Photo: Brian Donahue for Red Bank Green
From Yachting World
By Toby Heppell
April 30, 2026
To understand what happened in Red Bank, New Jersey, in the first 10 days of February this year, you first have to understand the cold.
This wasn’t a regular winter. This was a freeze for the ages. A polar vortex settled over the US North-east like it had nowhere else to be, sending wind chills plunging to 20 below zero and locking waterways in ice that hadn’t been this thick in decades.
The Hudson River froze. The East River froze. New York Harbour froze. NYC Ferry suspended all routes. The Seastreak ferry – a lifeline for Jersey Shore commuters heading to Manhattan – needed a tugboat to crush a path through the ice in front of it just to make its daily run to the city.
Rivers that normally flow became roads. Bays that normally ripple became glass. The Navesink – the wide, tidal river that curls through Red Bank like a signature – became something it hadn’t been in over 20 years: a frozen stage for the oldest trophy race in American ice yachting. Continue reading.
