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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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Marina Mouth Silting
by Dave Shearer 24 Jun '24

24 Jun '24

We should have six feet of water in the mouth right now. But the last three storms brought strong north winds and current. It appears this has caused substantial silting in the mouth. I will be going out and doing soundings tomorrow but I know several boats having trouble getting out if they have drafts of 4 feet or more. I will let you know what I found. I'm not sure what we can do in the short term but State Lands is still planning on dredging here soon. The last time table I heard was late summer to early Fall. Again, I will keep you posted. Dave

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Boating Clinic
by Dave Shearer 20 Jun '24

20 Jun '24

Is your outboard a mystery to you? Estranged from it? Come learn more about your auxiliary motor at Great Salt Lake Emergency Response Team's continuing education program, Saturday, July 13th 10am at Great Salt Lake Marina. Saturday, July 13th at 10am. Other subjects will be weather prediction on the lake and safe fire extinguisher use. Please RSVP. Dave

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Phil Lord Obituary
by Dave Shearer 19 Jun '24

19 Jun '24

Here is the obituary for Phil Lord. He had a boat at Great Salt Lake for several years: Phillip Lord Obituary - Salt Lake City, UT (neptunesociety.com)<https://neptunesociety.com/obituaries/salt-lake-city-ut/phillip-lord-118487…>

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KEEP DOCK GATES LOCKED!
by Dave Shearer 16 Jun '24

16 Jun '24

KEEP DOCK GATES LOCKED! It's been a while since we had this many boats back in the marina. Slip renters, now that we have nearly 100 back in the marina, have different expectations. Some have no problem with gates being left open. Others absolutely want gates closed and secured at all times. Over the last several months I have had MULTIPLE complaints about gates being left open. I have observed tourists going down these docks, when the gates are open, and actually climb on slip renters' boats; mostly for photo opportunities. I really don't like getting complaints about such a simple matter. But if you are renting a slip on B through K dock, you are renting a slip on a dock that is meant to be secured. Every slip renter has an obligation to fellow slip renters to keep the gate locked and secured. I know there are some people that just don't care about the gate being locked. I have plenty of slips on L dock for those that don't want the inconvenience of securing the dock. Otherwise please help out and KEEP THE GATES LOCKED AND SECURED. Thanks Dave

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