“I had no idea I would get such a warm welcome from Annapolis,” says Beth Mauk, the city’s new harbormaster, who was reeling a bit from all of the attention when we met in November on a brisk, sunny day overlooking Ego Alley. Being the first to greet visiting sailors who arrive by boat into America’s Sailing Capital is a big responsibility. She’s up to the task—and the many others that come with the job.
Although she may not have known it at the time, Mauk has been preparing for the challenge since the age of 16. Working at the boat rental place at Sandy Point State Park launched a love and appreciation for working on the water that she’s embraced ever since. She became the boat rental manager at 18 and worked there through college at Loyola University. Interested in marine biology and teaching, she set out to become a Maryland Park Ranger, which led her into getting a law enforcement commission. She did land that park ranger job, but it was contractual and paid $10.50 per hour. So, she sought a full time position with Maryland Natural Resources Police Department (NRP).
“NRP picked me up, and it was the best job ever,” says Mauk. Her 20-year-long career as an NRP officer took her to the South, Severn, Magothy, and Middle Rivers as well as St. Mary’s County. It also took her right back to Sandy Point State Park’s NRP office, which “felt like home.”
“It was like a dream,” she says. “I was able to teach and do conservation law enforcement, two of my favorite things.”
Mauk also spent about a year in the technical services department doing budgetary grant writing. She enjoyed the “big picture,” visionary aspect of that job; the experience will help her with similar tasks in her harbormaster role. (Did you know the harbormaster had to find grant money to make things happen? Neither did I.)
“This job has a little bit of everything: tourism, enforcement, big special events…” The harbormaster welcomes and collects fees from visiting boaters, maintains and runs the pump-out vessel, enforces the city’s code (think derelict vessels, ticket-writing), and is always hands-on at special events as small as a Main Street parade and as big as the Blue Angels’ Air Show during U.S. Naval Academy commissioning week. Fireworks shows, the Eastport YC Lights Parade, the MRE Tug of War, Midnight Madness—oh, and this little event they call the U.S. Sailboat Show—the harbormaster attends all of these events and makes sure they are safe and run efficiently.
During the busy season, as many as 30 people work in the Annapolis harbormaster office, with three “watch commanders.” Mauk manages this team and is creating a vision for where they want to go moving forward.
High on her priority list is giving everything a fresh look: refurbishing the bathrooms and laundry facilities and replacing the decking from the National Sailing Hall of Fame along Ego Alley. A future challenge will be to improve the patrol boat fleet, so that they have a reliable and good-looking fleet, with a big city seal on it to be easily recognizable.
For now Mauk is settling into her new office overlooking Annapolis Harbor, meeting many people, and attending many meetings (port wardens, city council). “The possibilities are very exciting. This job offers something different every hour, every day. I have a lot of autonomy and the ability to be creative. People here are wide open to ideas.”
We hope that the new harbormaster hung up her hat and relaxed over the holidays with her fiancé and her 23-year-old daughter, Sara, as they awaited the January arrival of a newborn Labrador puppy. As we sail into 2017, we at SpinSheet would like to extend a warm welcome to Beth and say how excited we are to have her at the helm.
If you’d like to reach out, email the new harbormaster at [email protected].
by Molly Winans
