Tribal conflict

Commodore's Cup '19 is here! Among other things, that means the new piers are about to get their first real test. C-Cup also seems a good time to take a look back at a slice of Hoofer history.

It will be 20 years ago next month that Nathan Salowitz became commodore. Why an engineering student would ever want to become commodore is unclear--the meetings, the problems, the infantile pomp and circumstance. All of that distracts from schoolwork and from actual sailing. Perhaps it was because Nate coveted a keelboat skipper rating and didn't want to have to take hundreds of lessons to get one. Others, too, wanted to obtain skipper ratings the easy way, and they desperately wanted to get paid to teach on the big boats. With that in mind, Nate decided to grab control of the fleet.

Ever since the 1980s, the heavy keelboat fleet--at that time consisting of Maria and Soma--had been an autonomous program wherein instructors were unpaid and all rated skippers could teach lessons. In some ways it was a perfect system because a full skipper rating on Maria or Soma meant you were qualified to teach. The full skipper rating requires (or used to) the ability to manage crew effectively, which means mastery of the boat along with good communication skills. This isn't to say all keelboat instructors were good teachers. Some were lazy, and their lessons were basically cruises, complete with popcorn and beer (can you believe it?!). The important thing is that any skipper could instruct if s/he chose to do so; thus, everyone had equal status in a true 'club' environment. It was a sharp contrast to the other fleets, including the J's, where paid hacks grudgingly doled out ratings to customers--and still do.

Unfortunately, there was little oversight, which naturally led to occasional problems. Head of Paid Instruction Jim Rogers wanted nothing to do with the keelboats because he didn't have authority over the instructors. When there was a problem, good luck! However, he was intrigued at the thought of gaining control, and Nate could help him do that. Nate and Erik saw the personality conflicts as an excuse--and an opportunity--to grab control of the fleet. Doing so would let them water down the ratings requirements, and it would let them exclude individuals they didn't like. It would also pave the way to paid keelboat lessons, every J instructor's wet dream. So it was that Nate spent the year collecting dirt on people and planning his coup. Instead of doing anything to smooth rough edges in the program, he threw a wrench in at every opportunity. Instead of intervening when there were disagreements, he would let the situation fester. The worse it got, the better his chances of taking over.

Evidence of Nate and Erik's intent comes from their ratings--neither had ever earned a skipper rating on any Hoofer large keelboat. Instead, they began chartering private cruises in Florida under the handle "Catastrophe At Sea", amused and inspired by the club's last official cruise (1993) which ended in actual catastrophe. Due to his lack of experience skippering big boats, Nate needed letters of support for the charter company, which his new friend Jim R. was happy to provide.

They would not succeed in weakening the ratings requirements, not right away, but their efforts would inspire others to take up the cause. By 2009, JustinC & Co. had finagled a light (day) heavy keelboat skipper rating, an oxymoron to be sure, that would allow incompetent individuals to skipper the keelboats too. Most passengers would never know or care that their skipper was a lackey, prohibited from sailing the boat after sunset, so long as the beer kept flowing.

In the old days, the only skipper rating had been full skipper, the reasoning being that a storm can always come up while you're out on the water. If you only have a light rating, then what? Big boats can do big damage and are categorically different than dinghies or even J-boats. Hence any skipper should be a full skipper. Today, that reasoning has become: get as many yahoos out on the water as possible. Nate's efforts also led directly to paid instruction on the heavy keelboats. Alas, giving people money to do something doesn't make them more competent at it.

In an upcoming post, we'll look at other commodores who used the position to pursue members of the opposite sex. We'll also take a closer look at the new piers which, it turns out, are not as bad as some people expected!