Sandy 10 Years Later: Red Bank's Marinas Shouldered 'Winner' Storm

RED BANK, NJ — Channing Irwin, the third generation of his family to own Irwin Marine, has seen his share of destructive storms, but "Sandy was the winner," he observed.

During Hurricane Donna in the early 1960s, he said 1 foot of water flooded the business. In Superstorm Sandy, it was 5 feet. But long before 10 years passed, his marinas were restored.

Irwin Marine has two sites - Yard One and Yard Two along the Red Bank side of the Navesink River, Irwin said. Four miles in from the ocean, Irwin said his marinas saw damage but not the devastation of oceanfront homes and businesses in towns such as Sea Bright or Union Beach.

He said private homes in Red Bank along the Navesink are 10 to 40 or 50 feet up the embankments. Homes lost private docks, he said, but most of those homes were spared.

In fact, he said his marinas are 90 percent restored with just some cosmetic repairs to be made.

And the work to rebuild started quickly.

"Sandy was in October so it gave us the winter to rebuild," he said.

In Red Bank, Marine Park, Monmouth Boat Club, the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club and the Irwin marinas are strung together like a necklace dotted with boats and moorings and pedestrian pathways in public areas.

Sailboats glide along the river, along with motorboats. The river laps up to the bulkheads of Marine Park's pedestrian walkway where those on land can take in the vistas along the Navesink River.

David Minton is part of a Red Bank-Fair Haven family that has been connected with the Monmouth Boat Club for generations. He is also a past commodore of the nearby North Shrewsbury Ice Boat and Yacht Club. The organizations were formed in 1879 and 1880, respectively, and are still going strong.

"It's a miracle both buildings survived," Minton recalled. Monmouth Boat Club had 7 feet of water inside, destroying the HVAC systems, breaking pipes and mechanicals. The North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club had 4 feet of water.

Both buildings have historic designations, he said, and saw "the last of the old riverboats." They are protected from development, and create a human scale relief compared with high rise residences along the river.

The floating docks of the Monmouth Boat Club had already been removed by late October but were stocked up on land next to the river. They all floated away, but were later rounded up and saved, he recalled.

Minton said boats owned by individuals in the club suffered the most. They were ripped from moorings in the river and many were sunk or damaged.

The repairs to the interior took a year and half, he said, and now all the mechanical systems are located on the third floor, he said, to prevent damage from a future storm.

The Iceboat club building was set farther back and didn't see as much damage.

And, true to the sailing ethic, the club's members who were carpenters, painters and contractors repaired the damage themselves.

The club still races on the river when it is ice-covered. And they refer to the "Navesink" by what members consider its rightful name, the North Shrewsbury River.

Members travel to race in New England and other colder places to follow the ice.

"It's sort of like surfers; we have to search for the ice," Minton, who now lives in West Long Branch, says.

And that rhythm of the boat clubs returned to normal as did business at Irwin Marine.

Irwin Marine had 215 boats docked there before the storm and got back to that. "It's always full," Channing Irwin said.

The marinas replaced wood on docks where necessary and replaced pilings, which are 40 to 50 feet long, with 20 feet buried in the river bed, he said.

He said one drydocked boat floated off, but it was caught before it sank and put back in drydock.

Sandy, he noted, was a 60- to 70-year storm surge, Irwin noted, and his business has rebuilt.

Would he do anything differently?

"Maybe I'd choose to be a farmer in Kansas," he reflected. "No tsunamis there."