The red light on buoy R4 has been out for a few weeks. The new light has been ordered. We have just been waiting on it to arrive. We hope to have the new light here and installed by the end of the week. Otherwise, when sailing at night, find the first red buoy (R2) then head straight for the Kennecott smokestack. This will take you right to R4.

The parking lot is now getting quite busy on weekends. Most of our regular slip renters are being great about parking in a designated stall. But I would like to remind some of the trailer sailors and others bringing in larger vehicles during the weekend to park in regular stalls or if your vehicle and trailer do not fit in a stall, to park in the Day Trailer Parking area. Please do not park trailers and vehicles so that you are taking up several parking spots.

Antelope Island is a great day destination by boat or by car. Please remember though, if traveling by boat, that the majority of the west shore is a wilderness area designated by the Division of Wildlife Services (not State Parks). This means it is illegal to go to shore except for White Rock Bay, Bridger Bay, and the Antelope Island Marina. White Rock and Egg Island are designated bird rookeries and should not be trespassed on. Antelope Island State Park rangers are working on "Free Days" and group days where you may go to shore on other western beaches. I will keep you posted on the details of this.

The best anchorages are Indian Bay and Picture Rock behind the Miera Spit sand bar. White Rock Bay and Bridger Bay also make good anchorages but are a bit of a sail for a day anchorage. A couple notes though: Stay far from shore. It is very shallow along Antelope Island right now. The previously mentioned anchorages are the areas where you can get the closest to the island. Watch your depth and anchor in the sand. There is some tufa reef near these areas. The other issue is that all these anchorages are exposed to northerly and southerly swells.

I took a trip to the Antelope Island marina last Saturday. Much of the marina is very shallow. Depths in the useable part of the marina range from 3.5 to 5 feet. We will be doing some sounding up there in the next few weeks to find a viable path and docks. If our runoff looks good this year, this marina may be useable for shallower draft boats by early to mid June.

The Great Salt Lake Marina has made arrangements for reciprocity with the Antelope Island Marina. This means if you are a slip renter at the Great Salt Lake Marina you may go up to Antelope Island Marina and use one of their slips for up to a week free of charge. Please call the Antelope Island Marina in advance to make arrangements though. This will prevent you from pulling into a pre-rented slip. It will also allow you to get information on available slips, depths and access to the gate if coming or going after hours.

Please remember that this is actually a private marina. Also, there are two very large boulders in the marina. One is located just inside the entrance. The other is located near the sea wall. The marina is also very shallow and should only be used as emergency protection.

This marina is privately maintained. It is also very shallow and takes local knowledge to get through the dredged canal. Only the smallest draft vessels would be able to use this in an emergency. The marina is closed for the season. The gate on the road is closed and posted 'No Trespassing'

Safe Harbour is a legal concept. It allows a boat in distress to use a marina that would not normally be open to them. A good example of this is the Great Salt Lake marina. This marina is primarily a recreational marina. Commercial activity such as brine shrimping operations are not allowed in the marina. That means the brine shrimp vessels are not allowed in the marina. Yet, if the weather becomes dangerous to their vessels or one of their vessels is in distress, we are obligated to give them Safe Harbour. This concept works for all. That means you, as a recreational sailor are not allowed in the privately or commercially operated marina's without prior permission. Yet, if you are in distress or your boat is in danger due to weather and sea conditions, you are allowed, by law, to access these marina's. If you want to visit one of these marina's as a recreational boater, please contact us and I will give you the office number for the private/commercial marina you may want to visit. A phone call to the operator may just gain you unhindered access and valuable information on how best to get in there.

Boating season is now upon us. There are some great sailing destinations on the Great Salt Lake. In the coming weeks I will try to highlight some of these. If you have a favorite spot or observation please let me know and I will try to include it.

Those pesky bugs I was mentioning in last weeks issue? Well, they are quite active now. They are not as bad at the marina as some other areas. All of the islands of Great Salt Lake are infested with them right now. Trips to the island will produce massive amounts of welts, itching and discomfort. They should be through their feeding cycle in the next few weeks though.

Spring brings us many different seasons; It brings us the end of the Frontal season (weather). It brings us the beginning of the Monsoon season (weather). It brings us the Spring Runoff season. It brings "Radio Check" season. And the most hazardous season to navigating on Great Salt Lake is Dead Head season. As the water begins coming down the mountains the lake begins to come up. The currents begin to run strong. The combination of these two is what causes Dead Head season. The rising water pushes large logs/pilings off the islands of Great Salt Lake. These pilings then get caught in the currents of the lake and begin to flow down towards the Great Salt Lake Marina. These pilings are mostly the left-over debris from the 1903 railroad trestle. Some of these pilings will float right along the surface of the water. Most, though, will be just like an iceberg where almost the whole piling will be resting vertical below the surface with only a few inches breaking the surface. The bottom of the piling may even lodge into the mud bottom of the lake and become even more of a hazard to boats if hit. Many of these piling have spikes or nails protuding from them.

These Dead Heads can be anywhere on the lake but the heaviest concentration of them are along the causeway and on the western portion of the lake floating down from Carrington and Stansbury Island. Keep a sharp lookout for these deadheads. They can do serious damage, if not hole a boat. Please take a gps coordinate of the Dead Head and then notify the marina office. We will attemp to remove the Dead Head.

Another, most unpleasant obstacle that may be encountered on the lake during spring are dead, floating cows or sheep. Cattle and sheep grazing are quite common along the west shore of Great Salt Lake and on Stansbury Island. Every once in awhile these animals succomb to whatever element and become floating debris. If you spot one, please take a GSP coordinate and notify the marina office. We will do our best to remove the offensive animal.

One of the more pleasant aspects of spring is the early morning and evening thermals. When there is a substantial temperature difference between day and night a very pleasant thermal will blow outside the marina from Magna during the evening. This thermal will usually switch and come out of Tooele valley in the early morning and blow until mid morning. It is some of the best sailing of the season.