Offering a diverse experience Everything about Port Annapolis involves high standards Cover story by Tom Caestecker, Jr. Photos by S. Tinsley Preston

Port Annapolis, Maryland, with its deft balance of commercial interests and community involvement, is our 2003 Marina of the Year. It’s a combination of so many things—a truly harmonious blend—that makes Port Annapolis so special. This full-service marina has the relaxed feel of a park, yet the elegance of a club. In addition, it’s a profitable business venture that gives back to the local community and furthers the cause of the environment. What’s more, it accommodates veteran sailors and nautical enthusiasts alike, as well as landlubbers who want to enjoy a picnic lunch.

Built in 1977 on a forgotten piece of land with a smattering of dilapidated infrastructure, Port Annapolis is now on 18 acres. It has implemented a model of continuous and creative renovation. Its nearly 280 slips are so well protected (with a two-foot mean tide) that the marina has weathered unscathed the region’s worst storms, including the recent Hurricane Isabel.

Port Annapolis boasts a complete service department, haul-out facilities to accommodate vessels up to 35 tons, land storage for more than 400 vessels, two pumpout stations (free service for slip tenants and transients), a fully stocked Ship’s Store, as well as the Wet Dog Café and Bakery. Slipholders and guests alike are pampered with such services as the on-site laundry, a full-size swimming pool with a lifeguard, immaculate bathhouses with showers, free use of bikes, and discount coupons for area restaurants and businesses (including the local water taxi). Thanks to its beauty and lavish amenities, Port Annapolis is at capacity.

Lex Birney, the son of co-owner Arthur Birney, says the family “wanted to offer a place that could take care of the soup-to-nuts life cycle of a boat…you can buy your boat here, keep it here, work on it here, party on it, sell it, and buy a new one here.” (Birney was originally quoted in the Capital Gazette.) This full complement of services is why the marina hosts one of the largest live-aboard populations in the region.

These offerings are wedded together with a vigilant care for Maryland’s picturesque maritime landscape—something just as important to this special marina as the stately vessels that line its finely kept docks. Making a concerted effort to keep the waters clean earned Port Annapolis its designation as the state’s first “Clean Marina” in 1999, courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Because of this, the overall community admires it as a shining example in greater Annapolis.

“We’ve always wanted the marina to be a true destination, not just a place to hang your dock lines,” says Port Annapolis General Manager Scott Tinkler. “That’s one area where we’ve really excelled. Being customer-friendly and environmentally aware, along with having a nice facility and high-end amenities are traits that go hand-in-hand. The owners have always been dedicated to giving back. They’re not going to just keep the profits for themselves; they’re going to put them back into the marina.

“We’re always conscious of the environment and what the best management practices are for minimizing the impact to the environment,” he adds. “We’ve done quite a bit of remodeling and property redevelopment. We always want to make sure we can control the runoff, and know how certain landscape changes will affect the surrounding areas.”

This kind of attention to detail doesn’t go unnoticed by local officials. Donna Morrow, coordinator of the Maryland DNR’s Clean Marina Program, says the marina puts a lot of thought into its design and new structures.

“They’re really conscious of storm water runoff,” Morrow says. “When the water flows downhill, they do a great job of diverting it, trapping it, and filtering it where they can. They make a real effort to have fresh gravel trucked in, and they install 4 x 4’s on top of the bulkheads [near the water’s edge], so that the runoff doesn’t stream right over it. The water will hit it first, and then settle.”

Many typical boatyard projects that could cause pollution and harmful emissions, such as sanding and cleaning, take place far from the shoreline. To further benefit the environment, dustless sanders are used. Port Annapolis is both a self- and full-service boatyard, and routinely supplies dustless sanders (at a nominal fee) to do-it-yourselfers to ensure compliance with environmental guidelines. Most of the self-service customers are very aware of the rules, which makes monitoring the yard an easy chore, Tinkler says.

“The Clean Marina Program’s initiatives are, in a way, common knowledge,” he explains. “Not only do our employees police [the self-service area], but our customers let us know if someone is using an improper tool or method. We then politely inform the customer that he needs to go a different route. Many don’t want to buy a dustless sander for a once-a-year project, so that’s why we have them. We also take care of the cleanup and disposal.”

All this care has the gratitude of a variety of neighbors, including the Back Creek Nature Center, an adjacent piece of property that is owned by the city of Annapolis. In addition, a protected wetland borders the nature center and marina property. Tinkler says the city looks to Port Annapolis as a virtual “consultant” for making people aware and respectful of this delicate parcel of land.

“A boat may pull up on the beach and have a party or a bonfire, and may not be as cognizant of the environment as we are, so we help police it,” Tinkler says. “We’ll also help out the mayor and city officials during periodic or yearly cleanups.”

Corporate citizen
One project that exemplifies both Port Annapolis’ stewardship of the land and its close ties to the community is its work with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The Foundation, founded in 1967, is dedicated to “Saving the Bay,” and is instrumental in reducing pollution, improving fisheries, and protecting and restoring natural resources such as wetlands, forests, and other aquatic life. Specifically, the marina helps the Foundation restore the local oyster population, an underwater habitat that cleanses the bottom. This is done by cultivating “oyster gardens” in protective enclosures, or basins, under the marina’s piers. After nearly a year in this “captivity,” the Foundation sees to it that the young oysters are relocated into the deeper waters of Chesapeake Bay. The basins are then replenished with new oyster “seedlings.”

