Trestlewood, the company that did our dredging this spring, brought the tug Lucin back down to our marina this morning. They were able to tackle the two areas we were not able to dredge this spring. This included the silted-in hump adjacent to 'B' dock and the remnants of the old coffer dam between the north breakwall and the west breakwall at the extreme inside of the marina mouth.

The marina is now full of thick black stinky water. Thank god for the Gale Force winds pushing the stink towards Woods Cross. but this black water renders our depth sounders totally useless. And they will likely be useless for a day or two.

The Lucin draws 6'. The Lucin, when first entering the marina, hit bottom at both 'B' dock and in the center of the mouth. When the Lucin was done, it did not hit bottom near 'B' dock or in the mouth. It is possible that these two areas are now blown out to a depth of 6' to 7'. The Lucin also worked on the area between the mouth and the launch ramp. We don't feel we were as successful in this area but we were able to make a difference. There are some boulders and rocks on the ramp that we were not able to do anything about. We would like to do a two hour volunteer project in the near future. this volunteer project would mean wading in the water on the ramp and removing any rocks. If you are interested, please email me. The other area the Lucin tackled is the sloughing west breakwall where it bends behind the rescue dock. This was a shallow spot that was more of a nuisance than a challenge but, while we still had some operating time, we pushed it out.

The Lucin parked its bow on the breakwall, opened up its prop and literally flushed the *!&$ (insert your favorite word) out of the shallow areas. It was quite impressive. This process though could have created new shallow spots or dislodged boulders. We don't know if this is the case. Nor do we know, if this is the case, where these new challenges may be. Use caution going through the mouth. Yes, we found that there are still rocks down where the old coffer dam was. None of these appear large but could still ding a keel. Unfortunately the north side of 'B' dock probably suffered some more silting in this whole process.

First of all, I cannot stress too strongly two things: Cooperation and Safety. We all need to cooperate and be more cognizant of each other. This means that the sailors and paddlers need to understand each others limitations. The mouth is very narrow now. Not much more than the width of a stream. Each group has its unique limitations. the sailors have deep draft boats which keep them more centered in the mouth. And the sailors are operating heavy boats with lots of inertia. This means that they cannot stop on the quick. The paddlers, although narrow boats, need a wide area for their paddles. These paddles are part of their stability. Without them the shells become more tippy. And then you have two blind corners when entering the marina mouth. Please keep it slow. Do not try to get two boats at a time through the mouth. Do not pass a boat in the mouth. Realize your limitations and the limitations of other vessels around you. Boats in the main marina channel have right-0f-way over boats entering the channel from the slips. DO NOT CUT BOATS OFF when entering the main channel. Be cautions. We don't know if there may be more shallow spots.

We hope that this bought everyone the rest of the sailing season. But the deeper draft boats may still have challenges in a month. Hope for the best. We have also done everything we can now. Anything more this season is just too cost prohibitive. If you are still running aground, or you begin running aground this fall, it is what it is. We have put in a request for funding to dredge the whole marina. This will require an act by the legislature. So if we still have problems we must hope for substantial money from the legislature or a very moist winter and spring.

There is a Wednesday Night Race tomorrow evening. I'm sure, by the end of the race, we will know how successful the Lucin was. I want to thank Trestlewood, Dave Phillips, Francisco and Fred for their time, experience and efforts. And thank you Dan, Bill and the main Parks office for funding the project.