Ernie Newman was sitting in a chair on the dock of the New Mexico Sailing Club’s marina Sunday at Heron Lake State Park passing his time as docksitter by reading a book.
Newman, the Club’s commodore, had begun his duties watching over the marina June 13 and would complete them four days later.
There was little to disturb his reading. Only one boat was on the lake and since Heron is a no-wake lake, meaning that boats must be operated at a speed that does not create a wake, the only noises he heard were the lapping of the water against the marina’s docks and the sound of wind blowing through the pine trees that line the lake’s shore.
“The no-wake is a big attraction,” Newman said. “This is more of a wilderness experience and people like that.”
The marina also turned into a wilderness itself four or five years ago when years of drought helped drain the lake of much of its water.
“I can show you pictures where the whole marina is nothing but mud,” Newman said. “A lot (of Club members) didn’t come back after that.”
Club membership dropped to 65 from a high of 110, Newman said.
But this year might help bring some members back. Another wet winter brought along strong snowpack that has helped fill the lake to 79 percent capacity and 108 percent of average.
Heron Lake, which lies on Willow Creek, a tributary of the Rio Chama above El Vado, receives its water via a tunnel beneath the Continental Divide and is part of the San Juan-Chama project expected to provide water to cities farther downstream on the Rio Grande.
One member who is glad to see the water levels at Heron rise is Tom Riggs, of Tesuque. Riggs arrived late Sunday afternoon to launch his boat, Pasatiempo.
“When it was dry, it was just devastating,” Riggs said. “I like to be out at sunset — it’s pretty magical.”
Riggs said time seems to slow down when he’s sailing.
“I can come up here in the afternoon and feel like I’ve been gone a lot longer than a few hours,” he said. “It’s a fabulous little group of people up here.”
As Riggs set sail from the Marina onto the main body of the lake, John and Linda Higgins, of Los Lunas, were sailing their boat into the marina. They are new to sailing and this is their first year in the Club, although they have had a cabin in the area for seven years.
Newman hustled out to the end of the dock to help them bring in and tie down their boat.
“It was the best day of the weekend,” John Higgins said. “There was a 10-knot wind blowing steadily, and we were able to sail from one end on the lake to the other at about five knots.”
Sail boats aren’t the only craft at the Marina. John and Artie Polk have a pontoon boat and were headed out for an afternoon of fishing for kokanee salmon.
The Club operates the marina at the state park under a concession agreement and pays 10 percent of its receipts to the state. The Club signed a 25-year lease that expires in March 2010. The Marina opened May 1 and closes Oct. 17 this year.
Club members pay annual dues of about $550, including all fees. All the Club members are required to serve as docksitters from time to time.
Also, the Marina has 90 slips, The going rate is $10 a day.
Newman said people from Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Los Alamos, in that order, provide the majority of the Club’s members.
John and Laura Davey, of Los Alamos, are in their fourth year with the Club.
“It’s something that always appealed to us and we both wanted to try,’ John Davey said. “We found out about the Club and learned on our own by reading and doing — mostly doing.”
The close proximity of the Club’s facilities appealed to the Daveys, as did the atmosphere.
“There are great people in the Club,” Laura Davey said. “It’s close enough but so far that when you get here you can relax and all your problems go away.”