“Oysters are tremendous filters,” says Tinkler. “A hundred years ago, oysters filtered all the water in the bay in three or four days; now it takes years, because of all the harvesting and boat traffic.”

“This is just the latest in a long line of environmentally friendly accomplishments by Port Annapolis,” says Foundation President William C. Baker. “They deserve tremendous credit for combining economic and environmental goals. The marina is ‘healthy’ on both counts, and we’re enormously proud of our association with it.”

Port Annapolis’ work with the Bay Foundation isn’t the only example of its role as a corporate citizen. The marina has outstanding rapport with an organization called C.R.A.B. (Chesapeake Regional Accessible Boating) that encourages physically challenged people to get involved with boating. Boats are donated to C.R.A.B. each year, and the organization’s income is derived from the resale of these boats. The vessels cannot be accepted, however, unless there is place for them to be stored. Many boatyards in the area have been unable to accommodate the boats that C.R.A.B. acquires, but Tinkler says Port Annapolis makes a point to find room for these crafts.

“The folks at Port Annapolis are super people,” says C.R.A.B. Executive Director Don Backe. “They have given us a free ride for our boats, and they’ve never made us feel uncomfortable about it. If I keep a boat in another yard, the yard bills will exceed the value of the boat. Some places will help us out, but they’ll pity us. The ‘class’ people at Port Annapolis simply say, ‘No problem. Why shouldn’t we help you out?’”

The marina also donates time and space to other charitable groups. It provides dock space for nautical events like the Volvo Leukemia Cup, and for local hospice residents to enjoy the waterfront and boating activities. In return, Port Annapolis may receive some advertising from these groups, but the culture of the marina makes it a willing participant in such endeavors, regardless of any windfall in their own favor.

Continual improvement
From its humble beginnings in the late 1970s, Port Annapolis has always upgraded the facility, from the boatyard, to the docks, to the grounds. The marina has eight docks, and the renovation of four has already taken place. The plan is to rebuild the other four—a job that will occur during the next three years. The total number of slips will be reduced somewhat, but that will accommodate the trend toward larger boats. This, in turn, will mean higher profits, despite fewer slips.

“When we started our rebuilding plan, we sat down and really looked at where the industry was heading,” Tinkler says. “A 35-foot boat today is much wider than it was 20 years ago, and we had a lot of slips that were not useable by today’s boats. We actually lost about 20 slips in the first reconfiguration, but we increased our income. We’re going to use the same formula when we rebuild the other four docks, because we want the piers to be functional for as many boats as possible. This has proved to be a very wise decision: We’ve been 100 percent full for the last three years.”

The increase in multi-hull boats, or catamarans, has also created the need for reconfiguring some of Port Annapolis’ slips, especially because their width can stretch to 18 feet. Tinkler forecasts that there will only be more of these types of vessels, and that the marina will need to adjust accordingly.

One upland project recently completed was a pavilion that was ready in time for Spring 2003. The pavilion is an open-air facility that features attractive wood beams. If it needs to be closed off, panels are available. Events for cruising rallies are often held here, and large companies use it for their corporate outings. But it’s not just for huge functions, either.

“It’s elegant enough to have a wedding there, and simple enough to have a barbeque,” Tinkler says. “The pavilion has been used for birthday and slip tenant parties.”

In addition to the pending dock reconfiguration and pavilion construction, there are plans to expand the café, put a second level on the bathhouse to make it a clubhouse of sorts, and enlarge its rigging shop.

Going young
A loyal customer base has always been a hallmark of Port Annapolis, but no matter how much they love the lifestyle, boaters usually don’t pursue the sport all their lives. Some just reach the age where they have to extract themselves from boating. The marina hates to see them go, but also knows that its reconfiguration of the piers and other renovations are accommodating the newer, younger boaters, who gradually replace the older ones each year. While many demographic studies estimate the largest segment of boaters is aged 45-59, Tinkler believes that Port Annapolis’ biggest age group is between 40 and 55. And there are many younger than that.

"The people in their late 30’s are just starting to get involved in the boating community, and this change goes hand-in-hand with the trend toward larger, more modern boats,” Tinkler says. “The older customer was content with his boat, but with the new boats come new customers, and they are definitely a younger crowd.

While the marina has welcomed more youth, it has also built its transient base. Since 2000, when it did about $30,000 of transient business, the figure has shot up to its current level of about $100,000. The amenities, manicured grounds, and close proximity to Annapolis certainly help, but Tinkler says some of the little things have made the biggest difference for live-aboards.

“It doesn’t sound very glamorous, but we’re very conscious of keeping our restrooms impeccable,” he says. “People also like the park-like grounds and the picnic areas.”

While marina management is, of course, a business venture, the staff at Port Annapolis takes the whole waterfront experience just as seriously—beyond the quantitative nature of profit and loss and the bottom line. The marina managers effortlessly blend fiscal considerations with a respect for the environment and its neighbors that surround the facility. It is this type of care and attention that create a unique form of publicity for Port Annapolis. The qualities enrich its reputation among not only boaters, but the local citizenry as well.

“We like to involve ourselves as much as we can,” Tinkler says. “The things we do for the community and environment sometimes go unnoticed as specific, everyday events, but overall, they provide us with the image as a friendly, fun place to be.”