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CRANE DAY COMING UP
by Dave Shearer 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

We have had an absolutely disastrous winter. It appears it is going to go down as the driest on record. Governor Cox has just declared a State of Emergency due to the drought conditions we are experiencing. The lake may be showing signs of already topping off. If it hasn't topped off yet, it will early to mid-April. I have not set a crane day yet as I am wanting the lake to come up as much as possible before we pull the boats to make it easier to move boats around to the crane out slip on D dock. As soon as the lake shows signs of flattening or even dropping we will schedule a Crane Day for shortly after that time. It really is time to start de-rigging boats; especially the deeper draft boats. We started dropping masts last Sunday and were able to get 4.5 foot draft boats over to the mast crane slip. I know many of you are shallower draft boats (3 feet or less) and want to get as much sailing as possible in before we see what your future holds. Four foot draft boats can also still get out of the marina. But I can pretty much guarantee you that anything over 3.5 feet draft will have their boast in the mud in their slip by early to mid-summer. If we have a long hot summer we could see the lake drop as much as 2.8 feet in the marina. That would leave most of the marina shallower than 3 feet and will only leave around 1.5 to 1.7 feet at the marina mouth. If the weather is ok this Saturday, we will be available in the afternoon to give guidance on dropping masts. We already have a significant amount of boats signed up for the first crane day. In fact we have so many signed up we will need to do at least two crane days. The priority will be to pull those with cradles and stands first as well as the deeper draft boats. This is all just tragic for the boating community. But it is where we are at. Dave

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LAKE LEVEL - CRANE DAY
by Dave Shearer 08 Mar '21

08 Mar '21

I've been analyzing the lake level this morning. NOT GOOD NEWS. Usually, in March, we come up 0.44'. WE WILL NOT SEE THAT THIS YEAR. The ground is too dry and just not much water is coming our way. And the first half of March looks completely dry with only one very small storm. Twice in the last 20 years, we have not come up at all in March. It is possible we have already topped off for the year. And, although I have never seen the lake drop during March, that doesn't mean it is not possible. That is also not good news. It means we will have difficulty getting any boats with more than a 4.5' draft to the mast crane. That means we may be forced with two choices for the deeper draft boats (can you hear me Catalina 30's?) Option one is to do what we used to do and use the halyards of the boats on each side of your boat to drop your mast. The other choice is to use the crane, on crane day, to drop your masts. That is not ideal as it will cost quite a bit more time and money to get boats out. The other bad news is that now the 4 foot draft boats look like they WILL have to come out this spring too. Please take this very seriously. Start getting trailers, cradles, stands rounded up and make sure they are all in serviceable order. Get on the crane list. I am sill planning on a Crane early to mid-April. But if the lake shows signs of going down before that time I will have to pull the trigger much earlier. Sorry for all this bad news. It just seems we can't get a break out here lately. Dave

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Time to ramp up pulling boats
by Dave Shearer 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

This is a hard email to write but PLEASE TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. I know it seems like we have had a lot of snow lately. We have. But it only brought us up from a snowpack of 57% late January to 81% today for the Great Salt Lake Drainage area. This is not even close enough to what we need to keep boats in the maria. And Direct Precipitation is only 57% of normal. Great Salt Lake gets 50% of its water from Direct Precipitation and 50% from spring runoff. Water watch experts only give us a 15% chance of catching up before the water year ends in May. To add to our problem, water watch experts say that the soil is the driest they have ever measured since they were keeping records. See recent KSL story. https://www.ksl.com/article/50115754/utah-drought-worries-farmers-ranchers-… Our water year began last October. Here are the stats since then: October = 18% of normal precip November = 49% of normal precip. December = 28% of normal precip. January = 62% of normal precip. February = 128% of normal precip. And the forecast for March = Much Drier than Normal. And much warmer. See NOAA Forecast: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?… On a normal water year the lake would have already come up 1.1' since its low in the fall. We have only come up 0.5'. That is LESS THAN HALF! On a normal water year we would likely come up another 0.73' topping off early May. We will be lucky to see another .4' this year. We are poised to see a new record low for the lake this fall breaking the low record of 4191.6' msl in the early 1960's. It is time to prepare for pulling boats from the lake while the water is high enough to do so. Any boat with a draft over 4' needs to get out VERY SOON! Boats with a draft of 3 to 4 feet will need to pull md-Spring to early Summer. The water is not high enough to get 5 foot draft boats to the mast crane slip but will be soon. Any 4' to 4.5' draft should be able to get there now. PLEASE TAKE THIS VERY SERIOUSLY. We cannot just keep boats in the marina if their keels are going to be in the mud. This risks too much damage to the slips. Right now, I plan to have the first crane day early April to maximize the highest water level possible. Please get your trailers ready. Work on cradles or boat stands. I am so sorry we are here again. But the reality is that we are. If you can take your boat home or to other waters please do so. Otherwise we will plan on storing them in the south parking lot as we did last time for a storage fee. Please plan now. Start removing as much as possible from your boats to get them to float higher. Start unrigging your boats. Please email me to arrange getting on the crane list. Thanks Dave

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Spiral jetty
by aaron thomas 07 Feb '21

07 Feb '21

Dave, We were visiting spiral jetty the other day and we saw these pilings driven in the lake bed, just about 1000 yards from the jetty. Do you know what they used to be? [Image] Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>

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Power Outage
by Dave Shearer 26 Jan '21

26 Jan '21

I have been informed by Rocky Mountain Power that we will be without power much of Thursday due to necessary repairs on equipment. Please plan accordingly. Thanks Dave

