Josh and I went out to the GSL Marina at 7am and boated along the deep channel reef and measured out the distance to the end of the red/green buoys. Came to 1.6 miles one way. Josh noticed a spiderweb on one of the buoys. It wasn't the biggest spider I've seen of this species, but still quite big compared to Jumping/Wolf Spiders which is all I see around the house.
We then met Dave Shearer at 8:30 at the marina office to discuss the race and the proposed route. I was very encouraging. He was very supportive and told us of the parks willingness to help us out with support boats, etc.... He did discourage using the deep channel buoys as there is a significant current that goes northeast from the southern tip of Antelope Island down to black rock. He said depending on the runoff for the year it can be strong clear until the end of June. He suggested a route that goes along the racing buoys where the current wouldn't be head on and inhibit the forward progress of the swimmers. After discussing it with Josh, we're going to take that advise and count on the support of the State and the Yacht club and forget the convenience of the already existing channel buoys and avoid any head-on currents.
So I took a map of the racing buoy coordinates and will plan the routes using those. The idea is to have a large support boat every mile to assist with liquid/feedings as well as provide safety coverage. Each of those boats would be in radio comm with each other and with a HQ. We got paperwork required for getting the event setup with the State Parks. So we've got some homework to do. Dave was extremely helpful and easy to work with. I'm very excited about this event. No organized event like this has occurred in the GSL since the 1930's. It's time to revive it!
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