Lake Success making a comeback with new marina

LAKE SUCCESS, Calif. (KFSN) -- At Lake Success near Porterville, hope floats. You can barely see it from the road, but it's there -- a new marina open for business. Up close, you can hear it.

It's opportunity on the water for Mark Wintion and his family because the lake hasn't had a marina in eight years.

"The old marina left when the dam safety project was happening," said Regina Aquino with Success Lake Marina.

The lake wasn't deep enough to support it. It's still not that deep but it's good enough.

The old marina use to sit near the top of a hill in the distance. Back then, there was 80,000 acre feet of water in the lake. Now, there is just a fraction of that, but it's just enough to keep boats floating through the summer.

"We only have seven boats right now but we're working on more at the shop; we should have 10 by Fourth of July," said Wintion.

Wintion is working on the boats roughly 15 minutes away in Springville. Each one takes about two weeks to restore. He's also working on a bigger dock to replace the current one.

"A lot of work just to get this far," said Wintion.

He's hoping it'll all pay off, starting with Memorial Day weekend. Roughly a thousand people are expected to show up. All he needs now is more rain.

"We're just waiting for Mother Nature to cooperate, but we can have a full lake again," said Aquino.