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With two children, a dog and plans to continue growing Yankee Point Marina to better serve the community, Todd and Kara Patterson have been willing and able to adapt to everything that’s come their way. Photos by Corey Miller.
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Customers are already raving about the quality and service they’ve enjoyed at the Black Duck, Yankee Point Marina’s reimagined and redesigned waterfront eatery. Photos by Corey Miller.
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It was important to the Pattersons to give their boys the boat-filled childhood they’d both experienced and thrived in. Visitors to Yankee Point Marina have options from dining overlooking Myer Creek to lounging beside the bar, from swimming in the saltwater pool to noshing poolside on crab balls and sandwiches at The Shack. Photos by Corey Miller.
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Strolling through the boatyard reveals the range of boat styles and home ports of the boats in residence. As the season progresses, the boatyard empties, and the slips fill up. Photo by Corey Miller.
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The barn where boats are currently worked on, seems huge, but paraphrasing Captain Quint in “Jaws,” Todd Patterson acknowledges that to accommodate larger boats, “We’re going to need a bigger building.” Photo by Corey Miller.
As a college senior, Todd Patterson’s father told him that just because he’d joined the “rat race” didn’t mean Todd had to.
Wisely, young Todd took his dad’s advice to heart. Raised around boats on Cape Cod, he’d gotten a 10’ dinghy when he was eight years old, worked at the local boatyard and been part of sailing teams. When his father bought a charter boat in 2003 and asked him to run it, Todd began his life’s work. “I worked on boats as big as 155’ and traveled most of the east coast, the Caribbean and Central America,” he says. “In 2008, I took that boat to the British Virgin Islands, and that’s where I met Kara.”
It’s hardly surprising that two boat-loving people would meet cute in the Caribbean. His future wife had also grown up around boats. At seven, her parents moved from Tampa to the British Virgin Islands so her father could take over a sailmaking loft. After college and grad school in the U.S., she returned to the BVI in 2008, just in time to meet the man who’d opted to make boats his life.
By 2013, Todd, already with 20 years of boat business experience, purchased B & G Marine Services in the BVI and began growing the yacht management, maintenance and refit company. “I only had one real job, and that was only for six weeks,” Todd laughs. “It was selling subprime loans, and I wasn’t all that good at it.”
Within a couple of years, Kara was ready to leave the world of corporate restructuring for something different. “At that point, Todd needed help, so I took on administrative and accounting responsibilities,” Kara, the business’ CFO, explains. “But in reality, I do a little bit of everything.”
Fast forward to when the pandemic hit, and the couple had one young son and another on the way. Not sure when the lockdown would end, they returned to Cape Cod, feeling that the children would have access to better healthcare in the U.S. “I had a loose business plan to move back in 2025 and buy a marina, but we hadn’t decided where, although the Chesapeake Bay was our general target location” Todd says. “In 2021, we moved to Annapolis, and I went looking for a boatyard.”
It was at the Annapolis Boat Show that they first heard about an available marina, but before they could act, the marina went under contract. After hearing about another marina for sale in Lancaster, Virginia, the Pattersons acted quickly, with Todd visiting it in December 2022. “When I viewed the property, I stood on the deck and saw a lot of potential here,” Todd recalls. “I knew I’d lost one opportunity because of not moving fast enough, so I told Kara, and her parents flew up to watch the kids. We bought Yankee Point Marina in January 2022 and closed the sale in May.”
As new marina owners, the couple were excited to breathe new life into the property. The foundation was in place to create a destination marina. “A coat of paint and landscaping go a long way,” Todd says. “We couldn’t wait to dig in.”
Almost immediately, they set out to make the property more inviting and attractive. The embankment near the saltwater swimming pool was cleaned out to restore the view of Meyer Creek. The parking lot between the office and the water was reimagined as a beach where community events could be held. New and attractive signage was installed. After two years, the plans continue to grow and evolve.
It was all about modernizing and upgrading. A new trailer to accommodate catamarans made the marina one of only seven on the bay with that capability, meaning the size of boats anchored at Yankee Point increased. And while the current barn can accommodate large boats, a bigger building is now needed for even larger vessels. “We’re improving the overall feel of the facility but keeping with the surrounding architecture,” Kara says. “Upgrading but keeping the country feel.”
The shuttered restaurants also became a focus, despite neither Todd nor Kara having restaurant experience. Fortunately, one of the slip holders is a retired restaurateur from Richmond, and he agreed to help the Pattersons. For 2024, the waterfront restaurant has been completely reimagined as The Black Duck, while the Shack, a takeout place next to the pool, offers more casual eating choices. “We want to make the restaurant a destination with quality food and service people can count on,” Todd, a self-described workaholic, says. “We’ve hired a new restaurant manager, and we’re confident that this will be the year we’ll deliver.”
Another priority was making Yankee Point Marina a destination boat service center so they could continue to improve and expand services and provide the staff with continuing training. The boatyard is a dealer for Yanmar and Nanni marine engines. It also specializes in lithium conversions. “One reason we settled on a Chesapeake Bay location was to offer continuity of service to our clients who move their boats between the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast each season,” Kara says. “It’s very reassuring for our clients to know that they can rely on a team that knows their boat and systems intimately from pretty much anywhere.”
Environmental issues moved front and center when they bought the marina, and that’s where they’ll continue to be. “Lancaster is gorgeous and so special, and we want to do everything we can to limit any negative impact our operation has on the environment,” Kara says. “We have improved how refuse from boats being worked on is collected, and we are in the process of redesigning our washdown pit so that used water cannot make its way back to the creek. Environmental issues are very important to us.”