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WARNING - PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS MESSAGE IF YOU HAVE A BOAT IN THE MARINA
by Dave Shearer 26 Jan '21

26 Jan '21

GSL Slip Renters, The situation out here is dire. As I have stated before, our water year begins October 1st. Our lake level is VERY LOW already. We can afford to lose October and November. But losing December and January was a horrible scenario for us. We just lost all four of those months as far as precipitation. And now it looks like we are going to lose February too. The "Dome of Death" high pressure over Utah and the Pacific is just too strong. For a long-term forecast, the first half of February was looking pretty good for precipitation . . . but not anymore. The storms hit the Pacific NW of the US and then just get torn apart. There is little hope at this point for keeping boats in the marina. The lake should have come up a half a foot by now. It has come up 1/10th of a foot. If we had a normal snowpack (and we don't!), we would come up almost another foot over the next three months. That is VERY unlikely to happen now. Many of you already have boats trapped in their slips. B dock has already silted back in. We need to get boats out this spring WHILE WE CAN. Barring a miracle, the decision is now upon us. PLEASE do not take this warning lightly. It is now time to find trailers, cradles or stands for those that don't have them. For those that have them it is time to work on your trailers, cradles and stands NOW. I plan to have the first Crane Day mid to lake March to get all boats out with a draft of over four feet. The second crane day will be scheduled for mid to late April to pull the rest of the boats with drafts over 2.5 feet. But if the winter and spring continue to bring dismal snowpack and direct precipitation, we will be forced to pull ALL the boats while we can. I am SO SORRY we are in this situation. But there is little hope this weather pattern will change anytime soon. As I have stated before, we would need the miracle of 1983 to fix this problem. If that happens we will reevaluate our situation. But that miracle is very unlikely to happen. We need to be prepared. Again, I am so sorry we are here again forced to pull boats from our beloved lake. But we are there. Please take this email seriously. Dave

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DISMAL NEWS
by Dave Shearer 18 Jan '21

18 Jan '21

Last year was not a good year for many reasons. COVID-19, Confinement, face masks, earthquake, a great winter followed by a disastrous spring - water wise. Well, 2021, as far as precipitation, seems to be much worse. Our snowpack today is 60%. The water year starts October 1st. Below are the stats since the water year began: October - 18% of normal precipitation November - 49% of normal precipitation . . . that was in one storm. December - 28% of normal precipitation January - 1% of normal precipitation. Let me state that again - - - 1% of normal. The Great Salt Lake runoff can afford to lose October and November and still recover. According to water watchers, we can't afford to lose December and January. Well we just did . . . and in a catastrophic way. The lake usually comes up 0.13' in November. It normally comes up 0.21' in December. And it usually comes up 0.2' in January. We have only come up 0.1' since the low in October. That means we have already lost a potential of nearly ½ foot. On average we come up 2 feet during spring runoff and drop 2 feet during summer evaporation. In other words we come up and lose the same amount of lake level between spring and summer. Last year we had a net loss of 1.5 feet. NWS long-term forecast states the Great Salt Lake Drainage area has an equal chance of being wet or dry . . . they don't know. But almost every storm is going way over the top of us. The hard truth is that we would have to have a miraculous 1983 spring to pull us out of the situation we are in now. The lake, rather than coming up, is stabilized at 4192.3' MSL. We are in serious trouble. I'm afraid we are looking at pulling most, if not all, of the boats this Spring, while the water is high enough to do so. It is time to start working on trailers. Working on cradles. Preparing to pull boats if we are faced with this real possibility. Right now, the target to start pulling boats is mid-March to mid-April. I am so sorry for this hard news. I just don't have much hope that we will see the miracle of 1983. I was at Jordanelle yesterday. There is no snow up there. I have heard from Rangers patrolling the back country. They report that, what snow is up there, is very dry. It contains very little moisture. We are in serious trouble and need to plan accordingly.

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Fremont Island
by Dave Shearer 06 Jan '21

06 Jan '21

We finally have an official announcement about the status of Fremont Island. The island was recently donated to the State of Utah. There is a conservation easement by the Nature Conservancy to protect the island though. This makes the land now accessible to the public through some strict rules. Here is the link to more information about how to visit Fremont Island and the rules that pertain to any visit. Fremont Island | Utah DNR - FFSL (Forestry, Fire and State Lands)<https://ffsl.utah.gov/fremont-island/> It is always a good idea to let us know if you are going to the island because communication is not reliable up there. Letting us know is NOT a requirement though. At minimum, file a float plan with us or a loved one. A float plan copy can be found at www.gslmarina.com<http://www.gslmarina.com> Enjoy Dave

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Water to Marina
by Dave Shearer 05 Jan '21

05 Jan '21

The water line to the marina has been repaired and the water is back on to the marina restrooms and freezeless faucets in the parking lot

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Christmas Decoration Contest
by Dave Shearer 04 Jan '21

04 Jan '21

We had a great showing for the Christmas Decoration contest this year! We will make this an annual event (as long as we still have boats in the water). We had two categories possible; Christmas Lights and Non-Christmas Lights category. But, because of one ambitious person, we added a third category after-the-fact! The winner of the Christmas Lights category was John Unferdorfer. He went all out on Christmas lights including lighting up the dingy on the back of his boat. The winner of the Non-Christmas Light category was Mike and Jennifer Green. Not only did they decorate their boat but they also figured out how to do Christmas lights on a non-powered dock. And the category we added was Christmas Decorations in Dry Storage. Pete Webb won that one. He decorated his boat in unsecured storage and did Christmas lights. Congratulations to all the winners!

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