A River Rats reprise to mark the official start of summer …

It’s smooth sailing into summer — maybe a bit too smooth … right into that heat. But back in 1975, the river road could be a bit rocky. At least one little river rat had to patch up a Blue Jay with bubble gum. Rats! That would be little Claire Hurd. Sailing rats all learned how to improvise, for sure. They also learned how to tie a square not like a real sailor.

Yes, it’s another look at yet another River Rats pack of the past — 1975, to be exact. Everyone knows that those River Rats in Fair Haven are a longtime rat pack with which kids sail away the summer.

Summers, since 1955, a group gathers at the end of Battin Road in Fair Haven to learn how to sail and bond. You’ve gotten a glimpse into those summer days down by the river with the good rats before. This snapshot back in time is a slightly larger, perhaps a bit younger, crew. That dock they’re standing on is quite different now. The river? It’s always the same.

The summer days there, adventures and misadventures a rite of passage for a river-raised Rumson-Fair Haven area kid, sailing or not.

Your first river boating adventure? Mishap? Do tell!

Recognize anyone? Not in it? Rats!

• Retro RFH TGIF Party Pals
• Prosecutor: 19-Year-Old Arrested, Charged with Murder in Fatal April Shooting
• Police Report: Assault, Lewdness, Criminal Trespass, DUI, Defiant Trespass
• Retro Rumson Boys and Their Boats
• Prosecutor: 34-Year-Old Man Gets 17 Years for Role in Area Street Gang Racketeering Activities