Crunch time

As another sailing season draws to a close, our attention strays to Wisconsin's other love: football. As most in Packer Nation already know, QB Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings and may be lost for the season. Last year we predicted that Green Bay would never again make it to a Super Bowl with Rodgers at QB, and they won't--but oddly enough, that doesn't mean the Pack can't still make it to the big show this year.

After the game, Coach McCarthy said what he had to say: that Brett Hundley will be the guy going forward. At least through next week, that is. Hundley looked serviceable filling in for the injured Rodgers but is unproven. In six days we'll know for sure (and a few of us already know) whether he'll be the starter for the rest of 2017. Beat the Saints and he probably is. Get embarrassed, and GM Ted Thompson picks up the phone.

Who will he call first?

Tony Romo. A native of Burlington, WI, the injury-prone Romo, 37, played 14 years for Dallas, never winning a Super Bowl. Would he fare better in Green Bay behind an injury riddled offensive line? Probably not, and Romo, now a broadcaster with CBS, probably says no.

Colin Kaepernick. Led the San Francisco 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII in February 2013, but four years later, the mobile Kaepernick, 29, is out of football because management didn't like his use of the national anthem as a platform to protest police abuse.

Brett Favre. Favre led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game in 2009 at age 40 but got beat up by cheap shots from New Orleans players motivated by illegal bounties. Then he played hurt in 2010, and then "retired". At 48, is he too old to play? George Blanda played quarterback at age 48, although Steve DeBerg is the oldest ever to start a game, at 44. Will Favre rewrite that stat as he's done with so many others? If he were a mere mortal, the answer would probably be no. But,...

Incredibly, two of the above--Romo and Kaepernick--grew up in Wisconsin as Packers fans--watching Favre! Clearly there is a convergence here, and one of these three will be wearing green and gold (again) come Week 9.

The Packers are, after all, a business, and the product they had to offer just got hit by a truck.

We are polar bears

As we await the accident report and resist spreading rumors (and there are many), some thoughts on other dangers. Lake Mendota is warm enough for swimming through late September, but now it's starting to get cold again. Mark Gillespie posted a link to a very good article about what happens to the body when you jump into cold water.

In the tragedy two years ago, a Saudi student drowned off the O'Day on June 6 after jumping into cold water. The water temp that day was between 60 and 65º--colder than it is today. And that was at the surface; two meters down it can be much colder. This page shows the water column temperature over the past week. The graph (also above) is hard to read, evidently created by engineers, but the data are there.

Here is a handier list of current temps in the water column. Always keep in mind that the water is warmer in fall than in spring. I'd rather fall into the water in December than in April. It's warmer right now than it was on June 6, 2015. There is thermal stratification, but currents and upwellings can bring icy water to the surface, especially in spring when it's had all winter to cool off. That is apparently what happened to Mohammed Bagabir--he went into shock when he hit sub-50º water. It was windy that day, and wind creates currents.

Also, precious seconds may have been lost because the horseshoe was clipped to the boat--a big no-no. People sometimes clip on the horseshoe thinking that otherwise it might bounce off and you could lose it or have to do a MOB pickup. Arrgh. But all skippers (except dinghy) should welcome every chance to do a man overboard drill. Students: we recommend throwing a flotable overboard at random times during your keelboat lessons. If the skipper complains or retaliates in any way, it means he sucks at MOB pickups. Or, jump off the boat yourself (with your lifejacket of course)! Actually, don't do this with the spinnaker up without permission--that's an annoyance--but upwind, go for it!

When I'm skippering a lesson or cruise and someone jumps overboard to swim, I reflexively throw (or have someone throw) the horseshoe or a lifejacket, and I know other skippers who do the same. Michaela Rabas didn't do this because, um,.... Some hesitate because then you have at least two objects in the water, which is a pain if you suck at MOBs, but it's common sense. If you aren't itching to throw multiple floating objects into the water at all times, you probably need work on your MOBs. This is a good time of year to practice them.

Keelboat Lift-out

Lift-out is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 28, a bit later than normal. That might seem great given the recent weather, but the weather is about to turn. The problem with having it earlier is home football games the two weekends before that, which results in very bad traffic as well as some people with other commitments.

As for actually getting the boats to winter storage, we need to doublecheck the trailers before then. All large trailers need to be registered and have plates. Our records are pretty out of date. Half don't have license plates. UW Transportation reports trailers we don't have and doesn't report trailers that we do have.

