In Memory of Mike

Receiving boat of the day award
in Key West with Dan Lorenz

This past Saturday we lost a good friend in a tragic accident. Mike Badendieck was a close companion to a number of people. He had the bearing of a military man (he served a tour aboard a submarine) and showed composure under pressure. He knew how to have fun but had the seriousness to be not taken for granted. Trim and athletic, he was a very accomplished sailor. He could handle any job on the boat.  Mike was a bit quiet but you would get an opinion that was always well thought out. He was passionate about his BMW. Annually he would go to performance driving school with old chum Rob Ramirez. It was washed at least 3 times a week and he was even got caught vacuuming his engine. He positively touched many lives and all will truly miss him. He is survived by his wife Marian Green;  his parents, Laurna and Juergen Badendieck; his sister Claudia (Mike) Simons.  He will also be missed by his Uncle James and Aunt Anne Kalitta, in-laws Lee and Oliver Green,  brother-in-law Edward (Marisa) Green, and nephew Oliver and niece Eleanor.

In lieu of flowers, his family will appreciate memorial donations be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

I had quite a few requests for the poem read at the service so here is "Navy Wife", written by Lance Brady for his wife Joan:

She stands behind the man she loves,
A Sailor from the sea,
And waves farewell and sheds a tear,
When err he has to leave.

Each day she humbly carries on
This prayer upon her lips,
"Our Heavenly Father keep them safe,
The men who sail our ships."

She often writes and tells him of,
The things gone wrong ashore,
His oft reply "I love you dear,
But I must sail some more."

So oft she stands out on the pier,
A kiss upon her lips,
Reserved for him who holds her heart,
Her Sailor on the ship.

His final day along the rail,
"Request to go ashore,"
"I love you dear, I’m home to stay,
In ships to sail no more."

Going 19 knots downwind in Key West. Mike is the farthest right standing

Miami standing with Rod Weston, Nancy Caldwell, Rob Ramerez, Mike Pearson, and Doug Scheibner

Yes that is Mike water skiing on a bunk board

Chicago Mac

Mike and Marian loved to ski

Always active here they are with their bikes

A day to remember!
Winner overall Bayview Mac with Rod Weston, Nathan Caspers, Nancy Caldwell,
Fred Rozelle, Steve Rozelle, Colleen Flanagan, and Bob Declercq

At BMW school with Rob Ramirez  and Dave Rodrigas

with Rob Ramirez

with Henry Mistele in Key West

On the way to Nassau, Bahamas

Lynn Kotwicki, Bob Declercq, Colleen Flanagan, Karl Kuspa, Mike Kirkman in Nassau

Partying with crew of Hot Ticket at Mackinac Island

I love my car!

Race from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West January 2010 - Chuck Bayer is also in this video

Regata del Sol al Sol - St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico - "Race of the sun to the sun"

The race started with very little wind. The race committee has a rule that is really cool so that the race is not delayed.  If there is no wind the committee boat will fly the postponement flag and leads the entire fleet down the course until the wind fills in. We were the second start but passed the entire group of boats by the bay bridge. We were able to see the yacht Second Wind by the first evening but after that we did not see any of the fleet. Difficult to believe, but Carinthia was able to point higher than most of the boats in the fleet. The next 400 miles were 15 to 25 knots of a port fetch. When it came to put a reef in the main we suddenly discovered that we had forgotten to put the reef line in. Although a bit slow, we did get it in by lowering the sail. However when it went back up, there was a tear in the back of the sail. Fortunately it was along the leech cord and we sailed 300 miles with it that way. We also broke one of the genoa halyards but just had to make bareheaded sail changes with the other one.

This was a tedious race and we kept sailing into square waves that caused the boat to drop every 4th wave. In fact I got launched out of bunk and landed on Jim Best's head, a pleasant surprise for him. We rode the southern current as long as we could and crossed the northernly stream as quickly as possible. We had to cross back on a starboard tack just north of Isla Contoy. Bob noticed just west of the island the depth decreasing to 24 feet. We immediately saw the foam of a reef straight ahead and tacked. It was a close call for ending up on the rocks but we did manage to duck that bullet. We did finish on Monday morning at 1: 54 am and the next boat did not arrive for the next 8 hours. That is the first time Carinthia got to be first to finish. We were first in the tiny spinnaker class but the day after our finish the wind finally filled in  from the north so our great performance was nullified.

