Hoofer Sailing Club

Hoofer Sailing Club was founded in 1939 and is part of the Hoofer outdoor adventure clubs of the University of Wisconsin-Madison at Madison, Wisconsin, United States.

The sailing club originated as an all-volunteer club whose members maintained boats and taught each other how to sail. [ [http://archives.library.wisc.edu/exhibits/hoofers/1930s.html University of Wisconsin Archives - Hoofers 1930s] ] In the early days of the club, Hoofers sailed wooden dinghies called "Cubs" and "Olympics". Today, the Hoofer Sailing Club has grown into the second-largest inland sailing club in the United States, [ [http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/entertainment/294269 Wisconsin State Journal, July 3, 2008] ] and fifteen different types of craft are sailed, [ [http://hoofersailing.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=1&Itemid=15 Sailing Club Fleets Webpage] ] including the Hoofer-redesigned Tech Dinghy, originally an M.I.T. plan [ [http://www.sailingnetworks.com/boats/view/1041 Photo and Brief History of Badger Tech] ] . The club's largest boat is "Soma", a Mull 34 racing yacht painted like a cow. [http://s169618202.onlinehome.us/images/stories/Fleets/Keelboats/Soma/soma002.jpg(photo)] Wisconsin Department of Transportation, State Highway Map, 2004] The smallest craft would be the windsurfing boards. [ [http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/entertainment/283255 Wisconsin State Journal, April 26, 2008 "Old dogs, new tricks"] ]

The club operates at Memorial Union on Lake Mendota and has more than 120 different boats and sailboards. In a typical season, there are around 1,200 members including students, faculty, and community members. [http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/madison.com/html/archive_files/wsj/2000/08/02/0008020036.php Wisconsin State Journal, August 2, 2000 "Still Making Waves"] ] Members have free access to available boats they are certified to sail. Instruction is also included in the membership dues and is provided by paid and volunteer staff.

Famous Hoofer Sailing Club members include Peter Barrett, an Olympic sailing gold (1968) and silver (1964) winner, [ [http://www.e-scow.org/Peter/ Peter Barrett Obituary] ] and Peter and Olaf Harken, founders of Harken, Inc., a sailing-hardware manufacturer. [ [http://www.biztimes.com/news/2006/6/23/harkens-innovation-created-international-market-for-sailing-gear Small Business Times, June 23, 2006] ] [ [http://www.cncmagazine.com/archive02/v4i14/v4i14g-sail.htm CNC Machining Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 14, Summer 2000] ] [ [http://www.sailnet.com/forums/learning-sail-articles/18819-how-other-sailors-learned.html SailNet "How Other Sailors Learned" August 31, 2001] ] [ [http://www.econ.wisc.edu/newsletter/Newsletter/newslinks.pdf University of Wisconsin-Madison Economics Alumni Newsletter, 2004, p. 8, Alumni News (PDF)] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.hoofersailing.org/ Hoofer Sailing] - Official website
* [http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/tct/2004/06/19/0406190169.php Capital Times coverage of Youth Program, June 19, 2004] and [http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/madison.com/html/archive_files/wsj/2000/08/02/0008020036.php Wisconsin State Journal, August 2, 2000 "Still Making Waves"]