Nah. This blog will probably outlive you (provided Google does). But we did fail to deter construction of the new "marina" which is now well underway. We took an interest too late, as did many others, even as the promoters worked quietly to make big changes. The technocrats, the hacks, the self-serving administrators planned and schemed and then unleashed their project when they knew it would be too late to stop it.
That's how such people operate--they do preliminary studies, make sure they have the support of key people, line up at least one big donor (to draw others in), and handle doubters with half-truths and misdirection, all with as little publicity as possible. Always the driving motivation is narcissistic--vanity, ego, self-enrichment (along with a bit of idiocy in this case, to waste $5 million re-dressing the Hoofer lakefront).
***Naming recognition opportunities still available*** :)
Do you think it's not narcissism? The new "marina" will have big bronze plaques proudly displaying the names of big donors, just like the old parking lot-cum-Alumni Park is dotted with huge, vain placards. If you can read this page in its entirety without barfing, you should win a roll of Tums. Try it, it's not that long. And how about the "Badger Pride Wall"... Does anyone really call it that?? Pride, the most egregious of the Seven Deadly Sins--sprayed in your face. I'm not religious, but I find the use of pride as a driving motivation disgusting. It's what motivates managers to remodel things that don't need remodeling.
As for Alumni Park's supposed raison d'être--celebrating the "Wisconsin Idea"--that philosophy has become an inside joke, along with its corollary of "sifting and winnowing." In the 21st century, the UW teaches students to grab whatever they can, to abuse those they can abuse, and to lie about it afterward--and to take pride in getting away with it. This isn't just an outgrowth of the creeping xenophobia at the UW; it is a sea change in the basic philosophy that governs the university.
Metaphorically speaking, UW-Madison is an aging, pimped-up East European whore lathered in makeup, carrying pepper spray and various diseases. Administrators prefer this to a less-glamorous-but-honest-persona because the former naturally draws more notice, more funding, more paying students, more gullible faculty, and so on. It works because people tend to believe what they hear, a fundamental flaw in human nature that lets the few prey on the many. Once a person realizes s/he may have been duped, most don't want to dig any further for fear they won't like what they find.
But hey, hopefully by July we'll have some new piers! Apologies to the poor muskrats who called the old piers home.
The marina project is such a hilarious idea, I don't even know how to count the ways it's gonna fail. 1 good stiff north wind, 1 day where water level is higher. Just ask the alumni pier where their kayak section is.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, we threw out and ostracized all the people who actually did work, and made repairs. So Here is your house of cards, lets hope the wind never blows.
There are some issues to be addressed with the Tong Family Marina.
ReplyDelete1. Birds pooping all over the boats now stored on the floating piers. Requires some preventative or powerwasher availability.
2. Tests to see if floating piers with stored boats can survive 4-5 foot waves during storms. Maybe Engineering students can make a model and put it into a tank and test.
If this is all done well we should have a nice pier system. If it does not go well, then what do we have? Let's hope it does and we don't lose another sailing season.
No floating pier system can work at that location. We fail to remember the mistakes of our past.`The bottom is silt-loam. It cannot bear the forces of tension for long. Only a method of resolving the forces into compression will work.
ReplyDeleteOur vertical piers were Ideal because all forces resolved into downward compression. When a floating pier tugs in an upward wave, it pulls and over time WILL FAIL!!! Expensive and frequent monitoring and maintenance can abate the issues short term, but we threw out everyone who does that kind of thing... Lol.
It is an expensive house of cards, it will crumble, and boats will wind up on the rocks. Seasons of sailing will be ruined due to clean up.
Diver Don raises a point. The floating pier system and all that it holds is doomed to structural failure.
ReplyDeleteIs this seriously going to gone down this way? Surely someone did a study and figured out that this will work and not fail? Maybe someone should look-up the Tong Family in the telephone directory and ask them if they are cool with having their $3M donation turned into a debris field.
I am hoping that someone can rebut Diver Don Soils Scientist statements. Please rebut as I cannot or do not want to believe that this Tong Family Marina is fatally flawed! Nothing personal Diver Don, just wishing it weren't so.
LOL. I watched the Goodspeed pier break up in a storm. I climbed on the big stack of pier sections at Willow Beach after it broke up again in a different storm. The canoe slips have been MIA ever since. I've seen the wood edges get torn up in more storms than I can count.