The transition from the BVI to Lancaster was made easier by the immediate and warm welcome the family received into the community.
Todd can trace the moment he was certain they’d made the right call. The boys were across a field, and Zach, the older, came running toward his parents. Luke was not far behind, but as he caught up with his brother, Zach stiff-armed him, and Luke hit the ground. “It was all I could do not to laugh,” Todd says, smiling even now. “I thought, yes, this is the place where our family needs to be, where kids can run and play and just be kids.”
In 2023, inspired by their surroundings and eager to be part of the community and support local nonprofits and service organizations, they launched their charity concert series 10x10x10, which represented the number of weekends, bands, and charities. Attendees could purchase food and beverages from both restaurants and sink their chairs in the sand for the show. It was like a new music venue magically dropped in upper Lancaster County.
Each concert was held on the stage fronting the beach, with proceeds going to a different nonprofit group every week. “We had as many as 350 people attend our biggest shows and raised $35,000 over the course of the series,” Todd says with pride. “We don’t yet have the time we would like to devote to these charities personally, so for now, it’s a way for us to give back to the community where we live in the best way we can. It’s also been a lot of fun.”
The series was so successful that they’ve created a five-year plan for it, with the goal of ultimately raising $500,000. To achieve that level of fundraising, they’ve created a 501c3, a nonprofit group with a dedicated mission. “The goal is to keep it local so we can be impactful in Lancaster County,” Kara says. “For year five, we’ll host a major headliner and hope to raise $150-200,000 on that one event.”
In the meantime, the Pattersons’ goal is to become known for live music. On Friday evenings, local bands will play at the Shack. Rechristened the Yankee Point Charity Concert series, shows will continue Saturday nights this summer, kicking off on May 26 with Black Cat Murphy and benefiting Disabled American Veterans. Because a couple of last year’s shows had to be canceled due to weather, they’ve blocked out 13 weekends this year so that if a show must be canceled, the nonprofit doesn’t lose out. It’s simply rescheduled for another weekend.
This year’s big goal for the series is attracting more boaters to drop in. “Unlike in the BVI, there seem to be fewer places where boaters can drop in. We want to draw them from places like Deltaville and Urbanna and fill Meyer Creek with boats listening to the band,” Todd says. “We’ll have staff go out to the boats and take donations for the weekly charity, so it’ll be really easy to contribute from the comfort of your boat.” Those who donate will get discounted dockage if they want to stay overnight.
Also on tap are workboat races to be held June 15 with the Chesapeake Bay Workboat Association to raise funds for Virginia watermen/women. Through events such as workboat races and workboat gatherings throughout the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, the Pattersons’ goal is to aid and assist Virginia’s working watermen and women. “Whether that’s through proper representation when it comes to how over-regulated they are or for them to know their voices will be heard, we’re working with professionals on affordable insurance coverage to make sure they have that option since most marinas and public docks are beginning to require coverage,” Todd says. “Finally, we plan to work with local officials throughout Virginia to either aid in the building of or to make sure working watermen/women have affordable—or better yet free—docking to make sure their workboats are safe and they’re able to offload their harvests which we all enjoy so much.”
Yankee Point has much to offer the boating community, local foodies, and live music lovers. Slips are available daily, monthly, and annually, and they have a capacity of up to 180 boats, depending on size. The saltwater swimming pool area boasts fire pits, picnic tables and water views that attract even the non-boating crowd. There’s an adjacent Air BnB available for rent. “We have paddle boards and Sunfish for rent by the hour,” Todd says. “There are four power boats for rent by the day, and if you’re staying on the Rappahannock, you can keep the boat at your dock during the rental period.”
With a 40-ton lift, the boatyard offers mechanical, electrical, plumbing, painting, varnishing, woodworking and rigging services. The marine convenience store stocks everything from oil and boat soap to ice, snacks, beer and wine. Broadening the appeal are a boat ramp, laundry facilities, fuel and pump-out services, not to mention reliable internet across the property.
“When we bought the marina, there were five employees. We’re already up to fifteen, and that’s not even counting the restaurant employees we’ve added for the summer,” Kara says. “Those employees have brought other people in by telling them what a good place this is to work. We’ve grown the staff organically that way.”
As for ongoing goals, it’s all about being a first-class property destination. “We want to be welcoming and inviting, not exclusive, a place people are happy to go to,” Todd says. “I want them to think, wow, they really do it right at Yankee Point. Part of doing it right means being an involved member of the community.”
The couple admits that they can’t say unequivocally that there haven’t been difficulties or regrets. But when they look at the big picture, Todd and Kara Patterson know they have chosen a great place to raise their children. “Lancaster reminds me of what Cape Cod was like when I grew up 40 years ago,” Todd says.
Labor Day weekend was fairly quiet at Yankee Point last year, which offered the owners plenty of time to chat with guests. “We talked with some people who’d come over in a small boat from Tappahannock,” Kara recalls. “Tappahannock! That made us think, wow, we’re getting somewhere!”
Breathing new life into Yankee Point Marina has been no small feat and one the couple is thrilled to have committed to. Todd and Kara are justifiably proud of Yankee Point Marina Version 2.0. “Going into our third summer, we feel like we’ve achieved so much,” says Todd.
And a young family has found their landing place. “We’re boaters ourselves, so we love being able to hop on the boat with the boys and their dog. That’s always been fun,” Kara says. “We love where we are. This is home.”
Yankee Point Marina I Mon–Fri: 8 am – 4:30 pm; Sat 10 am – 4 pm; Sun: 10 am – 2 pm I 1303 Oak Hill Road, Lancaster I 804-462-7635 I yankeepointmarina.com