April 2019 - GSL-Marina - mailman.xmission.com

Sailing Clinic Tonight
by Dave Shearer 10 Apr '19

10 Apr '19

** iWednesday April 10th at 7:00 PM Junior Program Overview and Racing for Beginners All, please join us this Wednesday for our final seminar. The club will have a brief 10 minute overview of the Junior program planned for this year. Following the overview we will have a 50 minute presentation on racing. The presentation is intended for beginning or new racers. If you enjoy day sailing and are looking to join the Wednesday racing series, this is your seminar! We'll see you there! Racing Agenda: ------------------------------------------------------------ * Preparation * Essential Rules of the Road * The Start * Upwind Considerations * Mark Roundings * Downwind Considerations * Finishing * Q&A Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina 801-250-1898 [DNR Parks Logo]

1 0

WEATHER WARNING
by Dave Shearer 09 Apr '19

09 Apr '19

The storm approaching Great Salt Lake today and tomorrow appears to be significantly moist. Please remember that it is not our job to watch out for your boats. Some of the boats out here have water in the cockpits that is not draining. And there are a few boats with open hatches. Both of these can lead to sinking hazards. PLEASE COME OUT AND CHECK YOUR BOATS if you haven't done so recently. Thanks Dave Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina 801-250-1898 [DNR Parks Logo]

2 1

Water Watch Report
by Dave Shearer 09 Apr '19

09 Apr '19

Normally, in March, I give my predictions for the water year. Well this year is being a tough one to do that. And that is very good news. We are breaking water watch models right now. We have impressive snowpack numbers. Not record snowpack by any means but impressive. The Bear River snowpack numbers have been a bit of a disappointment though. Yet I mean that in relative numbers. We are only at 115% snowpack for the Bear River basin which gives us 60% of our snowpack runoff. But the good news on the Bear River basin is that their reservoirs are at near saturation. The Weber/Ogden basin and the Prover River basin are at very high numbers. They, collectively, give us 40% of our runoff. The ponds right near Great Salt Lake are at saturation and are actually flooding over in some spots. I have never seen that happen before. That is an indication of ground water saturation. So here is my prediction based on 21 years of experience grinding the numbers on the lake level, ground water saturation and snowpack. Drum roll! I have no Idea how much we will come up this year. But what I can tell you is that we had a plan to pull all the boats from the marina and put them back in the parking lot this summer. THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN NOW. At minimum we will have a net-neutral year. That means, at minimum, we will end up back this fall at the same depths we were at last fall. Based on the numbers I am seeing right now and the forecasts coming from NWS that is a Worst Case Scenario. It is more likely that we will have a net-positive year on lake level. National Weather Service came out a week ago with their predictions for precipitation this spring, summer and fall. All seasons are showing much-wetter-than normal precipitation. This does not make for the best sailing conditions so get out on the water on those nice days as they come up. The other good news is that the mouth of the marina did not silt in this winter. We are looking at current depths near 6 feet at the mouth of the marina. Some lake level news by the numbers: During March the lake usually comes up an average of 0.4 feet. We came up 0.6 feet. April we usually come up 0.2 feet. Well we already did that. And we have a large, very wet storm barreling down on us with more storms on the way. May we usually come up just 0.06 feet. I can guarantee that we will exceed that number. If all other numbers hold steady at average we will have a net neutral year. So you can see it is more likely that we will have a net positive lake level year. GET OUT AND SAIL! Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina 801-250-1898 [DNR Parks Logo]

1 0

WARNING
by Dave Shearer 08 Apr '19

08 Apr '19

Just a friendly warning about your boats at Great Salt Lake Marina. And I must say this is a nice warning to give out compared to the last few years. April is looking like it is going to be very wet. We have noticed several boats with clogged scuppers (cockpit drains) and water filling up cockpits. Once that water starts pouring into your cabins from the cockpits it isn't long before the boat starts to down flood and sink. PLEASE COME OUT AND CHECK YOUR BOATS!!!!!!! It is a royal pain to refloat a boat that has sunk. And it is even a bigger pain to refurbish a boat interior once it has be inundated with salt water. Please don't take this email lightly. There are boats at the marina that have cockpits filling with water now. And enjoy the sailing season. The depth at the mouth is deep enough for almost all the boats now. Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina 801-250-1898 [DNR Parks Logo]

1 0

Some Good News
by Dave Shearer 04 Apr '19

04 Apr '19

We just had a sailboat with a 5.7 draft get through the marina mouth. He did have to push through the silt some but he made it through. Still use caution though when going through there. This also means we will start charging summer rates for ALL boats except for the one or two with very deep drafts still. Have fun sailing Dave Shearer Harbor Master Great Salt Lake State Marina 801-250-1898 [DNR Parks Logo]

1 0