Well we had another successful but very long Crane Day. At the end of the
day we pulled 41 boats in 12 hours. Not quite the record of the last Crane
Day but still good.
I want to thank all the volunteers that showed up and made it easier on the
boat owners. This included slip renters who already have their boats out of
the water, former boat owners that are still part of this wonderful
community. And, of course, the very dedicated volunteer Search and Rescue
team. These guys are just great!
I also want to give a big shout out and thanks to three groups or
individuals that made sure we were all fed. Tiffany Jackson cooked great
sloppy joes. Little Caesar's Pizza donated a whole bunch of pizzas. And
Starbucks donated coffee. Thank you all.
A couple things to note. I will change the way I do crane days in the
future. Wagstaff hit me with overtime this time. Between two cranes that
amounted to 9 hours of overtime. It was my mistake and I'll eat it. But,
to minimize the sting, I need to collect from two people who have not paid
for the crane time. If you are one of those two people please contact me
ASAP. Thanks
At the end of 13 hours I was exhausted. And I saw the faces of the
volunteers, especially those working on the second crane. They were just as
exhausted as I if not more so by the end of the day.
So because of the overtime charge and the long, exhausting hours I have
decided that future crane days I run will be kept to 8 hours. If we have to
go into the next day we will. I feel this is the best decision so that we
do not burn out those experienced volunteers. And exhaustion may lead to
dangerous mistakes. There were no mistakes this last crane day but I want
to make sure we have none in the future too.
We have several crane days to go through by the time dredging is complete
and all the boats are back in the lake. If we burn out those willing to
volunteer it won't be so easy to accomplish this huge undertaking.
I am now closely watching the lake level before scheduling the next crane
day. The recent rain and cooler temperatures have made a helpful
difference. We are now at 82% direct precipitation. That is up from 50%
six weeks ago. But the snow pack is still a dismal 43% We are now reaching
temperatures 15 degrees above normal. And NOAA is predicting a
hotter-than-normal summer. This will likely accelerate evaporation.
I have heard very little on dredging but it does sound like there might be
some forward movement. And we are only one month away from July 1st when
the money will be available. I will keep you posted on any dredging news.
We will have another Crane Day sometime late this month to get the last of
the deeper draft boats out before we cannot get them to the crane out slip.
And it may be necessary to pull boats with 3.5 draft or more depending on
how fast the lake goes down.
It may be necessary to pull ALL the boats out sometime this summer before
dredging if they decide to build a coffer dam and drain all the water out of
the marina. I will be contacting all boat owners who still have boats in
the water to discuss what our options are if all the boats need to be
pulled. I'm hoping most of the boats remaining in the water have trailers.
We have nearly run out of room for boats with cradles and stands.
The launch ramp is heavily silted in and has only about three feet of depth.
For those swing keel boats with trailers that want to avoid the cost of a
crane you, unfortunately, may only have about a month before you would need
to pull your boats. Otherwise you may be stuck using the crane but at least
you could still sail for a while longer.
I know there isn't much good news here, in this email. But at least
dredging efforts are getting nearer. And for those that want to get out on
the water I am still working on the Harbor Master Eardley Spit cruse on June
13th. I will send an email out very soon with the details for the cruise.
For those that have boats on the hard we will find ways to get you out
there.
One more note. I have heard some of you thinking of anchoring your boats
out on the lake if a coffer dam is built. I highly discourage that. I
would like to refer you to an article in the February 2015 issue of Latitude
38. The article is called "Avalon's Darkest Night" and is about a storm
that blew in violent seas lashing Catalina Island's Avalon Harbor causing
quite a bit of destruction and caused two deaths aboard boats. The winds
that caused this destruction were only about 45mph (winds the Great Salt
Lake is currently experiencing today). Great Salt Lake can be a very rough
body of water with waves over 10 feet and winds well over 50mph on the lake.
Water in Great Salt Lake is munch denser than sea water. And the waves here
are also much closer together. That means a 5 foot wave on Great Salt Lake
will have much more energy than a similar wave on the ocean. Boats damaged
or destroyed in the Avalon storm broke mooring lines, anchors and even
hardware on the boat holding the anchor line to the boat.
In 1857 Brigham Young's boat, THE TIMELY GULL, broke loose from its mooring
in a storm and washed up on Antelope Island. Part of it still sits there
today.
In the late 1990's a Cal 25 dragged its anchor and ended up on Fremont
Island totally destroyed.
In 2008 a strong storm crossed Grantsville Bay (south of Eardley Spit) of
Great Salt Lake. We were called to evacuate the crew onboard the 165 foot
barge VAGABOND II. The next day we went back out to inspect the barge. The
anchor had shifted. One of the two spuds holding the barge in place had
severely bent. They were made of steel.
A few years back a US 25 went sailing and was caught in a strong northerly
wind. He was not able to negotiate the waves in the channel and ended up on
the beach. The next day we found his boat still on the beach but separated
from the keel.
The tugboat LUCIN (55 foot long steel boat) has had to anchor out on
occasions in storms. The 1 1/8" anchoring cables have broken on occasions.
And one time the force of the waves hitting the anchored tug peeled the deck
back where the anchor stanchion was attached. And that was a steel hull,
not fiberglass.
Earlier this spring a swing keel Catalina 25 crossed the reef outside the
marina mouth. Of course, the boat ran aground and became stuck as his keel
cable was broken. We had to use the RIB to evacuate the crew that night.
The next morning we went out to try and pull the boat off the reef. The
waves that night had enough force to brake the keel loose from the boat.
The keel is still on the reef today.
There are many more examples of anchored boats just not being able to take
the long beating force of Great Salt Lake winds.
Please remember that, once the coffer dam is in place there is NOTHING we
can do for you if your boat breaks loose in a storm.
Ok. Sorry for the long email again.
Dave Shearer
Harbor Master
Great Salt Lake State Marina
Antelope Island State Marina
801-209-9142
