Doug Barker and Mike McCarty are the dock masters for the Doyle Regatta and during the race they must coordinate the launching and retrieval of forty boats per hour for six hours. They direct traffic while pacing two 70-foot docks that jut out in the Miami River like the decks of aircraft carriers. McCarty is easily identifiable by his bright orange hat. He rarely raises his voice as he reminds crews carrying 60 foot, 200 pound boats over their heads that they only have a 2-minute launch window.
If they tarry too long at the dock he will provide a gentle reminder by giving the boat a slight nudge to push the boat away from the dock. Boats can only approach the launching dock if Ben Veith or Linda Clemens put a zip tie on the bow. The tie assures the dock master that all the rowing shoes attached to the footrests are securely fastened so that in case of a capsize crew members can quickly get their feet out of the shoes and not be pulled under the boat.
A reliable source told me that McCarty is the kind of person you want in your foxhole during a war. He possesses a wide range of problem-solving skills that include fixing computer and printer glitches, carpentry and boat repair. It is rumored that McCarty only needs to lay his hands on an obstinate outboard motor for the engine to start purring.
Before this year’s regatta McCarty demonstrated that he was prepared to “go above and below” the call of duty. GDRA had to reconfigure its docks for the regatta and that required disassembling some of the docks. In order to take the docks apart bolts had to be removed. Unfortunately the bolts were only accessible by someone diving under the docks and unscrewing them. The process was complicated by the fact that underwater visibility in the cold muddy Great Miami River is zero, and the diver has to do everything by touch. Typically, McCarty volunteered.
Ed Waltz, GDRA’s Director of Youth Rowing, offered to control the safety line that was tied around McCarty’s waist. The plan was that Waltz would count to 18 and then pull McCarty back from under the dock so he could catch his breath. That was a good strategy, but it did not factor in how disorienting it is for a diver to be underwater with zero visibility. While McCarty thought he was swimming toward the safety rope and fresh air, he was actually going in the wrong direction. So when he tried to surface, his head kept hitting the underside of the dock. When he eventually escaped and gasped for air, he was bleeding from the head and had inhaled some water. Then, as if to confirm the foxhole analogy, when McCarty emerged from the river bleeding and spouting water he plunked a bolt down on the dock and said, “One down, two to go.”
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