These trailers don't have license plates:

Siege (T-10 33', 6,500#))
Spray (Soverel 30', 7,000#)
Soma (Mull 34',10,500 k#)
Cinger (O'day 25', 4,000#)

Siege's doesn't appear to have ever been reported to UW Transportation.

There are pictures of all the keelboat trailers at https://uwmadison.box.com/s/zvs54bwioaucwguhwo3tnbsa72gu4mbk

Hoofers may like to avoid paperwork, but this needs to be taken care of asap.

Black and blue

People often ask what the different flag colors mean, especially on days like this. Here's everything you need to know about Hoofer flag colors.

Green means light wind, like today. Mainly for greenhorns and visiting parents, but it is possible to spice things up with creative use of equipment in ways it wasn't designed to be used.

Green/yellow: The wind is light but with storms in the area, so there's at least a chance of fun should one pop up.

Blue: The flag experienced sailors want to see every day. Unfortunately, we only see it about once a week at this latitude, even less in August. Heavy rating required (wind averaging >17 mph or unusually gusty).

Blue/Yellow: Blue with storms in the area, and it's probably warm and humid out too. Arrgh.

Blue/Red: For experienced windsurfers--wind is averaging >25 mph. Keelboaters should also look forward to blue/red, but for some reason, most don't. Maybe we're awarding skipper ratings too easily..?

Red: No sailing. unless you're clever (mainly applies to kboats). Always keep an eye on the radar, and if it's green/yellow or blue/yellow, position yourself on the far side of the lake and stay there. Then if a storm comes, you'll have to sail back! In so doing, you'll gain valuable experience (if you survive). This trick has been used in the past, although we're not sure it was actually done intentionally.

Purple: In days past, the practice flag meant beginners with no ratings could safely go for a float.

Finally: there is a secret color that means anything goes.

An example of "blue/yellow" conditions would be today's forecast for Honolulu: partly cloudy, 89 deg, wind NE 15 gusting to 23.

We had a day like that here once. I think.... back in 1999....

The long kiss goodbye

Now that C-Cup is over--and wild fun it was, except for the alkohol problem (as in lack thereof)--we can focus again on sailing.

For those who haven't heard the latest on the club's largest boat, Soma--a.k.a. the Cow Boat--there is discouraging news.

Having sat at the farm for the past year, and now in need of significant repair, Soma may be destined for recycling. (of course, big fibreglass boats aren't actually recyclable, but that's a topic for another post.) Soma was in decent shape at the end of the 2015 season, but instead of getting standard off-season maintenance, some overeager yahoos started major projects without consulting anyone first, and now the boat needs major repairs. Unfortunately, it looks like Soma might not get them because it's easier to accept new donations, even if they're of junkier boats.

This is bad news for everyone in the club, even if you've never set foot on Soma. Soma is a unique boat unlike anything else the club has. At first glance, it might seem better to have two T-10's than a Mull 34 and one T-10, but that's fallacious for two reasons: (1) Variety makes for more learning opportunities. What if all we had were Techs and J-22's..? (there are people who actually support that idea.) (2) T-10s are mediocre boats. Compared to Soma, a T-10 is like an old Ford vs. a custom Rolls.

25 years of Hoofer abuse has taken a toll, but Soma is well built, so what it comes down to is: are enough people willing to put time in to get Soma seaworthy again? Losing workspace at the farm doesn't help, but that's a reflection on the lack of HSC leadership. Unfortunately, certain club "leaders" (hi Mark G!) are eyeing Soma's trailer like vultures circling a dying horse. They also have another, more insidious motivation: by getting rid of Soma, they can (they hope) get rid of a few individuals who have Soma ratings by making sure that, once Soma is gone, those individuals never get skipper ratings on any other keelboats.

Welcome to Hoofers, where your money goes a...way.

Party of the fifth part

Commodore's Cup 2017 is under way! Alas, there don't seem to be many Yu Chen t-shirts around. However, we did have a new event in honor of things this year: The Pissing Contest! (photo at right)

To the amazement of some of us, many club members still don't seem to have a clue that a Hoofer instructor was run over and killed by the UW rescue boat a little over a month ago. But then, can paid "staff" really be expected to risk their jobs and income by publicizing something like that and potentially turning away paying *customers..?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A bigger question might be: Why should a cooperative of "students and community members working together" (that's from the club's own website) have staff to begin with? It's because some people don't want to participate unless they get paid for it.

Above is a shot of the sardine race. At least no one drowned today, although I saw at least one person get run over. Party on!

*a.k.a. general club members.