Marinas in Winter

As the ice and snow from the coldest winter in recent memory finally melt into spring, the Spy spoke with some marina owners and managers about what they did over the winter. Marinas are enormously important to the economy of Kent, Cecil, and Queen Anne’s Counties.

For boaters, marinas in winter are sad, desolate places. Most of the boats are “on the hard,” where they are covered with shrink wrap or tarps, and perched on flimsy-looking jack stands. Without all the student dockhands, marinas in winter look deserted; however, looks can be deceiving. Most of the larger marinas have plenty of work throughout the winter to keep their full-time staffs quite busy.

Mary Hall, CEO of Georgetown Yacht Basin, reports that more than thirty employees have been repairing boats, planning a summer sailing lesson program, and completing major construction projects, including a porous walkway along the beach. “Children will think they are walking on a giant Rice Krispies Treat,” she said. Two mechanics, Walter O’Neill and Henry Long, have worked at Georgetown nearly 60 years, so they have seen worse winters. Almost 100 boats remain in the water there throughout the winter.

Just down the Sassafras River, Marcia Mabry, general manager of Duffy Creek Marina, has kept five full-time employees busy repairing docks and adding an activity center, where boaters can watch television, use the Internet, and play games. Since Duffy Creek is a Certified Clean Marina, she is constantly looking for ways to recycle, and she has finally found a company that recycles their shrink wrap.

Doug Edwards, manager of Lankford Creek Marina, has spent considerable time just shoveling snow. He has 7 boats in the water and two of them are fully rigged and have gone out on mild winter days. Even marinas that haul out all their boats for the winter usually have to keep bubbler machines operating to protect their dock pilings. The extra electricity needed to run these machines was a major expense for marinas this winter – more than the previous five winters combined.

Bill Landon, manager of the Chestertown Marina, said he “twiddled his thumbs” when the boats in the yard were snowed in, but he did manage to accomplish some trailer, electrical, and engine work. Ray Clark, who runs Green Point Marina with his son said, “The biggest excitement has been watching ice melt.” Alice Smith, who runs The Wharf at Handy Point with her husband, sold some used sailboats and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a frozen Worton Creek. Up the Creek farther, Libby and John Patnovic kept 17 employees working in the sheds at Worton Creek Marina. Jenny Nelson, manager at Gratitude Marina in Rock Hall, said that 7 employees painted bathhouses and worked on boats in sheds.

Several marinas sent representatives to winter boat shows, where they pushed not just their own businesses but also the many sights to be seen and things to do in this corner of the world.

Big or small, all local marinas have the same advice: Now is the time to buy a boat and enjoy it from April through November. There has never been a better time to buy a new or used boat. Even a cold winter like the one that is ending is relatively short on the Chesapeake, so the boating season is long. Marinas make boating accessible to people who do not own waterfront property.