but I know that there's nothing preventing one from going for a dip off a Hoofer boat on a hot day. Assuming you have your rating, are wearing a lifejacket, and have sufficient strength to get yourself back into the boat, there's no reasons one couldn't go for a swim. Just be careful that the boat doesn't float away, it's a long swim home. However, it's generally good practice to not do that during a lesson, as it's difficult to learn to sail from the water, and after all, we're here to teach sailing, not swimming.
To your points on the sailing team, your postulations are again wholly inaccurate. The Wisconsin Sailing Team does in fact squeak by on a $65,000 annual budget. That's really quite impressive given the size of the team, with a roster now over 60 members. The team is one of the most competitive in the Midwest, and continues to perform well at the national level (made even more impressive due to the fact that they lose their training facility to ice all winter). The team's funding comes almost entirely from the dues that the members pay to be on the team (which are much higher than general club member fees) and their fundraising efforts. That's in addition to the general membership fee that they pay like everyone else in the Sailing Club. To that end, the team is an incredible contributor to the sailing club as a whole. When very few volunteers showed up for the most recent pier out and pier in, the team stepped up and got it done. Furthermore, the team pays a portion of Dave's salary for his role as coach of the team. Dave, like the team itself, is an incredible asset to the program. He regularly works 70-80 hour weeks, and is payed substantially less that he should be for the degree of experience and time that he puts in.
Fleet Commander, as much as it pains me to say this given the trouble you and yours have caused for the sailing Club, I'd encourage you to look into re-joing if you can. Assuming you aren't under a current ban for prior poor and inappropriate behavior or something else along those lines, I think you'd benefit from coming back to the Sailing Club. Try to rid yourself of your ego and long-outdated preconceived notions about the sailing club and see that it really is one fo the best places in the world for sailors to spend time. With the recent policy changes and the new marina system that will be in place in the spring of 2019 (largely the result of massive efforts by Dave Elsmo and Mills Botham), there's never been a better time to get back into it. If you're willing to behave in a respectful manner, I suspect the club would welcome you back with open arms. If not, I'd strongly encourage you to find something else to do with your life. Given how long you've been out of the Sailing Club, the degree to which you feel that still have an axe to grind is really quite sad. I hope you find something fulfilling in life, no one should be as bitter and jaded as you've clearly become with a place that you have no relevance in anymore. All you'd have to do to change that is be a decent human being, the ball is truly in your court.
Kind Regards,
An Anonymous Life-Long Hoofer
(this is 3/3)
Wow, that all makes sense, except much of it is only half true. I too am an instructor and can add some context. It is true that volunteer lessons are down from a few years ago, however it is not because people have are volunteering less, it is because they are getting paid more. Since keelboat instructors became eligible for hourly pay, of course fewer lessons are taught as "volunteer". So it is a half-truth to say that. However I dont hold this against them because if someone says "you can do this for free or we'll pay you $10/hr to do it" which will u choose?
ReplyDeleteYou also say, "The paid instructional staff are the ones teaching the overwhelming majority of lessons." Well, duh. That does not address whether they _should_ be paid.
As for people not showing up for pier-in, that is do to two things. One, membership is down, and two, paying some people a.k.a. "instructors" to teach other a.k.a. "club members" does not create the best possible club environment. It creates jobs, but better overall is when a club of equals helps eachother to learn, experienced club members teach beginners and so on. I think _most_ lessons could be volunteer. A free membership should be enough compensation. Not all lessons can be volunteer because most people would not teach for free on the Techs or boards. The bottom line is, the more money in the system, the more unequal it is, the more potential for corruption. When people feel like "customers" as this blog puts it, they are less likely to come help with pier-in and other things.
And, do US Sailing certified instructors really make $30/hr at a summer camp? I doubt it.
I too find much of this blog silly, but some of it's points are valid, even if the numbers are not quite correct.
David Elsmo needs to go, and the club needs to be returned to student Leadership.
ReplyDeleteAccording to what someone already wrote above, the club is already under students leadership. I am not a current member, and never advanced much past the Interlakes, however I enjoy hearing about the latest antics. Am not so sure about the direction the club seems to be taking, toward an adult day care center instead of a social organization as it used to be. It seems a few irresponsible individuals may have ruined it for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe long comment up above reminds me of the old monkey house at the Vilas Park Zoo. You could tell that most of the 150 or so monkeys inside thought life was perfectly normal. Only a few of the brightest ones seemed to have any clue that everything was not as it should be. Then in 1998, they were all shipped off to Louisiana to be used in experiments, and the monkey house was torn down.
