By Greg Ellison

(March 18, 2021) After closing following its New Year’s celebration, the Ocean Pines Yacht Club reopened this past weekend with a slew of pre-St. Patrick’s Day specials in hopes that greener pastures are on the horizon.

Matt Ortt Companies CEO Ralph DeAngelus said the Yacht Club returned to service at noon last Friday.

“It was the first weekend for the Yacht Club since New Year’s Eve,” he said. “We did well [but], it’s all relative.”

DeAngelus said the club will now be open from Thursday through Sunday until May for lunch and dinner service.

“We open at 11 a.m. and we’re open until the last person leaves,” he said.

The Clubhouse Bar and Grille, which remained open Thursday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this winter, will resume seven-day operations starting April 1.

“The clubhouse picked up the slack for late-night dinners during those days the Yacht Club was closed,” he said.

Although sales figures this weekend at the Yacht Club topped last year’s returns, the start of pandemic restrictions also occurred at the same point in 2020.

“We beat last year’s number … of course,  last year was the first weekend of covid,” he said.

“It was so bad we only did $300 in sales. Panic had set in and business fell off a cliff.”

Following last year’s “Blarney Stone” festivities, pandemic concerns became heightened.

“After St. Patrick’s Day, I think everyone got spooked and it just fell off the roof,” he said. “The very next day is when Gov. [Larry Hogan] said, ‘We’re closing down the state.’”

DeAngelus said, by contrast,  last weekend lacked earlier levels of panic evidenced.

“It was nice this year opening up and feeling normal,” he said.

While recently revised state guidelines permit restaurants to operate at full capacity, lighter off-season crowds prevented that mark from being reached at the Yacht Club.

“We didn’t do enough people to get to 100 percent capacity,” he said.

Despite subpar crowds, numerous patrons were able to partake of food and drinks, in many instances opting for outside dining due to mild temperatures.

Looking ahead to tourist season, DeAngelus envisions a continued return to past offerings.

“We’re moving forward with our planning for the summer as if everything is going to be wide open,” he said. “We’ve brought our whole band schedule back [and] we started with promotions again.”

Plans are also afoot to stage a luau and pig roast on May 16.

“We’re going to bring back the giant luau with the Hawaiian hula dancers and the flame fire dancing men,” he said. “We haven’t had the luau in two years.”

To staff for full speed later this season, the Yacht Club is holding a job fair April 3 from 2-4 p.m. in the service bar area.

DeAngelus is also looking forward to welcoming back past employees.

“Staffing is always as issue during a pandemic, but we’ve got a bunch of loyal employees who are coming back in droves and looking forward to a good season,” he said.