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Famed “Thunderbird” turns 80
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Lake Tahoe’s water clarity measurements, which are indicators of the health of the watershed, averaged 62.9 feet through 2020, the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency announced on July 8 in a press release. Average clarity in 2020 was 63 feet, which is just slightly better than the 2019 average of 62.7 feet. Lake Tahoe’s clarity peaked in February 2020 when it was deeper than 80 feet. It was at its lowest in mid-May when it measured at slightly more than 50 feet. These readings were within the average range of the last decade. Clarity has been measured by UC Davis researchers since the 1960s as the depth to which a 10-inch white disk, called a Secchi disk, remains visible when low-ered through the water. Because lake clarity measurements vary from day to day and year to year, managers and scientists remain focused on long-term trends as an indicator of the lake’s health.
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n 1939, flamboyant Tahoe summer resident Captain George Whittell Jr. commissioned naval architect John L. Hacker to design a new kind of speedboat: one having the lines of his Duesenberg automobiles and DC-2 aircraft. He envisioned a powerful and stylish yacht that would seamlessly cut through the afternoon chop kicked up by zephyr winds along Lake Tahoe’s East Shore. Whittell specified the boat’s fit and finish: double-planked Honduran mahogany over a frame of sawn white oak, polished stainless-steel houses and gleaming crystal accents. A year-round boat, there was forcedair cabin heat to keep passengers cozy on inclement days, hot- and cold-running water, a shower, wardrobe, four Pullmanstyle berths, galley and an ample head. No creature comfort was overlooked.
Nathan Dethlefsen
Lake Tahoe clarity improves slightly
BY B I L L WAT S O N , C H I E F E X E C UT I V E & C U R ATO R
V-12 aircraft engines. He then coined her his “70 mile-an-hour cocktail lounge” and entertained on board Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minelli and many more. Today, the party continues aboard “Thunderbird” yacht. The nonprofit Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society meticulously cares for “Thunderbird”
A year-round boat, there was forced-air cabin heat to keep passengers cozy on inclement days, hotand cold-running water, a shower, wardrobe, four Pullman-style berths, galley and an ample head.
Historical Whittell photos from the Thunderbird Archives
In 2020, UC Davis scientists took 27 individual readings at Lake Tahoe’s long-term index station. Using technology beyond the Secchi disk, researchers continue to refine their understanding of lake physics and ecology to determine the evolving causes of clarity change.
“While there is a good understanding of how fine clay particles and tiny algal cells reduce clarity, the biggest challenges are in reducing their presence in the surface water,” said Geoffrey Schladow, director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. “Here climate change, and in particular the warming of the surface water, is exerting an undue influence.” A recent review of clarity data by the Tahoe Science Advisory Council reaffirmed the understanding of main drivers of clarity loss, which concluded that fine sediment particles and algae continue to be the dominant variables affecting Tahoe’s clarity. Past UC Davis research and the council’s report has also pointed to climate change altering precipitation and snowmelt patterns and increasing the temperature of the lake and impeding deep lake mixing. | Full report tahoe.ucdavis.edu
Eric Jarvis
Measurements show Lake Tahoe’s annual clarity has plateaued over the past 20 years. Despite this progress, summer clarity continues to decline by over a half-foot per year.
When Hacker lost his own shop in the Great Depression, he worked from Ben Huskins’ Bay City, Mich., boat works. Hacker anticipated a 36-month construction schedule. However, with laborers desperate for employment and working three shifts each day, Thunderbird was delivered in 11 months for a then-staggering price of $83,500. After November trials on the Saginaw River, Hacker shipped her the following summer by rail to Lake Tahoe. Thunderbird arrived at Mayfield’s Boatyard in Tahoe City on July 12, 1940. Mayfield’s, the former railroad engine house and shops, is now home to Tahoe Yacht Club and Tahoe City Marina. Making headlines across the nation, Whittell deprived the waiting press of a “scoop” when, in the wee hours of July 15,
1940, he slipped “Thunderbird” quietly out of Mayfield’s as reporters slept soundly nearby. Whittell berthed his new toy in a cavernous steel boathouse blasted into solid rock and connected to his stone castle — Thunderbird Lodge — by a 600-footlong tunnel. During World War II, at the age of 60, the U.S. government deemed Whittell too old to serve the war effort. Possibly feeling dejected, he lost his passion for technology, socializing and gallivanting, which included cruising aboard his yacht. Twenty-two years after building his prized vessel, Whittell sold “Thunderbird” to casino magnate Bill Harrah. Harrah added a flying bridge and replaced her twin Kermath Sea Raider engines (having only 83 operating hours) with Allison
yacht at her original home, the historic Thunderbird Lodge estate on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore. The preservation society uses the yacht extensively for its school and maritime heritage programs, partnerships with children’s organizations such as Make-a-Wish Foundation and Boys and Girls Clubs, and as a fundraising vehicle for its own museum and preservation endeavors. Read the chronology of “Thunderbird” yacht’s first 80 years
at TheTahoeWeekly.com “Thunderbird” is on view at Thunderbird Lodge, which is offering limited tours this summer. | thunderbirdtahoe.org
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