Beach at finish line

Crew: Bob Declercq, Jim Best, Karl Kuspa, Paul Falcone, Eric Ryan, Greg Thomas

Race Tracking: http://cloud.iboattrack.com/r/start.php?r=2010_regatadelsol

Race Website: http://www.regatadelsolalsol.org/

Final results: pdf document

At dock at Isla Mujeras

Paul Falcone's all terrain golf cart

Paul tried his hand in the suitability of the golf cart's off roading capabilities. In the end he did not care for it, but managed to miss the rocks and landed in the sand. He did not break his neck so I guess it was a relatively successful endeavor.

Manitee River to St. Petersburg

Tampa Girl is on the right, Carinthia is in the group on the left

This was a broad reach start in about 16 knots of air for this 12 mile race.  Madcow managed to sail in our quarter wake and stuck to us like glue. The second leg was a short run. After rounding mark 2 it was pretty much a beat to weather. We managed to cross the finish line in 2nd place and only losing to Warrior by 23 seconds corrected time. If we would of beat her we would of won the regatta in our class. However we did to place 3rd overall for all classes so it was not too bad.

Link: Race #3

        Series

        Overall Series

This race was mostly upwind up the bay

Crossing the finish line

Race from Tampa to Manitee River

Pre race..Nicole, Rodney, Karl, Con, Mark

Straight trip down the bay

On the second day we started on a broad reach in breeze under 10 knots for this 25 mile race. The start did not go well. We got on the leeward side of the fleet and could not get out from under Warrior, a Tripp 38. She was the slowest in our class and it hurt us. Madcow, a B-32 tried to bluff us by forcing us up when we were rolling her inside the 3 boat circle of a mark of the course. Unfortunately the second half of the race it turned into a moderate air run and that was our weak point of sail. Tampa Bay Girl, a shoal draft J120 was able to stay ahead of us and with their 8 second PHRF advantage we could not get close to her in this race. We could only score 5th in class. We had some problems with our electrical system we could not get the engine started. We could sail into the Manitee River but soon found out that the approach to the Brandenton Yacht Club was in some spots under 7 feet so we got stuck. Carinthia did get a tow and a place to spend the night. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_2_scrw.pdf

Carinthia is on the left

Carinthia in front of Brandeton Yacht Club

Suncoast Regatta St. Petersburg to Tampa

Carinthia in front of St. Pete Yacht Club

This was the first day of a three day regatta with the first a 21.3 miler from St. Pete to Tampa (Davis Island Yacht Club). It started with a decent 16 knot wind from the stern. We got caught in a little bit of traffic but got the .6 spinnaker up with no problems. We managed to round the first mark in 4th place but managed to move up in the upwind leg. At the top end of the bay the wind at 15 knots turned into a reach. At that point we put up the code 0 and started to reel the other boats in. We finished 2nd corrected time so it was a pretty decent day. Link: http://henrymoore.org/scrw/2010_race_1%20scrw.pdf

Spinnaker class start...Carinthia is in the middle

Rodney hard at work

Rodney in front of Davis Island Yacht Club

2010 Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race - Just a shorter Mac

This race starts in Fort Lauderdale. The starting conditions where the wind was at about 8 knots from the north.We started on the right side of the line with the .6 oz spinnaker and held to starboard to get as close to the shore as possible to stay out of the current. This made some sense but boats such as Bad Fish (Melges 32) and Meridian (Farr 36) that stayed about a mile to the east did get some more wind pressure early.  We managed to stay ahead of the 53 foot Swan Dragon Fly by about a half mile in these moderate conditions.

As the evening turned to night the wind started to freshen. It was more westerly and we we started to get 110 degrees apparent and went to the 3/4 oz. At this point the Farr and Melges started to fall behind in the current but Dragon Fly's faster hull speed started to come into play. We were able to skin the line that marked the edge of the reef. At this point we held them off until about 10 pm but were never able to pass her. We got so close we could read the numbers on her instruments a couple of times. The last time the wind picked up and we blew up the 3/4 spinnaker. There was a call for all hands on deck and we managed to put the code 0 up on deck but lost a half a mile. We caught up some more but it just was not enough by daylight. At 8 am we rounded the Key West buoy and went to weather with the #3 headsail to finish. As you can see from the video it did get cold but it was not worse than any Mackinac race but is not expected for Florida.

