EDITORIAL—As the employees talk up the new "marina," details from super-advocate Mills Botham, skewed somewhat to make the whole thing seem more utopian, can be found here:
http://hoofersailing.org/?q=tongfamilymarina
We put "marina" in quotes because Hoofer Sailing Club is not a marina. It's a fleet of boats with volunteers maintaining them, teaching each other how to sail, and generally having fun. At least, that was the vision, and we almost achieved it. The reality is that with more and more money being funneled through HSC, it was destined to be corrupt. Jim Rogers got the balls rolling by pushing hard for more paid instruction and a milkable cash cow (the Youth Program) as HOI. Then came the big remodeling in 2013, and now a $5 million "marina." Certain individuals have done a lot to help ruin things over the years. Nate Salowitz and Ras grabbing control of the keelboats in 2001, and then Chris Frye and Justin Cherniak (and others) fighting for paid keelboat instruction circa 2009, among other things.
Maybe instruction would suffer a bit if it were all volunteer--not that it would really matter in a club of enthusiasts eager to help each other learn. Besides, you learn by teaching too, so it is a natural progression from student to instructor. That's in the absence of corrupting cash. As it is, instruction is mediocre despite being mostly paid. Way too many people are treating it as a summer job, and spreading that infective meme.
Speaking of money, the "marina" website linked above emphasizes that "No taxpayer dollars are being used for this project."
So what? It's still a horrific waste of money to spend $4.8 million tearing apart the lakefront and then rebuilding it, when there are so many more pressing needs for funding. Harassment and sensitivity training for Wis. Union managers, for example, and counseling and extended psychiatric treatment for some of them. A few [ex-] Hoofer employees could use professional help too. And $1M wouldn't be too much to put into escrow for lawsuits and other claims, e.g. yachts damaged in Florida. Extra pay to retain highly qualified professors is also a big issue right now at UW-Madison as many are fleeing to other schools.
What else could $4.8M buy? How about this for kicks:
35 brand new Beneteau Oceanis 35' yachts
15 brand new Beneteau 46's, fully loaded(!)
45 brand new Catalina 34's
500 used J/24's
50,000 half-barrels of beer (give or take)
Three dozen brand new oceangoing yachts! Instead, we get some new piers of questionable integrity and a strip of grass where the Techs are now. How sick is that? Don't think for a second that no one is getting a kickback on this deal.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Sam Kleppe's bad day
Some thoughts on the partial(?) sheriff's report posted by a commenter on our previous post. (Thanx.) There are no huge revelations, and all the gory stuff is blacked out, but a couple of things jump out:
1. Apparently Yu Chen was indeed under sail and not down in the water when the collision occurred. With very few other boats around at the time, he should have stuck out like a cherry on a cream pie. Yeah it's tough to see out of that Rescue boat due to the high bow when planing, the angled windshield, etc, but in the end, a motorboat can only hit a sailboat if the motorboater does something wrong.
2. One disturbing comment that might indicate a defect in motorboat driver training says they look mainly to the right (p. 34) because motorboats coming from that direction have right of way. Yu Chen approached from their left (see page 9).
3. Chris Kleppe declined to have his blood tested after the incident, and while Sam Kleppe and Bill Stebbins submitted to blood tests, their results are redacted in the report. That doesn't look good. If they were clean, then the sheriff sure didn't do them a favor by blacking that out.
One can blame Yu Chen for not looking where he was going, but the report says he was coming from the east, and it was late afternoon, so he was looking straight into the sun--and the sun was not in the motorboat driver's eyes. And of course, sailboats have right-of-way. Were there reflections off the waves to the east..? Probably, but if visibility was so poor, then Harvey should have slowed down.
In a big motorboat on Lake Mendota, you are obligated to be aware of what's around you at all times and how fast any other craft are moving. That's stating the obvious, and yet, it obviously needs to be stated. Even while skippering Spray on windy days, I'm often uncomfortable when other boats are around because if we hit one, we could do serious damage. So, I make sure there is no chance of intercepting any other boats. Of course, a sailboarder could hit us if he wanted to because he's much faster, but the Rescue motorboat typically goes 4-5 times as fast as Spray. Nor do they have a headsail to interfere with visibility.
The report does not disprove the theory that Yu Chen was hotdogging, e.g. swinging by Harvey to wave hello. Maybe Yu was headed north, then swung west to approach them, and meanwhile, they turned their attention to the west, thinking he was well clear of them. Yu misjudged their speed, or his own, and.... However, this scenario seems unlikely because then he would have been well aware of where the motorboat was. In any case, if a motorboat driver is exercising due care, it should be impossible for him to hit a sailor. If one is on a collision course or deliberately trying to intercept the motorboat, the driver must change course or drop speed.
The most startling item in the report may be where Sam says they'd been cruising along for 3-4 minutes when suddenly he saw a windsurfer "three feet off the bow."
Even on Spray, you wouldn't want to find yourself three feet off the bow of an 8,000 lb motorboat doing 25 knots.
1. Apparently Yu Chen was indeed under sail and not down in the water when the collision occurred. With very few other boats around at the time, he should have stuck out like a cherry on a cream pie. Yeah it's tough to see out of that Rescue boat due to the high bow when planing, the angled windshield, etc, but in the end, a motorboat can only hit a sailboat if the motorboater does something wrong.
2. One disturbing comment that might indicate a defect in motorboat driver training says they look mainly to the right (p. 34) because motorboats coming from that direction have right of way. Yu Chen approached from their left (see page 9).
3. Chris Kleppe declined to have his blood tested after the incident, and while Sam Kleppe and Bill Stebbins submitted to blood tests, their results are redacted in the report. That doesn't look good. If they were clean, then the sheriff sure didn't do them a favor by blacking that out.
One can blame Yu Chen for not looking where he was going, but the report says he was coming from the east, and it was late afternoon, so he was looking straight into the sun--and the sun was not in the motorboat driver's eyes. And of course, sailboats have right-of-way. Were there reflections off the waves to the east..? Probably, but if visibility was so poor, then Harvey should have slowed down.
In a big motorboat on Lake Mendota, you are obligated to be aware of what's around you at all times and how fast any other craft are moving. That's stating the obvious, and yet, it obviously needs to be stated. Even while skippering Spray on windy days, I'm often uncomfortable when other boats are around because if we hit one, we could do serious damage. So, I make sure there is no chance of intercepting any other boats. Of course, a sailboarder could hit us if he wanted to because he's much faster, but the Rescue motorboat typically goes 4-5 times as fast as Spray. Nor do they have a headsail to interfere with visibility.
The report does not disprove the theory that Yu Chen was hotdogging, e.g. swinging by Harvey to wave hello. Maybe Yu was headed north, then swung west to approach them, and meanwhile, they turned their attention to the west, thinking he was well clear of them. Yu misjudged their speed, or his own, and.... However, this scenario seems unlikely because then he would have been well aware of where the motorboat was. In any case, if a motorboat driver is exercising due care, it should be impossible for him to hit a sailor. If one is on a collision course or deliberately trying to intercept the motorboat, the driver must change course or drop speed.
The most startling item in the report may be where Sam says they'd been cruising along for 3-4 minutes when suddenly he saw a windsurfer "three feet off the bow."
Even on Spray, you wouldn't want to find yourself three feet off the bow of an 8,000 lb motorboat doing 25 knots.
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