August 2015 - GSL-Marina - mailman.xmission.com

Dredging Update
by Dave Shearer 27 Aug '15

27 Aug '15

GSL Slip Renters and Marina Users. Well, the process has finally begun! We had our first meeting on dredging today. And after this meeting I wish I had more answers than I do. Unfortunately I have very few. But here is what I can tell you right now. When we started this process in December we were still in the early part of winter and were looking at only dredging back down to the hard pan of 4188' above sea level. But, as you all know, we didn't HAVE a winter. Now, going back to the 4188' level may not be enough to get boats back into the marina. It is estimated the lake level will get down to 4192' this late fall before bottoming out. If there was no silting in the marina that would leave a depth of 4' of water in the marina. But, as we know, there is a lot of silting in the marina. B dock is nearly resting in the mud now. We need to see if we can go deeper. And the deeper we go the more the cost of dredging. There is a possibility that there may not be enough money to dredge the whole marina right now. But I want to emphasize that it is only a possibility at this time. The engineering firm will be taking a hard look at their numbers. I have attached a picture of B dock where it shows just how shallow the water is over there. So the engineering company will move forward now with taking samples to see just how far they can dig before hitting material that would make it tough to go deeper. The engineering company is also working forward with Army Corp for the permitting process. It was estimated that the earliest any digging could happen would probably be December and may well begin after that. Design work must be done first which will take some time. The permitting process also needs to work its way through. I have been told, depending on the type of permit, that it could take some time for that to be granted. So the process has now begun at least. There are a lot of questions to be answered in the next little while. It may be hard to see much movement for a while as most of the forward movement for the next while will be behind the scenes. I will keep you posted on the process as things progress. On a positive note the Super El Nino still seems poised to bring us much needed moisture for the next several months. This may help keep the lake dropping as much as current predictions. It has already helped save us from dropping so much. We should be 8/10ths of a foot lower right now. Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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TEST EMAIL
by Dave Shearer 20 Aug '15

20 Aug '15

This is just a test email to make sure the GSL Marina mass email list is still working. Great Salt Lake Yacht Club has hosted this email list over the last several years. Thank you GSLYC. But they have changed service providers and cancelled their account. I have now taken over the account and just want to make sure that everything is working fine with it before we have a critical notice that needs to get out. So sorry for the SPAM. On a positive note I hope to have a dredging update early next week. Thanks Dave Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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Marina News Update
by Dave Shearer 18 Aug '15

18 Aug '15

The Marina News has recently been updated and includes updated information on: * Lake Level Predictions * Super El Nino affecting our weather * Windy Season * Dredging (unfortunately not much new news yet) * How to secure your boat on the hard To view Marina News visit www.gslmarina.com <http://www.gslmarina.com> and click on the News tab at the top of the home page Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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Interesting Note
by Dave Shearer 17 Aug '15

17 Aug '15

NOAA has just announced that the El Niño forming in the Pacific is likely to be a Super El Niño for the next two years. This has only happened three times in the last 65 years: 1997-1998 - Great Salt Lake came up a net two feet each of those years 1982-1983 -we all know what happened that year in Salt Lake City. It flooded! 1972-1973 Great Salt Lake saw a significant rise in lake level NOAA long term forecast are predicting wetter than normal conditions from now through November. After that they are not making much prediction one way or the other for the Great Salt Lake area. Lets hope that we see conditions similar to the last Super El Niños. Still no word on dredging. Sorry. Ive heard some question whether dredging will happen or not. It will. And it will happen this fiscal year. My guess is we might see much more movement on dredging after Labor Day. I will keep you posted. For those that have boats in the parking lot on boat stands, make sure you chain your stands together. This is a MUST. We will be approaching windy season soon and it is important that those stands are chained together to stabilize the boat during wind events. Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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STORM!!!!
by Dave Shearer 08 Aug '15

08 Aug '15

Some of you have called worried about the marina and your boats. We had a violent storm roll through this evening with 65mph SUSTAINED winds, very heavy rain, and lightning. But all the boats rode through the storm just fine. So is the marina. One boat behind the shop left their sails on the deck of the boat. Those sails are probably in the phragmities now. But that is all we saw for damage. We took some photos. I will post them on facebook shortly. Dave Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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No
by Henry Boland 03 Aug '15

03 Aug '15

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Low Water at Ramp
by Harbormaster 03 Aug '15

03 Aug '15

The water at the launch ramp is now low. If you are planning on pulling your boat at the launch ramp you should probably schedule it very soon. If you are a swing keel or a shallow draft boat (3 feet or less) and want to stay in the lake that should be ok unless the dredging company decides to build a coffer dam. If that is the case and you stay in until then it may be necessary to hire a crane to pull ALL the boats out. If you are a swing keel boat and you plan to stay in make sure your cable to raise the keel is in good shape. Thanks Dave

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Navigation Advisory
by Dave Shearer 03 Aug '15

03 Aug '15

The lake is now dropping rapidly. We have about 4.2' at the marina mouth and other areas inside the marina. Areas of the Deep Channel are not much deeper. South winds can affect the depth at the mouth. Here are some projections for depths in the coming months: End of July - 4 feet in the marina mouth. 2 feet at the launch ramp Mid-August - 3.7 feet in the marina mouth (also the crane out area). 1.7 feet at the launch ramp End of August - 3.3 feet in the marina mouth (also the crane out area). 1.3 feet at the launch ramp Mid-September - 3.1 feet in the marina mouth (also the crane out area). 1.1 feet at the launch ramp End of September - 2.9 feet in the marina mouth (also the crane out area). 0.9 feet at the launch ramp Mid October - 2.7 feet in the marina mouth (also the crane out area). 0.7 feet at the launch ramp And the lake will go down a bit more before bottoming out around 4192' (or 2.5' at the marina mouth) The Rescue Boats (they draw 2.6 feet) are already pushing mud between the launch ramp and the end of B dock. I have no new news on dredging yet. There is a Crane Day planned for Thursday, July 30th. If you have not RSVP'd yet but plan to pull please RSVP ASAP. Because we have dwindled the number of boats left in the marina the crane days will become more expensive as there are less boats to share the costs with. If you plan to pull out on the launch ramp your window of opportunity will be closing soon. See above depths for a reference. I honestly do not expect to see any dredging activity before October. Sorry for such gloom news. Dave Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina Antelope Island State Marina 801-209-9142

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