ReplyDeleteThe new marina is not fatally flawed, it's just a boondoggle. It will get damaged, and they'll shovel out the dollars to fix it. Bigger budgets and bigger payrolls mean bigger fiefdoms for the administrators.
I was the one that Used our clubs spinnaker lines to tie the alumni pier together after I pulled it off the terrace steps at 3AM. Good luck w the marina!!! I got suspended for doing TOO much work! Cant wait to watch this unfold.
ReplyDeleteGreater minds than ours have examined and worked out all the details. It will be fine.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone of you rocket surgeons substantiate this rabble being roused? If you can please share. Anecdotal memories of something that may or may not have happened in the past with some floating pier is hardly evidence-based. If you have good reason to believe that the new piers are flawed then it is your responsibility as a concerned citizen to speak-up and get things fixed. Just standing around with your tiller in your hand doesn't do any good.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a whileto type this with one hand.... What Diver Don says is very interesting. I have never gone diving during pier in/out, although I help with both, so please correct me if I'm wrong here:
ReplyDeleteThe old piers were anchored by pilings set into the sediment. They did not just sit on the bottom held in place by their own weight. I recall there were problems attaching a pier a couple years ago, or maybe aligning it properly. The pilings (maybe not the right word) are necessary to be able to tie up any big boats in a northwesterly, which puts a lot of sideways pull on the pier as well as some up and down action. If the pier just sat there under its own, admittedly heavy, weight it would sideslip. Yet as fas as I know a pier has never failed like that
So the new piers must be designed with such anchors or pilings too. I am not in favor of floating piers, but maybe the designers are not complete idiots. We will know by next September. They did however, fail to anticipate other problems like ducks and seagulls taking over the Techs and 420's when stored out on the water....
Maybe a new paid position can be dusk to dawn "human scarecrow". Or boat washer.
Are they designed with anchors and pilings? Probably so. Much ado about nothing. Good point about the water fowl fouling the boats and docks. Just power spray the faeces right into the the blue green alga broth. Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteMuskrats were mentioned in the post. The area off the Alumni pier was prime habitat for walleye and other fish. The areas off of the Hoofer piers were a nice niche for aquatic habitat and our winged friends the ducks.
ReplyDeleteNormally there is an environmental study done to assess what impacts would occur if the proposed project is to move forward. I bring this up because there is some serious earth moving on and in the lake for the construction of the new marina. In time, the area will heal and aquatic life will return if given a chance.
Let us hope that the new marina, shore and surrounding waters will thrive.
I just like how you cite your bold, false, claims with a link to your older blog posts with the same bold, false claims. Reminds me of the foolishness in the white house lol
ReplyDeleteThe pier footings were successful because they were set into the sediment and all forces on them resolved into vertical forces. You cannot resolve a floating pier's forces into mostly vertical. Someone will pay Millions, someone will make millions, and hoofers will get screwed and on the hook for millions more, when they fail.
ReplyDeleteDon, my greatest fear is that we will wind-up with something that is fatally flawed from the beginning. Season after season failure of the piers and even smashed-up fleets will really kill the club. We don't want that! Is there someone who can address our concerns?
ReplyDeleteHey Blog-meister! Who do we contact who can address questions?
Who applied to be the new head of instructor and sailing team coach? Anybody get the job yet? Looks like the BOC is again trying to get rid of Techs and focus on youth camps. Plastic boats to go with the plastic piers because "fiberglass is not durable"
ReplyDeleteBEGINNER FLEET COMMITTEE minutes
Chris M: For an initial investment for a new fleet, we’re thinking we should fundraise $60,000 for 18 boats. If we’re expanding, may be able to do 12-15. We would still want to wait until after this conference. RS Zests can hold up to 3 people in each boat.
Dave F: How do you repair plastic?
Dave E: Hot glue gun. They’re super rugged and they bounce better. My concern is that they’re low freeboard boats. Could purchase a few and use that as a fundraising initiative. Lukas: We should come up with a list of desired traits for the new fleet. Fiberglass is strong but not durable and is costly to repair.
Chris M: Would plastic boats mean an investment in materials for the shop?
Alex: No, if we do a full fleet, it might even come with materials. Not a huge investment. Christopher: Techs sink often. We need a boat to withstand abuse and the Youth kids don’t like Techs either.
Tarek: Speaking as a former Youth camper, assistant and instructor, it’s really demoralizing to sink a Tech.
