Powerboat No Longer Cruising on Cove Road

It took a crane and two tractor trailers with counterweights, but the 40-foot Formula powerboat that plowed into Ann and George Schuld's gazebo Saturday night is now resting comfortably at the nearby de Roueville Boat Shop.

"What a beautiful job they did," said Schuld, a local Realtor. "They didn't mess anything up. They lifted it up as pretty as a picture. It was like poetry."

The Schuld's Cove Road home had become somewhat of a tourist attraction over the past few days, ever since George McDermott's power boat careened off the Toms River and into the Schuld's side yard.

New Jersey State Police have charged McDermott, 53, Jackson, with driving under the influence and reckless operation of a vessel, State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones said.

Just how the boat left the Toms River and ripped into the Schuld's gazebo is still under investigation, Jones said.

"What am I going to do for entertainment now?" Schuld joked this morning.

McDermott and  his wife came to the Schuld's home Tuesday morning to apologize.

"He didn't come to see the boat," Schuld said. "He came to apologize. I had to make him look at the boat. He said whatever damage he's done he'll make right."

This was the second time this year the Schulds have coped with accident damages, first by car, then the boat. A car veered off Route 9 in March and plowed into a playhouse and air conditioning unit at Schuld's real estate agency.

"I got hit by land, I got hit by a boat," she said. "A friend of mine e-mailed me and said 'Watch the sky,' "