Ghosts of Hoofers Past

For those who never got to see it, the old Hoofer lounge was similar to the Mendota lounge, although smaller. But it was cozy, with wood paneling, carpeting, and a fireplace. What's left of it now is just sad, a half-assed museum exhibit designed by Union hacks. The coziness is all gone--it's a bloody hallway!--bums sleep there, and surveillance cameras track your every move (see photo).

Adjacent to the Lounge was the old Chart Room, with its wood floor, bookcases, charts(!), awards showcase, etc. Jim Rogers always disliked it because any club member could come in and browse books, magazines, and charts. He wanted the Hoofer library (and many other things) to be the private purview of his instruction staff... and now they are. After all, knowledge is power, and the more perks and favors you have to give out, the more you can get in return.

Hoofers is a case study in cronyism, just like the UW-Madison administration. How do we know the UW is plagued by cronyism and nepotism? Because if it weren't, they would do something about the rampant abuse in Hoofers.

In the new movie The Killer (2023), Michael Fassbender explains the human condition:

From the beginning of civilization, the few have always exploited the many. This is the cornerstone of civilization... Whatever it takes, make sure you're one of the few, not one of the many.

That could be the Hoofer motto. Many (900) customers, a.k.a. "club members", provide cash, romantic interests, and other pickins for the few (100) paid employees.

Eventually, of course, Rogers was out of a job--kicked out by the UW for inappropriate acts with minors. Various other individuals linger like a disease--going into remission, then popping up again in a relapse of mischief and malfeasance. Jim Rogers, Lukas Duddleston, Mills Botham, and others (who won't be named here). These crooks and operators misuse their position and/or popularity to benefit themselves and their buddies, or to solicit sexual partners (e.g. Louis Tenebruso --> Michaela Rabas, Carl Stenbol, Peter Grimmer, and many others). The fact that the BOC openly discuss how to misappropriate some $60,000 in deposits annually--and the almost total lack of interest in prosecuting this and other crimes perpetrated by club officers--reflects very poorly on the Union and UW. Most of them stick their heads in the sand, probably hoping that they won't be called out for their own misdeeds.

It's a top-down problem that starts with the crooked Union director, Mark Guthier, and the UW chancellor. The whole system is rotting. The Big Ten is now the Big 16--or is it 18 now? That's beyond ridiculous, but money and power are what it's all about. And you thought it was about sailing?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Hoofer Sailing Club!

Dog days after noon

The next few days are forecast to be the hottest in Madison in more than a decade and will approach record high temperatures.

With that in mind, the club is suspending the life-jacket-at-all-times-rule. If you get too hot on a lesson or day-sail, you may take off your .... ha, just kidding! Rules are rules and they must be obeyed. Only The Man has the power to suspend rules. That would be the man up on the 5th floor, with the small you-know-what. If you want to take off your life jacket because it's 95° out, too bad. If someone says you can take it off, be very cautious. You could be kicked out of Hoofers for doing that. We simply cannot allow rulebreakers.*

Better to get heat stroke than to stumble overboard, hit your head, and drown. Actually, heat stroke might just cause you to do that, so life jackets must be worn at all times. They help keep you warm in the fall too. And they smell good. They do not smell like mildew or urine or other people's sweat.

This rule comes straight from the top--from Wisconsin Union Director Mark Guthier. He probably hasn't worn a life jacket his entire life, but he doesn't want to take a chance on some dummy falling overboard and drowning (again), leading to another nasty communique from the chancellor. But you don't have to be a sexual tyranosaur to sit in an office and make up rules. You only have to feel the rush. It's hard to believe sailing is even still allowed here anymore, so I guess we should feel lucky.

At least the hot temps look to bring some decent wind for a few days. This August has already been better than average in that regard.

To help you determine whether to file a complaint against Hoofers or the UW, we've included the heat-exhaustion/heat-stroke chart above.

Note to HOI: Doublecheck that everyone who's been skippering Salom actually has a rating on that boat. That they got legitimately. Which hasn't been revoked. And from an instructor authorized to give them. There's been some very iffy boat handling and other minor screw-ups lately.

*Doesn't apply to BOC members, instructors, or their buddies.

We've been so busy dealing with spam comments from former instructor Daniel Sutton on our previous post that we couldn't post this until now. But worry not! The best of C-Cup is yet to come: The Commodore's Ball starts tonight around 8 PM! Best of all, the ball is open to almost anyone! So come on down (unless you're on the short list of unwelcome guests), get sloshed, and dance the night away. But don't get too hammered, because....

In the past, individuals have been known to take boats out on which they didn't actually have a rating. Hey, if you're a good sailor, why not grab a J-boat, or maybe even a T-10? Who will ever be the wiser? (unless they're on board with you.) We'll all be awash in alcohol well before midnight, so if you can still walk, as in walk down to the lakefront and operate a motorboat or a winch, then the fleet is your oyster!

Note that we in the syndicate do not recommend or condone such unruly behavior, but it has become something of a tradition for the close of C-Cup! Heck, if nothing else, just get yourself out to one of the keelboats and go for a swim. Be sure to snag an extra bottle of wine for that. It's only against the rules to drink on Hoofers boats if you're actually sailing!

Harvard This Ain't

With the boats back in the water and lessons posted for a new season, the darker side of Hoofer Sailing Club rears its ugly head again too. Misbehavior is present year-round, but it peaks in the summer months.

