How do you hold a groundbreaking when you’re on a dock 10 feet above the water?

Such a question was hardly a challenge compared to all the Edgewood Yacht Club has gone through since the Victorian-style clubhouse burned to its supporting pilings in a winter storm more than five years ago.

On Sunday in light winds and beneath blue skies, gold-painted shovels, neatly lined up like toy soldiers, leaned against the dock railing as Commodore Wayne Kezirian explained how club officers – joined by the architect, Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, and other dignitaries – were going to break ground in a “hole in the water.”

The occasion was the official beginning of construction for a new $4.7-million clubhouse above the footprint of the one lost to fire. A crane is on site, ready to start hammering in galvanized steel piles that will become the clubhouse foundation. Above it will rise a structure with features reminiscent of the old yacht club, two stories high and with a wraparound porch. The facility will offer about 4,500 square feet of interior space with nearly an equal amount of covered porch space.

Pile driving will start with several test piles as soon as they are delivered. The piles should be fully installed in about six to eight weeks, with the next stage being the framing. That is expected to be completed by this fall with the entire project done by this time next year, estimates architect Donald Richardson. He said the building is designed to withstand 120-mph winds and remain anchored in place in the worst of storms.

Work is moving ahead, although a few loose ends remain to be finalized. Brown University sailing is a partner in the project and will use the club as its base of operations as it has done for years, even after the fire. The Brown agreement had not been signed as of Sunday, but that was being viewed as a formality by club officers. Also, from its end of the partnership, the yacht club is still in the fundraising mode, as the Rev. Peter Michaelson made apparent in his opening prayer.

He asked God to bless reconstruction of the yacht club and to “help open our pocketbooks for this effort.” The prayer evoked chuckles that turned to laughter when he informed the audience he chairs the fundraising campaign. He later gave a financial breakdown of the club’s commitment to come up with $2,020,000. Of the total, $1,020,000 will come from insurance payments; $600,000 from a mortgage; $100,000 that has already been raised; and $300,000 to be raised.

Funding and construction took a back seat Sunday to the fact that fire could not eradicate the Edgewood Yacht Club spirit to carry on and to recognize those who have helped make that dream now become reality.

Former commodore and Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Lanphear, who served as master of ceremonies, said it is “loyalty” that has gotten the club to this point. Kezirian said the rebuilding of the club would be impossible without Brown. He also acknowledged the support of the Rhode Island Yacht Club, and how Fung “paved the way” for the club to work with the Department of Environmental Management and the Coastal Resources Management Council. He singled out CRMC Director Grover Fugate for providing guidance.

Fung, in observations to a reporter, said the city wanted the club to rebuild, and the hurdle was “to bring around the state.”

Initially, the club wanted to rebuild on land. The solution became rebuilding in the exact location of the former clubhouse.

State Rep. Arthur Handy presented a proclamation in observance of the occasion. He recalled the fire and applauded club efforts to “stick it out.”

“I was so afraid it was going to go away,” he said.

And then came the ceremonial breaking of the ground, only everyone was on the dock.

Sand was piled in a neat row at the edge of the dock. The sand was flecked with shells. It had come from a beach.

A floating dock was below the fixed dock covered with a sheet of plastic to catch what officials would throw that way. Kezirian said the sand would go back to where it had come from.

“We’re no breaking rules,” he said, “at least not while on television.” There were more laughs.

Later there was more applause as Kezirian raised a glass of champagne and proposed a toast.

“Here’s to fair winds and good weather as we build this clubhouse,” he said.