A longtime mariner has bought back ownership of the Baltimore Water Taxi from Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank.

Michael McDaniel, 53, said he and a few investors purchased the company in October through Harborcare Inc. The Baltimore Business Journal first reported news of the sale.

McDaniel and Plank’s investment firm Sagamore Ventures declined to name a sales price.

The Baltimore Water Taxi operates the free Harbor Connector routes under a contract with the city. The company also operates paid routes throughout the city’s harbor.

This year, the company started a rideshare option (think Uber, but for boats) using the app TransiGO. And McDaniel said the company recently bought a 92-foot boat that will be available for charters year-round.

The Baltimore Water Taxi started in 1975, and McDaniel, a U.S. military veteran, said he bought the business in 2010. In 2016, a subsidiary of Sagamore Ventures purchased the water taxi, and McDaniel said he signed a five-year agreement to keep operating the business.

Five years passed, and McDaniel kept operating it. In 2024, McDaniel said, he was talking with a few people at Sagamore Ventures, and the long-term future of the Baltimore Water Taxi came up.

“If Kevin’s ever interested in selling the company, please let me know,” McDaniel recalled saying. “From there, I guess, the seed was planted.”

Around the time that McDaniel floated the idea to buy back the Water Taxi, Plank was returning to the helm at Under Armour. Plank had been the apparel maker’s CEO since founding the company in 1996 until stepping back in 2019.

Under Armour had meteoric growth for much of Plank’s leadership. During that upswing, he used Sagamore Ventures to invest in several areas, including horse racing, whiskey distilling, a boutique hotel and real estate development.

When Sagamore Ventures bought the Water Taxi in 2016, Plank had just unveiled his vision for a massive redevelopment at Baltimore Peninsula, the South Baltimore neighborhood formerly known as Port Covington. The area is largely cut off from other neighborhoods by I-95 and a railroad, and early plans showed a proposed water taxi line with multiple stops there.

Much of the original vision for Baltimore Peninsula was never built, and a water line was never added. Late last year, Plank stepped away from future development at the site.

Plank has said his full attention is on getting the sports apparel maker back on track. That has meant selling those outside businesses, like the hotel, the whiskey brand and the water taxi.

McDaniel said he would like the city to expand its Harbor Connector route to Baltimore Peninsula, which has seen an influx of residents.

The way he sees it, a water taxi that moves people in and around the Inner Harbor is good for all the businesses and attractions along Baltimore’s waterfront.