Enjoying our beautiful Navesink River on a warm spring afternoon Wednesday were an osprey, above; a fisherman on a paddleboard, right; and crossing squads of girls’s and boys’ rowers, below, all seen from a dock on Haddon Park in Red Bank.
The weather Thursday should be just as warm, with sunshine and temperatures reaching the mid-60s, but possibly too windy for rowers and paddlers, with gusts up to 16 mph, according to the National Weather Service. (Click to enlarge)
Young sailors air it out at part one of Fair Haven’s centennial regatta, in July. This weekend’s edition will feature high school rowing crews. (Click to enlarge)
By REBECCA DESFOSSE
Not finished celebrating either its centennial year or its waterfront heritage, Fair Haven plans to take it to our beautiful Navesink River this Saturday.
The Fair Haven Centennial Crew Regatta will feature an afternoon of racing, with local rowing crews from Christian Brothers Academy, Navesink River Rowing, Ranney School, and RFH Crew all vying for a coveted Centennial Cup.
The regatta marks the second water-based celebration of the centennial, the first of which was a sailing event back in July. Including boating events in the yearlong celebration “helps to recognize the important role the Navesink River has played in Fair Havens history,” Mayor Ben Lucarelli said in a prepared announcement.
A derelict house next door to Victory Park will be razed and replaced with a boathouse for RFH Rowing, the mayor says. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rumson officials expect this week to advance a plan to demolish a vacant riverfront home the town bought for $875,000 three years ago.
In its place, says Mayor John Ekdahl, will likely rise a new structure expected to serve as home to the borough’s nascent rowing program.
What the new facility will look like and how much it will cost remain to be determined, Ekdahl tells redbankgreen. But the bill, which could easily approach $1 million, will be be borne by donors, not taxpayers, he said.
The Navesink River Rowing club held its annual Sprints on the ‘Sink regatta out of Maple Cove in Red Bank Saturday morning. redbankgreen photo intern Stacie Fanelli was there to capture the action from both land and water.
Olympic gold medalist Mary Whipple gave some coxing tips to locals Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Mary Whipple has an important piece of advice for high school students when they get into college.
“Plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize,” she said.
Not in the classroom, that is, but on the water. Whipple, a gold medal Olympian in rowing, was talking about the keys to becoming a top-notch coxswain to about 20 local high school rowers.
One way to do so, she said, is listen to the coach.
“Start to learn what your coach is saying, then use their words,” she said.
Rumson resident Jenny Baumer makes a case to the borough council Tuesday night to keep spring crew at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
When Rumson shifted its recreation spring crew program over to Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School in 2009, Mayor John Ekdahl called it “an experiment.”
Whether that experiment has been a success depends on who you ask.
In Ekdahl and his council’s view: no. But the perception among the approximately 50 residents and students who packed the council meeting room Tuesday night: clearly a success, and they want to keep the program at R-FH.
The two sides collided on opinion and facts about the crew program, as well as the council’s recent decision to move it out of the high school and fold it back into the borough’s rec department.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The breakup of Rumson and Fair Haven’s recreation alliance may turn out to have been brief.
After a few sit-downs, the neighbors have come to an agreement to keep two of its three sports partnerships intact, and are potentially on track to work out a sports trifecta, Mayor John Ekdahl said.
The change affects kids in the rowing program at Victory Park, above, and a lacrosse program. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Citing capacity issues, Rumson has dropped Fair Haven from its recreation sports partnership, a move that isn’t sitting well with coaches and parents from both riverside towns.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Rumson’s governing body caught an earful from miffed residents who accused the borough of making a hasty decision and pleaded for officials to work harder to continue what some called the most successful recreation partnership in the area.
Five collegiate rowing teams will take to the waters off Rumson’s Victory Park on September 25, officials say.
Rumson’s efforts to attract big-time crew competition may have ended up on a sandbar last year. But there will be collegiate sculling in the Navesink River, says Mayor John Ekdahl.
And he doesn’t mean at some indeterminate date in the distant future. He means, like, ten days from now.
Nine months after watching the Dad Vail Regatta make a u-turn back to Philadelphia without so much as putting an oar in the water off Victory Park, as planned, the borough will host the Rumson Boat Race on Saturday, September 25, Ekdahl announced today.