Year of the pandemic was best marina has had

Good fishing, beautiful weather and a desire to enjoy the outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic combined to give the Port Washington marina one of its most successful years in recent history, Harbormaster Dennis Cherny said this week.

Although the numbers haven’t been finalized yet, Cherny said, this could be a record year for the marina.

“For as long as I’ve been here, and that’s 24 years, it’s a record,” he said.

The marina even won an Elite Fleet award from marina.com, an award given on the basis of votes by marina tenants and visitors, he said.

“It was a successful year, better than most,” Cherny said, adding he expects the marina will have made at least $80,000 in 2020.

The marina had 3,881 daily launches in 2020, an increase from the 2,517 in 2019.

Season launch passes were up 85, from 210 in 2019 to 295 in 2020, he said.

Through September, he said, the marina brought in $92,000 in transient slip fees, compared to $67,700 the previous year.

That, Cherny said, is significantly higher than the $77,000 in revenue budgeted for transient fees.

“The people who came stayed longer,” he said. “Instead of staying two or three days, they stayed for a week — some for a month.”

Some boaters came to the marina early in the season when the coronavirus forced Milwaukee’s marinas to close.

The marina also had a number of boaters who were making the “Great Loop” stay for a few days when the Chicago locks were closed for repair, he said.

“Port’s a very popular place to come,” Cherny said. “We’ve got a nice facility, and you’re right downtown.

“There are elements we can’t control, like the weather and fishing. This year, they all came together.”

Adding to that was the coronavirus, which had people flocking outdoors, Cherny said.

That was true not only in Port but nationwide, he said, noting that the boating industry increased 400%.

“People tried boating and they liked it,” he said.

Even ice sales were up, Cherny said, from $9,860 in 2019 to $12,420 in 2020.

He’s looking forward to a 2021 that’s as good if not better than last year.

“I’d like to match those numbers,” he said. “There’s a new desire to go boating, and people have really enjoyed Port.”

As evidence that the trend is likely to continue, he points to the fact that the marina has a waiting list  for slips of more than 70 people.

“That’s the biggest since we’ve been operating,” he said. “A few years ago, we didn’t have a waiting list. It’s great news.”

Cherny’s also predicting that the Newport Shores project next to the marina will draw even more people to the city.

“I think we’re going to see a number of years when people come just to see it,” he said. “The architecture is unique — it’s kind of like the Calatrava.”