Lakefest draws attention to Great Salt Lake decline as boats leave marina

[00:00:00]I'm Sean Moody at the Great Salt Lake, where the number of boats here on dry land are starting outnumber the ones remaining down there in the marina.

[00:00:05]Everybody's excited for Lake Fest to celebrate the Great Salt Lake, but they're also well aware of just how dire situation out here is.

[00:00:14]There's nothing quite like the love between sailor and boat.

[00:00:18]>> The love of the water.

[00:00:19]>> I got 10 knots and look at that. It's just beautiful.

[00:00:22]>> Evenings on the Great Salt Lake keep the wind in Virgil Gerlones' sails.

[00:00:27]>> On a good season, I try to at least get 400 miles in.

[00:00:31]>> Since 2018, the Great Salt Lake Marina has been home base for his boat, Salah.

[00:00:35]>> It's Arabic for very good.

[00:00:38]>> And sunsets aboard Salah are very good indeed.

[00:00:42]>> It just makes you feel at peace and like everything's right in the world.

[00:00:44]>> But everything in the Great Salt Lake's world >> Did you know back when I was your age the lake used to be this big?

[00:00:50]>> is far from right.

[00:00:52]>> Sad state of affairs, sir.

[00:00:54]>> Lake Fest is focused on education.

[00:00:56]>> Did you know there's brine shrimp in the lake?

[00:00:58]>> And its signature event, a cardboard boat race.

[00:01:06]Soon these kids will pretty much have the place to themselves.

[00:01:09]>> 30 years ago when I started sailing here, the water we'd be underwater here.

[00:01:13]>> Steve Hardy's on the yacht club board.

[00:01:15]>> All these boats, a lot of their keels are stuck in the mud and so that's why we have to pull them out.

[00:01:20]>> He moved his boat to California 3 years ago after the last time all these boats had to move.

[00:01:26]>> When I pulled this boat out in 2022, >> Mhm.

[00:01:29]>> it was harder than my second divorce.

[00:01:31]And that was hard.

[00:01:33]You know.

[00:01:34]Yeah.

[00:01:37]It's hard to talk about it.

[00:01:39]>> Hard because Virgil is losing his community.

[00:01:44]>> Um There's guys here that have been I've been here for 8 years. There's guys have been here for their whole lives.

[00:01:51]And it's it's huge.

[00:01:53]You know.

[00:01:54]>> Virgil's about out of optimism, but Jake Dreyfuss is determined.

[00:01:58]>> We're gathering hundreds of Utahns to show them why the lake is worth saving.

[00:02:01]>> He's the managing director of Grow the Flow.

[00:02:04]>> All you have to do is is take a look at the shoreline behind us to really see the scale of the lake's decline.

[00:02:09]Um it's both impactful but also empowering, right? It's it's to say I want to do something about this now.

[00:02:14]>> Really need our governor and legislator to step up and say, "Okay, we're going to save this lake."

[00:02:20]>> Steve's got some hope.

[00:02:21]>> All the people up there, all the different entities trying to help save the lake, advocate for it. It it's a great thing. It's it's that gives me optimism.

[00:02:30]>> he could sail these waters once more. At the Great Salt Lake, Sean Moody, Fox 13 News, Utah.