ReplyDeleteI was a member for several years. I have not renewed my membership since Yu Chen was run over and chopped to death by the rescue boat. Frankly, I have a hard time enjoying any UW-related activity since his death. The delays in the investigation were horrendous and the UW refusing to release the results of its own investigation is appalling.
ReplyDeleteYou may wonder why I seem to be punishing the club for Yu Chen's death and the answer is simple. The club and Harvey are a tight-knit group. There is no better group than the club to pressure the UW to give Yu Chen justice. It may not make sense to you, but I wonder if others are doing the same thing.
Dear Anon above, I share your sentiment. I have not renewed my membership and quite frankly have lost any desire to be around Hoofers due to exactly what you listed. There are probably others who are just as turned-off by what happened and how things were handled.
ReplyDeleteNon-renewals and declining membership speaks volumes about the current environment. After a while the bottom line takes the hit and change occurs.
Look what I found. http://hooversailingclub.com/
ReplyDeleteOh Fleet Kommander;
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing quite as painful in life as watching someone who is out of touch with current events try to spin the statements of others to track with their own distorted view of reality. This trait is the hallmark of ignorance. Something that you seem to possess in boundless quantities.
As another person here stated, you really HAVE been away from Hoofers for too long. Perhaps it IS time to turn in your grinding ax, hang up your shallow interpretation of the truth, and either do something else to fill your time or join the club. Unless you cannot join any longer? Hmmmmm. Only a few fit that category.
Aside from the things that have already been pointed out to you as it relates to your "post", you have taken the words of both a fine instructor and a fine man and twisted them, just a bit, to suit the theme of your so-called blog. For Eddie LeBlanc told you nothing that any other Hoofers instructor would tell you.
That it is NOT good to take a swim in Lake Mendota. NOT because the club and/or its instructors are trying to prevent anyone from having fun, but because the lake is sick. The water is baby-puke brown far beyond the mooring field, and has been for much of the year. And every year it grows worse.
So here is a clue wanna-be Commodore; if there are dead mallards and fish lining the shore, and if living water fowl will not go inshore to feed, AND if the lakefront is posted with warnings about the water quality, it is generally not a good idea to go for a swim. Even at its best you would not find many Hoofer members or instructors waiting with breathless anticipation to get in that water.
Sorry to ruin your nostalgic visions of the past Kommander. Days when we were loaded up with volunteers and could delightfully jump off of boats to cool off. But aside from the quality of the lake water, this is a SAILING CLUB! Get it??? Sailing with a capital S.
My word you are dumb.
Hearts and Flowers;
A-NON
The water is really not fit for being in. Besides the BG algae, other bacteria and such are present. Not uncommon to have what looks like contact dermatitis after being in the primordial broth that is the lake known as Mendota.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.channel3000.com/news/dangerous-algae-blooms-on-area-lakes-causing-problems-for-businesses/761963767
I think the sailing team has stopped helping pay for Dave Elsmo's salary for the last three years so the club now pays the entire $65,000. Correct me if I'm wrong. That could pay for a ton of instruction. Can anybody get into a lesson?
ReplyDeleteThat's what happens when the sailing team wins hoofer elections. They use more club funds.
DeleteWhere is the scow pier? where are our valued older members? David Elsmo has done nothing but Alienate former members, Trash our traditions, and power grab after power grab. Now he is the self appointed Sailing Program Director. Hoofers is not a Student Org anymore, and since he has seized the reigns, we've killed 2 members, when we had been 75 years free of death.
ReplyDeleteDave NEEDS to go, or hoofers will die. We will be organizing a march against his reign of terror if anyone is interested in helping out. He has done so many shady dealings we believe we can have him thrown out, if not arrested.
Is Commodore's Cup still on for this year? I wasn't sure and the Hoofer Sailing website is out of date.
ReplyDeleteLooking to join a team!
The AnonyTechs
Hey A-NON, maybe you should tell the kiddos who motor around on the J24's and swim off of them that nobody in the club swims off of boats. I saw them at it again today.
ReplyDeleteAfter what happened last summer, i cringe at the thought of swimming anywhere near a propeller, inboard or outboard.
ReplyDelete