Result:: 2nd in class A
Link: http://www.keywestrace.org
Finish link: http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_detail.cfm?Race_Number=1&eID=297
Crew Members: Bob Declercq, Chuck Bayer, Rod Weston, Scott Shrake, Colleen Flanagan, Nancy Caldwell, Karl Kuspa, Michell Busho, Mike Badendieck

This is not a Carinthia blog but it is about our neighbor to the west of Bayview - Originally printed by Metro Times.

Stephen Hume feeds a strip of cloth into an antique sewing machine to demonstrate that it still works. It’s one of 15 he has scattered around the room, which is in the cabin of his huge tugboat, docked at a riverside yard filled with scores of sleek little sailboats, yellow school buses, and quaint old bicycles. It all amounts to a magnificent mess of a collection.
The place is known as the Goat Yard, named for the pet goat that used to roam the grounds, back when the lot was still surrounded by stands of trees where pheasants dwelled, back before developers began encroaching and complaining about loud parties here.
It’s hidden on the east side near St. Jean and Freud, where long streets pass empty fields to reach the marinas at the river’s edge. There’s a vine-swarmed gate and signs forbidding trespass, behind which is a path winding through the rows of boats and stacks of machinery. Rising above it all are remnants of a brick-making factory that closed years ago, now little more than a debris-filled steel frame and an old shack with a workshop inside.
It’s all part of the Detroit Boat Works, Hume’s boat storage company that also sells used sailboats and their parts, particularly Crescent sloops, which are fiberglass boats invented in Dearborn in the 1950s by a Ford engineer. The boats are narrow and low to the water, offering a wet, splashy ride for their small crews.
Detroit Sail Club members — also based here — race a couple times a week on the river, then come back to drink and celebrate. Sometimes they jam in the School Bus of Rock, an old bus painted green, powered with electricity, and outfitted with electric guitars and bass, drums and microphones. Other times they party on the tugboat, which once was a restaurant and still has a full bar inside.
At the center of it all is Hume — sailboat enthusiast, former political side-thorn and affable eccentric. He’s 57, has graying hair and a clean shave where a while ago was a beard so long he could tuck it in his pants. Most days he can be found in the yard, fixing something or other, or on the river in one of his beloved boats.
“There were only 27 Crescents ever built,” Hume says, noting that 24 are here at the club. He is clearly a dedicated admirer. “The Crescent is the most valuable object in the universe!” he says with glee.
He first got the yard to store sailboats he was buying and repairing. The property was originally the dumping grounds for a nearby wood pallet manufacturer. “There were stacks of pallets as high as that building,” Hume says, pointing two stories up. “I burned those for a whole year.
There was a loading dock where the boats are and we just kept throwing them in that loading dock. We borrowed a forklift to move big stacks over and dump them in there, and we never had to relight the fire for a year.”
Hume acquired the goat only after he couldn’t get a horse for his longtime girlfriend, Sue McDonald, a fellow sailor. “I had it all lined up with the cops to give me one of their old retired cop horses, and I was going to have it running around here,” he says. “We had this guy we used to sail with, he’s the guy who designed the little horse on the Mustang car and the little horse on the Pinto, and he said I couldn’t get her a horse ‘cause of the yard and all of the rocks, and that he would personally prevent me from owning a horse at the boatyard.”
So he settled for goats. Originally there were two of them; one drowned soon after coming here, the other, named Nemo, was a pet for years and became the icon of the property.
“He’d jump on every nice car that came in the yard,” laughs Hume’s brother Chris, 53, one of six siblings, several of whom often sail here too.
“We had a lot more trees around here, and if you’d park your car under a tree for shade, he’d stand on your car so he could eat all the leaves,” Hume says. “He did it to Don. Don poured a pop on his head. He ran by everybody’s car and jumped up and down on Don’s Porsche and that’s what Don got for pouring a pop on his head. That goat knew exactly what he was doing. They had a war going. The goat loved to poop on his boat, and he would always fuck with the goat.”
The goat lived here for years until he was killed a few years ago by wild dogs that used to run in packs on riverfront land. “They got him out on the ice there,” Hume says, pointing to the canal that runs through the yard. “There was ice here in the canal, and he didn’t have very good traction out on the ice.” Its head is now stuffed and mounted near the bar in the tugboat.
Besides the boats and rusty bicycles and banged-up lawnmowers, the lot has a red, full-size Detroit Fire Department truck with a 150-foot hydraulic ladder. Weeds poke through the fender of a 1940 Dodge truck.
