Pirate exhibit

Not much Hoofer news these days (does Hoofers even exist anymore?) but for those who are gung ho for Pirate's Day, and who live in the Madison/ Wisconsin area, you might want to check out the traveling exhibit on real PIRATES.

The exhibit opened last week at the Milwaukee Public Museum and will be there through May.

With the season winding down, there isn't a lot going on at Hoofers. Keelboat liftout is re-scheduled for this coming weekend. The Tech Intergalactics are on Oct 21 and after that the Buccaneer's Ball on Oct 25, but that's about it. Meanwhile, here's a video we came across (right) that might help lighten up the fall atmosphere.

Hoofer Shakedown

Uh oh. He's baaack! It seems that JC is once again "teaching" ASA lessons (check out the current lessons calendar). Hoofers is able to fill these expensive lessons because, as P. T. Barnum noted, there's a customer born every minute.

Is it too late to get your money back? (answer: yes, no refunds.) But here's some inside info: our recent post explained why Hoofer ASA lessons are not a good idea. They don't qualify you for anything, much less to skipper a charter yacht. Better to just join Hoofers and take lots of keelboat lessons.

But that comes with its own set of problems. If you can avoid being ripped off, and if you can stay out of club politics, you can learn learn a lot about sailing.

But it takes years to learn to become a good sailor, and Hoofers pretending that they can teach you in a short course is simply dishonest. You might learn something in a Hoofer ASA course: what not to do. But that's not the same as learning to sail.

Check out the video above to see what a Hoofers ASA sailing "lesson" is really like. NOTE: keelboats do not launch off the canoe pier!

Rnc Roc Boc

So far, the Republican National Congress (RNC) (anyone watching?) has been a clinic in how to manipulate people through lies, misdirection, and slander. In this case they're trying to get people to vote for them. But the same tactics are used by Hoofer "leaders", e.g. Board of Captains (BOC) members, to further their own positions within the club, to obtain benefits for themselves, and so on.

Republicans [Club leaders] have no interest in helping the general population [membership] or in strengthening the economy [club]. Their one and only goal is to obtain power and money for themselves. Eerie, isn't it..?

Anyway, check out the lakefront in this photo (above) taken on Saturday. The hottest summer on record, and the swim pier and sloop pier are both gone in August due to the Union construction. But hey, are we gonna have one badass glass box for rich folks on the Terrace!

In other news, the club has a new A-scow toy, although the donation may or may not be official yet. Things are so disorganized right now it's hard to know what's what. AUG 31 UPDATE: This evening, the A came in, kept both sails up flogging in a gusty (but gorgeous) 10-20kn east wind for more than half an hour, then sailed off into the dark without lights around 8:45pm and disappeared. Truly Hooferesque.

What's wrong with this picture?

Check out the photo (at right), taken today. Those are semi-sized cargo containers where the sailboards, 420s, and FJs should be! Handsome, aren't they. ;)

Believe it or not, those beauties are the new Chartroom (left) and storage room (right). Er, is it the new boathouse (left), and canoe storage (right)? Actually, it may be the new shop (left) and lifejacket storage (right). For the next year, those metal boxes will substitute for all Hoofer interior spaces--even when it's 90 degrees outside.

It looks like very few boat repairs will get done over the next year. We recommend asking for fluorescent lamps as they give off less heat than regular light bulbs, though it probably won't make much diff. Have fun in there, guys!

In a way, Hoofer employees deserve this torture for demanding millions in improvements and sticking 40,000 other UW students with the bill.

Drinking games

UPDATE: A video of Hoofer "battletits" is now here.

Commodore's Cup 2012 is underway!

[CLICK for Schedule (requires javascript be enabled)]

C-CUP 2012 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Fri Jul 13 - Opening Ceremonies / Friday night social
Sat Jul 14 - Greased Watermelon / Sardine Race / Ultimate Tech / Toga Party!
Sun Jul 15 - Sloop Landing / Relay Race / Dry rig a tech
Mon Jul 16 - Tech & Boards / Line toss / PROTEST MEETING
Tues Jul 17 - Volleyball! (huh?)
Wed Jul 18 - Tech & Boards / Tech Olympics / Tallent Show [sic] (hope a spelling bee isn't part of the talent show!)
Thur Jul 19 - Small fleets race / Food Olympics / PROTEST MTG
Fri Jul 20 - All Feets Race / Protest Meeting
Sat Jul 21 - COMMODORE'S BALL

Other events: Paddle polo; Boardwalk; Jousting; Hoop toss; Twister; Belly Flop; "and much much more!"

To kick off the coming week's activities, and in honor of the rather lame movie Battleship that came out this spring, today's event consisted of some poor fools, er, contestants, lying on their backs on either side of a wall (two folding tables turned sideways) throwing foam balls at one other.

This did not look like fun, at least not for the participants. Lying on your back on the board pier in the hot sun blindly tossing foam balls into the air..? How frustrating and possibly humiliating, at least if they were sober and/or knew the real purpose of the event.

That, of course, was live entertainment for long-time male Hoofer members so they could watch the C-cup activity as bikini-clad female team members—lying on their backs—tossed things at eachother. Nothing wrong with that, to be sure... and the sidewalk along the board pier was standing room only. Man, you missed it.

But how about using water balloons next time instead of plastic balls!