Lukas: There’s also lost revenue with people not coming back if boats are sinking and parents don’t want their children in that kind of lesson. The Youth program
is a huge source of revenue for the club and we want to think about benefits for both youth and the general membership.
Dave E: The last committee that went through this didn’t pick something that fit any requirements they wanted in a boat.
Chris M: We will find pros and cons to the top ~15 boats and the board can decide which to try.
Lukas: We’ll determine more specific requirements later.
Sounds like a race to the lowest common denominator. If you can sink a Tech you deserve an award and wink of the eye. So we just raise the sunken Tech and it goes back in service. Maybe the plastic boats will be easier to glue back together after the new piers wind-up on the Terrace?
ReplyDeleteYouth are not the only users of the boats. I can see why from this excerpt that one can be led to believe that Hoofer Youth concerns take precedence over the rest of the Club.
Abandoning Techs is like getting rid of Bucky. Both are iconic. But unlike Bucky, you can sail a Tech. I think the Club is getting shortsighted. Throwing everything out to make everything new. Well maybe that's a good idea and maybe not. Obviously greater minds have closed to the options and this will just go ahead anyways.
Here's a radical idea: Maybe, just maybe, the professional structural engineers who designed the new marina and the construction company that is building them know what they're doing? I mean come on folks. These people design marine infrastructure for a living. They did a thorough analysis of the shoreline, the lake conditions, the wildlife, everything that could possibly have any bearing on the durability of the piers or that they would affect was taken into consideration. The DNR was consulted and approved wholeheartedly. The green space along the shoreline is designed to filter the runoff that would otherwise run straight into the lake.
ReplyDeleteAll these claims and concerns the the first big storm or wind from the North will annihilate the new piers are anecdotal, based on nothing even remotely scientific. If we're going by anecdotes, here's one for you. Were any of you in Madison on October 20th of this year? The Lake was still 2 feet above it's normal level from the late summer and fall rains, and there were enormous winds out of the North. Waves breaking on the Union shoreline that dropped debris 50 feet inland from the waterline in alumni park. In all the time I've lived in Madison, I'd never seen anything like it. All in all, a combination of factors that made for probably the worst that Lake Mendota can throw at Hoofers. You know what took absolutely no damage in those conditions? Alumni pier. A fixed permanent deck structure with an attached floating pier. You know what also took no damage? The Edgewater pier, constructed in exactly the same manner. Anyone know how the new Hoofer marina is designed? You guessed it, permanent deck structures with attached floating piers.
How can you all not see the incredible thing that this marina will be for the sailing club? The new piers are safer, more efficient, and will allow the club to better fulfill it's mission, to get people on the water and to teach them to sail. The future of the sailing club is bright, and it's thanks to the many people who have poured their hearts and souls into this marina project for years.
Goodness, the blog-meister and his readers seem to pick little facts out of the minutes and other sources to encourage others to comment on this blog so that the person who types this drivel gets his advertising revenue. Nice gig if you are into telling half he story.
ReplyDeleteThe DNR is the government entity that reviews and approves anything done to the lake. Surely with your expansive knowledge of the lake and club, and your equally expansive opinions on what others should do, you would know this. But you spin the story to pump up your comments and get that holy advertising revenue.
The Tech is a crappy boat based on old technology. Not very good, old technology. People pay good money to learn on Hoofers boats, and the Techs require far more work than a polyurethane hull to keep in repair. They are old. Really old. What about progress and innovation? Not in your blog, right?
Ever consider that the Techs run off students who would otherwise stay if we had a more suitable beginning boat? Taking their money and putting them into a boat alone, a boat in which they will likely capsize, does not present a good first experience of the club. You think otherwise, tell us why?
And the stuff about ducks is truly amusing. They crap all over the existing piers, so what makes you think the new piers will be different? Worrying about ducks sitting on boats is an unknown. Just like the amount of bird crap on the hulls that sit under the trees. Odd that you never mention that.
Finally? Come to the meeting on December 17 why don't you? Most everyone who comments on here has some complaint of the club, right? So how many of you will come and speak your peace? My guess is none because it is easier to hide behind your chicken shit anonymous comments and blogs.
Some of you might come, but my bet is that not a one of you will voice any of the things you have written here. Why? Afraid of the truth? Or of a rational discussion of the issue? Or of having someone else call you out?
Wake up or grow up or get help or go away.
Nice reassurance regarding the quality and experience of the company building the new piers. Right. It is their business to know this stuff. Plus, good to hear that the existing Alumni and Edgewater piers stood-up to the worst that Mendota could throw at them.
