Historic Navesink River boat club survives nor'easter, elevating plan begins this winter
The club survived countless other storms on the Navesink, like Hurricanes Hazel and Donna, the Ash Wednesday Storm of '62 and Superstorm Sandy.
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The historic Monmouth Boat Club in Red Bank survived the weekend nor'easter with minimal damage. Just weeks earlier, News 12 profiled the club on an episode of "Down The Shore."
The weekend nor'easter was no match for the sturdy Monmouth Boat Club.
"Making sure all the docks had their pins in, making sure all the boats were on top of the yard, no boats near the water," said Andy Zangle, commodore of Monmouth Boat Club.
The club survived countless other storms on the Navesink, like Hurricanes Hazel and Donna, the Ash Wednesday Storm of '62 and Superstorm Sandy.
"We had some docks damaged. Little minor damage inside. We're going to repair it with volunteer labor," said Zangle.
"Down the Shore" visited the boat club in August, a bustling scene of aquatic summer fun for all ages. The tide on Wednesday remains high, but much lower than the weekend.
Those past storms taught valuable lessons in protection since the boathouse is partially built over water on top of pilings, which have begun to sink.
"We put these weep holes in the floor and basically they allow the water to get out of the floor," said Zangle.
Attention now focuses on a much larger project coming over the next several months. The club will raise the entire historic boathouse by three feet and while that won't stop powerful storms like Sandy from impacting the structure, it will keep floodwaters out during nuisance events like the most recent nor'easter.
"We're going to put some big beams under the building jacks under the building, lift it up a little bit, move it back in the yard 50 feet, put a new foundation, new bulkhead and move it back," added Zangle.
That work is expected to be completed by the spring. For now, docks will be rebuilt and repaired; floors will be scrubbed and cleaned, as a piece of history notches another high tide in its storied existence.
"I've been sailing my whole life. I've been to a number of clubs in my life. This is the best club with the best people," said Zangle.
