An iceboat speeds across the Navesink River in Red Bank with the Molly Pitcher Inn in the background. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Hoots of joy, the flapping of sails and scraping of blades could be heard on the frozen Navesink River Friday as members of the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club returned to their home ice for the first time in, well, too darn long.
There was another sound, too: a gentle plea to spectators to stay off the still-thin ice and out of the way of speeding iceboats.
The ice remains fairly thin – just barely thick enough for club members to sail their smallest, lightest “ice bird” boats on a small designated section of ice while wearing life jackets in case of disaster.
“We’ll take what we can get,” said John Oakley, past commodore of the club as he prepared to take his ice boat out on his home river for the first time since 2018. “This sun isn’t doing us any favors,” he said as the noon sun pushed temperatures just above the freezing mark for the first time in several days.
With a spate of mild winters over the last decade, club members have spent recent winters traveling to lakes in New York state and elsewhere to find suitable ice.
As they return to their home ice, members of the 145-year-old club also fear a new modern day concern: the growing number of cellphone photographers and selfie seekers walking on frozen waterways for a look-at-me moment.
Please, folks, these guys and gals have been waiting a long time for this. Give ’em a little room.
“It feels great to be out here,” said club member Micheal Soldati seated in his ice bird. “We’ve been traveling all these five or six years and now, this is fantastic,”
Ice boater Micheal Soldati was all smiles sitting in his ice bird seat.
Even after this happened.
NSIBYC member John Oakley (left) gets his ice boat ready to hit the home ice for the first time since 2018.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
