Building and Boating on the Navesink

Several mariners were up the Navesink with a paddle on Sunday.

Build a boat and paddle it up the Navesink River was the credo of boaters, young and old, over the weekend in Fair Haven, just a stone's throw from Red Bank. The hosted its annual Community Wooden Boat Building Festival; and, by Sunday afternoon quite a few boats were afloat on the river.

The tradition, continued this year, is for boat building teams to mobilize behind the Fair Haven firehouse starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday — in this case, June 9 — in teams of two adults and up to four kids who are at least 11.

The teams build canoes with the assistance of experienced boat builders, until 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Everyone returns on Sunday to put the finishing touches on the individually designed boats.

All of that creating culminates in an afternoon boat parade down Battin Road to the Fair Haven boat launch, where all boats are taken on an inaugural paddle on the river.

On Sunday, most boat builders were out on the Navesink already by the time Patch caught up with them. There were a few “just for fun” capsizing incidents and some interesting boat names, like Slime Bucket and Watermelon.

Quite a few boaters were up Navesink River with a paddle and enjoying it.

For a glimpse into the event, take a look at the photos above.