February 2024 - GSL-Marina - mailman.xmission.com

GSL data tracking.
by Pete Webb 29 Feb '24

29 Feb '24

https://towardsdatascience.com/tracking-the-great-salt-lakes-shrinkage-usin…

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OPENING DAY
by Dave Shearer 23 Feb '24

23 Feb '24

It is a long-standing tradition across the nation for marinas to hold Opening Day. This marina was no exception. Great Salt Lake Yacht Club hosted the traditional Opening Day events at the marina for many years but the event went into hiatus during COVID and having to pull all the boats from the water. But there has been a lot of requests to bring this event back now that boats are back in the water and able to use the lake. So HERE IT IS. THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT of OPENING DAY 2024 . . . SATURDAY, MAY 4th. Unlike past Opening Days, this will be a whole marina community event. We are still in the process of planning all activities for the day and are looking for any volunteer help we can receive as well as ideas. But here are some current highlights. * Boat Parade * Blessing of the Fleet * Social and beach (lawn) games * Potentially activities on rowing shells and sailboats. Mark your calendars. Dave

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LAKE LEVELS - CRUSING AREAS
by Dave Shearer 21 Feb '24

21 Feb '24

Water levels just keep looking up! We are having a great water year. This is going to create opportunities to explore the lake. Take advantage of it this year. I have sailed almost every inch of Great Salt Lake over my many years out here and there are some very cool places to see and explore. One of the new opportunities to explore is Fremont Island. Not that the Island is new but the opportunity is new. The Island was in private hands for over 150 years but is not the property of the state. Wenner homestead, gravesites, Kit Carson Cross, the old marina, the springs are just a few places to explore on the island. Also, we will bring back the Eardley Spit Cruise and social on June 8th (Mark your calendars now). This is a wonderful and well protected anchorage with sandy beaches and a nice breeze. For several years I hosted the Eardley Spit Cruise but the lake levels made that impossible the last two years. Well we are bringing it back. We will do the beach barbecue and beach games again. This will be an RSVP event but we have plenty of time before I start taking RSVP's. Every few weeks I will highlight an anchorage to venture out to and explore. Also, www.gslmarina.com<http://www.gslmarina.com> has a lot of information on cruising sites as well as GPS coordinates. Get your boats ready for a great sailing season. We are back! Dave

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MARINA UPDATE
by Dave Shearer 19 Feb '24

19 Feb '24

We have been having another GREAT winter with lots of direct precipitation and snowpack. Today, the snowpack for the Great Salt Lake drainage area, is 115% of normal and direct precipitation to Great Salt Lake for the month of February is just below 300% and we still have at least two more storms on the way. Many have asked if dredging will still happen. The answer to that is a complicated yes. The State still plans to dredge and are working on the final numbers to see how much we can dredge. The hope is to dredge this Spring or Summer. But I just don't know what else to say until I see final plans and numbers. There is already 5 feet of water at the mouth of the marina and my early prediction is that we will come up another three feet this year before dropping about 1.5 to 1/7 feet through the summer/fall. This means we will be in a position to open up most of B dock, C Dock and E dock. We will be able to open up ALL of D, I, J and most of K dock. There is a scheduled Crane Day for March 26th. I haven't heard any plans for a crane day after that. So if you want to go in this year you may want to strongly consider that date. Remember Crane Day is by RESERVATION and Pre-Deposit only. We may not be in a position to continue storing boats in the parking soon. We need to complete repairs to the parking lot and just don't have the room to shuffle boats around to other areas. SO it is time to start working on those boats and get them back in the water where you can enjoy sailing again. Thanks Dave

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Things are Looking Up!
by Dave Shearer 09 Feb '24

09 Feb '24

Could this be the year that changes the water cycle for Great Salt Lake? Could we have two wet years in a row? Something we haven't seen since 1998, 1999? The patterns since the turn of the 21st century has not favored Great Salt Lake: 2004 saw a good water year with a 1.9' net rise just to be followed by four dry winters; two of those very dry. 2011 saw an incredible winter with a 3.3' net rise only to be followed by five dry years; again one of those being devastatingly dry. 2017 saw another good water year with a 1.4' net rise but again to be followed by a very dry winter the next year. 2019 showed some promise with a 1.4' net increase to again be followed by three very dry winters 2023 had our best water year yet (sort of - I'll explain in a minute) with the lake coming up 3.4'. (explanation - The state separated the two halves of the lake in 2023 so the south half of the Great Salt Lake was able to trap all the spring runoff which artificially raised the south half based on the last 20 years) Now, here we are in 2024, and where are we? (remember the water year starts October 1st and runs through April. October had a great month with 125% precipitation. November was another great month at 124% precipitation December was horrible at 60% precipitation January was about average with 93% precipitation This brings us to February 9th. As of today we are at 186% precipitation for the whole of February and we still have 20 more days to go! On top of that, there is another storm barreling down on us in a little over a week. We have had enough direct precipitation in Great Salt Lake to take us all the way to March 22nd! And our snowpack? 114% today Utah Lake (Provo/Jordan River) where we get 20% of our spring runoff, is so full that they have started releasing water to Great Salt Lake as of yesterday. That is a big deal! The water is on its way early. Now our weather patterns could certainly dry up but it isn't looking likely So could this be the first year in over 20 years that we have two wet winters in a row for Great Salt Lake? With most of the reservoirs and lakes well above normal for this time of year it looks very likely Great Salt Lake with have another large net-rise in lake level. That being said, we need to get boats in the water this spring. We need to get them out of the parking lot so we can do much-needed work to the asphalt. So start getting those boats ready to put back in the lake this Spring and enjoy sailing on the lake again. Dave

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