ReplyDeleteSeeing the Techs go does bring mixed feelings. Like saying goodbye to a faithful old car that just kept going. Good memories but alas the time has come to say good bye. Just like in the movie The Graduate, plastics are the future. Very convenient to heat-up a glob of plastic and plop it on a puncture. Not as complicated and expensive as fibreglass.
Students should learn to sail and manage self rescue. Learning to sail a Tech type boat builds skill and confidence. We've all seen too many folks fast-tracked on to J's and Keels that have no sense of where the wind is coming from. That sense comes with practice. But we can work through that as a club.
Positive changes and good reassurances. Good to know!
One generation plants the trees and the next one gets the shade.
ReplyDeleteThis is shocking. Dick Sharkey, commodore '82 and designer/builder of the club's current piers, died suddenly last week:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/11055954085/permalink/10156300537969086
Ironic that this happens just as new management are replacing his solid wood-and-steel piers with floating plastic ones. (at a cost of $4M)
Q: What's the diff between the new Hoofer piers and this:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/03/22/great-pacific-garbage-patch-grows/446405002/
A: Not much, after that first big storm comes through!
Boy there's some whopper comments above. To the know-it-all who wrote this
ReplyDelete"" The Tech is a crappy boat based on old technology. Not very good, old technology. People pay good money to learn on Hoofers boats, and the Techs require far more work than a polyurethane hull to keep in repair. They are old. Really old. What about progress and innovation? Not in your blog, right? ""
Complaining about 25-year old Techs sinking because the shop has not fixed basic leaks in the last 5 years is just plain ignorant. If these new plastic boats and piers make it to 5 years with the usual Hoofer beginner user abuse, sun degradation, and weather I'd be very surprised. Worth a try, but don't be the farm on it! But it doesn't matter you'll be out of Hoofers by then and it won't be your problem.
Looks like the minions are again trying to get Commodore elections to be in April, as far away as possible from the previous sailing season. That way members forget about the last Summer's screwups. Vote No on the constitutional amendment.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is so like negative all the time. Is anyone ever happy round here or is it just one big constant bummerfest? We need a fun topic that pokes fun at the peccadilloes of the club.
ReplyDeleteHow about this? What liquid beverage best describes each fleet and why?
Example: J Boats are Captain Morgan Rum because they remind me of that movie, Captain Ron.
Let's be thilly and have thum fun.
Hey Alc-Anon above, not everyone thinks about alcohol at the club.
ReplyDeleteAnd Seasons Greetings to the rest of you scurvy knaves :)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhy? You need a date?
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays and blessings for safe travels and wonderful friendships and fellowship this holiday season.
ReplyDeleteMay your stockings hung by the fire be filled
And under the tree all the things found that make you and yours happy :)
We say goodbye to 2018 and look forward to an exciting 2019!!!
we failed = end of blog.
ReplyDeleteCould it be true?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-sexual-abuse-lawsuits/
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2018/12/14/676901146/facing-allegations-of-child-abuse-the-boy-scouts-of-america-considers-bankruptcy
https://nypost.com/2017/08/09/boy-scout-leader-accused-of-sexually-abusing-boy-hundreds-of-times/
it seems that all of the readers of this masterwork blog just want to complain. There was an all club meeting on December 17, and less than forty people showed up. Worse is the fact that most of them were the instructors you all hate so much. And only one person at that meeting brought up relevant commentws that changes the path the club leadership was going to take.
ReplyDeleteSo why can't you, who relish trashing everything that is not from decades ago, why can't you show up to make the difference and change that you seek?
Just wonderin'
How would anyone know that there was an All Club meeting? Is there an email? Postcard in the mail? Or do we just find that out by going somewhere like say a blog?
ReplyDeleteUh, the entire club got an email. Check your spam. Don't use "I did not see an e-mail" as your excuse. Or, conotinue living in blissful ignorance.
ReplyDeleteLOL, I got no email, I asked several members if they got it, must have only been sent to the sailing team, or those who were preselected to agree to it.
ReplyDeleteNo email for me either. Pffft. Club has low energy. Sad.
ReplyDeletePut up a break wall like they have at Tenney Locks. Isthmus is going underwater until they figure out how to manage lake levels during these regional rain bomb events. Floating docks at Hoofers will let the docks rise and fall with the lake levels. Superior to fixed piers with decking that gets submerged and floats away.