Several old school buses are parked at one end of the yard; one of them is packed full of old wheelchairs. “I’ve been buying ‘em cheap. It’s just a matter of time until we’re all going to be using wheelchairs, so I’m stocking up,” he says wryly. He once converted an old Dodge Ram into the Aqua-Car, a working boat (“We drove it around in the river”), and made a bike powered by a remote-control airplane engine.
These curiosities pale, though, compared to his past political antics. During the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was a nuisance to Detroit politicians, most famously Mayor Coleman Young. “He used to say, ‘If you don’t like it, run against me,’” he says. “I ran against him every [election] year.” He was the “Beer-a-cratic” candidate, whose slogan was, “We’ll bring our case to the people.”
He took part in candidates nights, which Young never attended, and would taunt the mayor with statements like, “I want to do like Mr. Young — I want to have sex with my appointees,” which were dutifully reported the next day in the papers. “I used to terrorize the shit out of him,” he says. He usually drew a few hundred votes.
In the early ‘80s Hume bid on a neighboring city-owned marina, won as the low bidder, then the city canceled the sale without clear explanation. Hume sued, the city settled. He took the money, bought video cameras and started a company called Public Eye Video, a one-man operation that taped all council meetings after he found crazy statements made by council members never made it into the meeting minutes. “I videotaped their asses, so at least somebody would have a record of what the fuck they’re saying,” he says.
It drove them nuts. They tried to shut him down, but learned they couldn’t because it was a public meeting and he had a right to record it. Then they tried to cut off his use of their electricity, but he found a way to buy it directly from the City-County Building authorities instead. At one point council member Kay Everett lost it in front of his camera, shouting at Hume, “You’re very close to getting this thing rammed down your throat!”
He became notorious for impish political pranks. One year he took out a classified newspaper ad claiming a millionaire was leaving town and needed to quickly sell off “rare guns, gold coins, fully appointed limousines, state-of-the-art security system,” references to some of the scandals associated with Young’s administration.
The ad featured the mayor’s address at the Manoogian Mansion, but not his name. “People were backed up all the way down the street,” Hume says with a grin. “Chief Knox said he’s gonna get down to the bottom of this and they’re gonna pay!”
He once bought a used bulldozer and two forklifts for $300 at a city auction, and when asked by a curious city official why he wanted them, he replied that he was going to lasso the mayor’s home and drag it down neighboring Fiske Street. The next day the city called off the deal without bothering to return his deposit.
Eventually he fashioned a huge, streaming banner that read “Retire Young,” which he would fly from his sailboat as it passed downtown and Young’s offices in the City-County Building, and during boat races, the Grand Prix, and the fireworks. An infuriated Young sent the police out several times to ticket Hume for minor offenses, sometimes seizing the boat. The banner now spans the ceiling of the Boat Works office.
He also ran for City Council, city clerk, county clerk, state rep and U.S. rep as a fringe, protest candidate and clever troublemaker, an irritant to the political elite.
Hume lives a quieter life now, “just going out and sailing and racing,” he says. He still hosts the Sail Club and its 50 or so members here, some of whom are currently making a film about Hume and the yard. “Everybody’s friends, everybody has fun,” he says. “A lot of times I see these guys come back [to other clubs] and hold a grudge about who won and stuff. It’s not like that here.”
He lives in nearby Indian Village with McDonald, 57, a former Grosse Pointe News editor who met Hume after assigning a reporter to write a feature on the Grosse Pointe bike shop he ran nearly three decades ago. They fixed up and moved into an old house together, repair and race boats together, and shop at garage sales together for odds and ends that often wind up as part of the visual cacophony here.
The yard is not without hassles — from a city that forbids improvements to the buildings, a developer who whines about the wildness here, and a landlord looking to sell the lot. All would prefer that this prime spot of land were used as something other than a ragtag boatyard and hangout for oddballs.
“Anybody else would be just totally frustrated, but he just took lemons and made lemonade,” McDonald says of Hume, as he and others work nearby on boats on a sunny afternoon. “He worked around it, doesn’t let it bother him, makes a little bit of money and a lot of people have a lot of fun.”

This article originally appeared in the Metro Times.

**post log - Steve is now circulating a petition to run for congress in the 1st district. His new slogan is "I'm running against Kwame's mommy!" Good luck Steve.