With the return of summer comes the return of crooks and con-artists who ensconse themselves in various Hoofer positions and operate with near impunity. Former Hoofer advisor Jim R., former commodore Lukas D, instructors like Georges Daniel S., and many others have broken the law while employed at HSC. We're not talking about violations of club rules--those happen all the time. We're talking about actual crimes and civil rights violations, not to mention other abuses, racism, etc.

Of course it's possible to violate club rules and the law at the same time, e.g. former commodore Peter Grimmer drinking beer on a J-boat in violation of club rules (and the law if he was under 21 at the time). Here is a funny article from a few years back that quoted him talking up the club.

"Sailing is often a rich, white person sport," Grimmer said. "It's almost like a fraternity or sorority."

Ha! Petey wasn't so dumb after all. (Note: If you can't see the whole article, just view the page source in your browser.)

Grimmer also boasted that "past Hoofer Sailing Club members have won Olympic gold medals, coached Olympic sailing teams and entered the Collegiate Sailing Hall of Fame at the US Naval Academy." What he didn't mention was that HSC employees have also committed crimes, everything from theft to slander to false police reports to sexual abuse to various white collar crimes (see the rest of this blog).

That's in addition to gross criminal negligence that led to the gruesome deaths of Hoofer sailors in 2015 and again in 2017.

The article also quoted former instructor Daniel Sutton as saying, "There is no race, culture or age demarcation at all (in HSC)." Alas, King Georgio never was very perceptive. There is, unfortunately, a big grey area for state employees, which all Hoofer employees are.

For example, is it a crime to grab a girl's butt in a crowd when she's not looking? Not if you ask LukasD. It's only a crime if you don't work for the state. What real harm was done anyway? She probably enjoyed it, even if she yelled "sexual assault!" right? Was it a crime for King George to make a false police report about someone he viewed as a competitor for the same woman he was interested in? Never mind that he was married and she was less than half his age, and taking lessons from him too. That's a dirty tactic well-known in some frats.

Was it a crime if he put his hand on a female student's shoulder as he stepped down into the cockpit, and let it "accidentally" slip down onto her chest..? Nothing you could likely prove. Is it a crime to relieve Hoofers of an outboard motor in the middle of the night? You bet. In Wisconsin, property is worth more than people.

With all that in mind, we've added a new button to the menu at right. Click on it to report any misbehavior you observe by HSC staff or other Wisconsin Union employees. It might seem alarmist, but Hoofer employees get away with far too many criminal acts. Slander in particular is widespread and difficult to catch. We are considering posting excerpts from some of the internal Wisconsin Union and other documents that we've obtained but will hold off on that for now.

And why not Harvard..? Because that's a private school and their employees have to follow the law. The UW, on the other hand, is a big state school and its employees seemingly can do whatever they f@cking please.

A better place

Today was the memorial service for former Chancellor Rebecca Blank stare who croaked recently at age 67. Thank goodness for small miracles. The hundred or so people attending her service seemed to be former staffers or clueless passers-by who had nothing else to so.

Rebecca Blank did little in her time here at UW-Madison. She had trouble staying awake in meetings and had trouble understanding documents, she made baffling, capricious decisions, and served only as a figurehead. Perhaps her general uselessness in recent years was due to the progressing cancer that finally got her.

"She made decisions and stuck to them," said one subordinate. Yup, even if they were terrible ones. She couldn't think for herself and relied entirely on her staff. Sticking to a bad decision while those around you explain why it's a bad decision is not a virtue; it's a serious shortcoming.

Perhaps her early departure is poetic justice for her misdeeds and general incompetence. At least now she can relax and spend some time getting to know Bernie Madoff, Richard Nixon, Al Capone and other white-collar criminals of the past. There's a special place for those who held positions of authority and through their incompetence or negligence or malicious intent caused harm to others.

Let's hope new Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin has a better moral compass than Rebecca Blank stare did.

Before you jump to conclusions, stop and ask yourself a question: Why do some people seek out, even crave, positions of power and authority, while the rest of us do useful and productive work? Why do some individuals seek out the commodoreship or other BOC positions instead of sailing..? (And why do so many former commodores linger on the BOC like a sore that won't heal?) It's because they need the high that comes from making decisions that affect others.

What's under that ice?

Do you enjoy the sensation of your face hitting concrete at 25 mph? Do you get right back on your skateboard after a bad accident? If so, then ice sailing might be the thing for you! Ice is actually worse than concrete, and thus more exciting--it's hard as rock, but is also rough, with knobs and cracks and so forth, unlike concrete which at least tends to be flat.

For extra excitement, there's also the risk of breaking through thin ice and plunging into the icy darkness below. When you fall through thin ice, it's not like slipping into the kiddie end of the swimming pool. It's unexpected, and you start from 6 ft up (give or take), so your potential energy carries you at least six feet under, where you can easily be carried away from the hole by the currents. Thirty seconds is all you've got, at most, before you go into shock. After that, it's to sleep with the fishies (see pic).

So as you can see, ice sailing is at least as exciting as skateboarding in traffic or rollerblading on the highway.

In any case, we get to keep your money, because you've been warned.

NEWS FLASH: This Friday (Feb 10) is the deadline to apply as a sailing instructor for 2023. There are lots of perks to being an instructor--you don't have to follow club rules, you get paid in cash, you get to order people around, and if you screw up and someone is injured as a result, you get a frickin award for it! You can't lose!