ReplyDeleteNot so bold prediction is a break wall to protect marina area.
Gonna be a super awesome year at Hoofers in 2019!!!!!
The Marina's design represents state of the art engineering and use of materials that guarantee it will outlast the worst of storms. By using the Tech Hulls to float the docks, they stay in the water year round. All due to the power of the Tech Hulls. Try that with your plastic duckie boats and it will not work. Sigh. The mighty Techs. Even in their death they nourish the future piers for generations to come.
ReplyDeleteSo when you walk on your new Tong Family Marina dock, look down and see the yellow and orange under the planks as you get on your Toys R Us plastic boat. And after you sink after bumping a mooring pin, dream of the great boats that came before but are no more.
Got that out of my system! Have a happy new year all you blogster bums :)
That would only work if each Tech had a bilge pump in it, running 24/7. Techs have cracks, they leak a bit around the plugs even when they are in, etc. So instead of crickets or the gentle lapping of waves on shore at night, we would have the hum of two dozen little bilge pumps running. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that they could fill the techs up with cement and make a nice break water. Already a cheery red and yellow! Just the gentle swish swish swish of waves breaking against the hulls while keeping kiddyland plastic boats safe from things such as the lake or water in general.
ReplyDeleteThe future. One word: Plastics.
ReplyDeleteThey re-did the club website and it looks very nice. All shiny and new. It also has instructions on how to help donate money for the Tong Family Marina.
ReplyDeleteIf we all donate some serious bucks we could go all out on the the marina. Some underwater lights to light up the marina so that boats can navigate the floating piers at night. It wouldn't hurt to put a big light on each mooring so boats can find their spots at night.
ReplyDeleteWe could get a few more public webcams. Watching Justin do the Bennie Hill with the shore was fun but need some new material. A few webcams on the new breakwall would be really nice. One pointing down into University Bay and the other towards Tenney Locks.
For safety purposes I propose GPS transponders for each boat and life vest. That way we have real time tracking of every boat and life jacket. The greater surveillance will make the club safer.
Not sure I know where you are going with this greater surveillance but transponders would or could make the lake a safer place. If a Windsurfer had a transponder on their jacket and on the board then UW-Rescue could find people faster. It could help the UW-Rescue boat locate and rescue people faster. Those windsurfing boards and surfers are hard to see when laying down in choppy water. Same system could act as a collision detection system so as to not have a repeat of that which no one wants to discuss.
ReplyDeleteCommission UW DoIT to create and install the software. We'll call it Yu Chen DoIT.
How many years since our last Hoofer Death? The UW PD took over UW Rescue since the last death. They can make the call on what safety is required. Stay Calm and Sail On.
ReplyDeleteBoat transponders would be a useful way to track and manage boat usage and increase overall safety. Let's say you have a reservation for a J Boat at 3 PM and the transponder indicates the boat is sailing away from Hoofers. It will be known and a boat can be sent to fetch them back to the pier or pin. After a few times the Skippers will manage their time better.
ReplyDeleteTransponders in boats and on Life Vests would be very helpful during Red Flags when serious storms are inbound. UW-Rescue might direct keels into the lee of Picnic Point to ride-out a brief radar indicated squall line. This would free-up more resources for getting lighter craft and crew back to shore and the little boats up onto their floating berths. It also lets us know that if a Life Vest checked-out to Suzee Sailor is back on shore.
The argument that no one will wear a life vest or that they will get swapped around with other crew is a weak one. Defeatist attitudes towards proper boating safety does not improve boating safety. It just leads to more of the same which is barely passable at best. The culture in the club needs to make boating safety a priority. And that is achievable as it is good intentioned and comes from a good place about valuing lives and safety above all.
"I just don't know how we could have run him over, officer... I never took my eyes off the radar screen."
ReplyDeleteAnonymous so true. Maybe we should just go back to folks looking out for each other. Like we used to do before the unfortunate past 2 deaths.
ReplyDeleteJust think. 3 more months until we are sailing again on the lake known as Mendota!
ReplyDelete2019 is the year of the fresh start for Hoofers. New Marina, new Head of Instruction and let's try for that new attitude that exhudes good vibes. Is it ever too early to to start planning C-Cup, Pirates Day and MU Bashes?
ReplyDeleteAnd all was well in Hooferland. Dissent was no more and everyone worked together for the greater good of the members. Thank you blog site for bringing this about.
ReplyDelete