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

Keys to Docks
by Dave Shearer 03 Aug '24

03 Aug '24

Several of you have your keys to the docks now. There are others that have not made appointments yet to pick up your keys. To make it easy for you we have left an envelope for each slip renter with a key in it at the entrance station. You must pick up the key during regular entrance station hours which is 9am to 8pm. As explained before, we are only giving out one key per slip renter. If you want another key you will need to make it yourself. Our budget is so tight we just have to watch every penny we can. Keys are ONLY for slip renters, their partners and direct family members. They are not for friends or acquaintances. Keys were ONLY made for those with boats on the docks right now. Your parking passes will continue to work until January 1st. Thanks Dave

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Dock Keys
by Dave Shearer 27 Jul '24

27 Jul '24

First of all, I am aware of all the silting in the marina mouth and that most of the boats have been stuck in the marina since the freak northerly storm hit. We have been working on solutions to fix this problem since it happened with mixed results. We have also been working on dredging plans for four years now. Over the last two months there has bee a LOT of movement on dredging and I hope to have very specific (and hopefully good) news on that very soon. And I am continuing to look at other options in the meantime. I think I am getting VERY close on one. RE-KEYING the Park: We need to rekey the whole park, including the docks. This is going to happen this Thursday. Your dock keys will not work after that and you will need new ones. Each slip renter will be issued ONE key to the docks. If you want more keys please have them made on-your-own but realize that the keys are ONLY FOR SLIP RENTERS, BOAT OWNERS (Partners), and FAMILY members. I will try to make the process of picking up keys as simple as possible. We will also have new park passes but that won't happen until sometime this Winter. Thank you. Dave

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Dock Keys
by Dave Shearer 21 Jul '24

21 Jul '24

We will be rekeying the whole park sometime in the next week or two. That means that all your dock keys will not work when that happens. You will need to come into the office and pick up a new dock key. I will let you know when that happens. This is part of the annual maintenance list we do. Thanks Dave

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SAD NEWS
by Dave Shearer 20 Jul '24

20 Jul '24

I'm a little late on this one as I just found out but we lost a member of our marina community. William "Bill" Roberts died on March 5, 2021 at the age of 94. Bill had a Catalina 22 "Cariad" on J dock for MANY years. He would go sailing at least once a week by himself well into his 80's. I loved talking to Bill. He was very humble; would go out in any conditions alone and was quite adept at taking care of himself on the lake. I remember going out on Rescue One in five foot seas and 30 to 40mph wind to check on Bill to see if he needed a tow or assistance. I would find him anchored just waiting the wind out. In all my years working out here and him sailing out here I never had to go assist him once. He was fun to talk to. He was born in 1926 and grew up in England with the hardships that WWII brought. He eventually served near the end of the war as a morse code operator for the Royal Navy and served off Normandy during Operation Overlord. When he moved to Utah he struggled to figure out how he was going to stand life without sailing. He finally found a solution in the Great Salt Lake and a Catalina 22. Later, when he could no longer sail and he needed daily assistance of his family, they would bring Bill out to visit his beloved lake. Here is a link to his obituary: https://www.larkinmortuary.com/obituary/view/william-%22bill%22-roberts--74/

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DREDGING
by Dave Shearer 16 Jul '24

16 Jul '24

Our most recent dredging meeting was yesterday and we had some very hopeful information that came out of the meeting that could accelerate dredging efforts. I don't have much to say about details yet as there is nothing concrete until a dredging company has been hired and action plan developed. But it appears we made a big step forward yesterday and dredging could be just around the corner with a potential solution to maintain the marina mouth in the future. This has been a long four-year drawn out process but it feels like this is about to happen very soon. As soon as we have concrete plans and dates I will pass that along. As for the immediate plans to deal with the current silt in the marina, Rescue One is being repaired today and should be back in action tomorrow and we can see what we can do then. Dave

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MARINA MOUTH SILTING
by Dave Shearer 08 Jul '24

08 Jul '24

Over the past three weeks we have been doing what we can about all the silt in the marina mouth. But Rescue One broke down and that has hampered recent efforts. We hope to have Rescue One back running in the next few days. On another note . . . We have had some interesting and positive developments on the effort to dredge. We may be closer to a dredging solution than previous thought. I have nothing concrete to report but hope to VERY soon. Thanks Dave

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Outboard Motor Clinic next SATURDAY
by Dave Shearer 08 Jul '24

08 Jul '24

Don't forget about the Outboard Motor Clinic and also Weather Forecasting on Great Salt Lake Clinic. Next Saturday at 10am. Cambria Room of the Great Salt Lake State Park. Please do a simple RSVP if you plan to attend so we know how many chairs to set up. See you there! Dave

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Marina Mouth
by Dave Shearer 01 Jul '24

01 Jul '24

Many people know that there is a lot of silt that has built up in the marina mouth. This happened two weeks ago when we had an unusually strong northerly front pass over the marina. The mouth, which should be nearly 6 feet deep filled in with 2 to 3 feet of silt trapping many boats in the marina. This is unfortunate and has impeded many from getting out. I have been working on dredging this marina now for nearly 20 years. It isn't a simple process. There are many laws, rules and regulations involved. There are many state agencies that get involved in the permitting process. And then there is the US Army Corp of Engineers that also has to sign off on any efforts and plans to dredge. This can make the process very slow. Dredging is not as simple as hiring a long-reach excavator. When we dredged in 2008 we used two long-reach excavators. But they weren't able to reach out far enough to effectively dredge the mouth. We also had to hire a barge to put the excavators on. Material was removed from the mouth and put on the barge. Then the barge was brought over to the breakwall where the material was removed. This was AFTER Army Corp of Engineers signed off on the project. And it cost a significant amount of money. In 2017 we dredged again. And this was after four years of finding money, working with agencies for permitting, getting sign-off from Army Corp of engineers, hiring a company and then dredging. Four years. To not go through this process will lead to potential jail time and THOUSANDS of dollars of fines . . . per day! Four years ago, with efforts from the State and Federal governments, money was found for dredging after we saw the lake dropping again. For four years, the powers-that-be have been meeting regularly going through the process that needs to happen in order to dredge. While we were going through the process the United States Supreme Court came down with a significant ruling that had an impact on the dredging project. Although the ruling gave us many more options for dredging, it took some time for Army Corp of Engineers to understand the ruling and re-write their rules. My understanding is that we are very far along in the dredging permitting process. Hopefully we will not have to wait much longer. I have been trying to get some short-term solutions but most of those short-term solutions that we have used in the past are no longer available to us or won't be available to us for a year. That has left me trying some other ideas with some success. The point here is that dredging is not a simple solution that we can hire a long-reach excavator and throw the spoils up on the breakwall or put it back in the lake somewhere else. We can't. I'm so sorry that we are in this situation from that wind storm. We have been working on dredging for four years and will continue to work on it until we start dredging. I will keep you posted when I know something more concrete. Dave

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