Tides turn on accessible rowing dock

When it was installed in December 2014, the floating dock at the base of Blackburn Point Park’s boat ramp provided access for disabled rowers unable to enter kayaks and racing shells from the water.

That feature was especially helpful to Paralympic athletes who are part of the Sarasota Adaptive Rowing Program (SARP), an organization founded six years ago that uses Blackburn Point Park.

Rowers with prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs risk damaging their devices if they make contact with saltwater.

But recently, the dock has become partially submerged, making it impossible for users to avoid saltwater when using the dock. 

Retired Navy veteran and volunteer rowing coach Joe Dobson, who founded SARP six years ago, said he first noticed the problem about a month ago. Rowers were initially able to avoid saltwater by entering boats or shells from the dock.

Although Dobson said they haven’t needed the ramp recently for disabled athletes, they have in the past and expect to again. 

“It’s a capability that we want to have when we get athletes that need it on a routine basis,” he said.

Betsy Mitchell, SARP director of fundraising and outreach, who is also an adaptive rower, said that SARP is becoming more involved with veterans who rely on wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs.

“One of the draws to these veterans is having an accessible dock,” Mitchell said. “Safety is a top priority.”

“What we end up doing, when we have an athlete that requires transfer is carrying them out,” said Mitchell, who notes that such solutions carry safety risks.

Mitchell said one of her teammates, who is part of the U.S. National Rowing Team, knew he wouldn’t be able to use the Blackburn Point dock and went to Nathan Benderson Park to row instead.

“It was just not really workable,” she said. 

Dobson said earlier this month that he thinks recent heavy rains and rising water levels are to blame.

Water levels have risen past the dock’s fixed point, and so its base is submerged, depending on tides, by a few inches to more than a foot of water.

Both Dobson and Mitchell emphasized that the dock was dry when it was installed last December — which was a relatively dry month, according to data from usclimatedata.com, with only 0.47 inches of rain.

Sarasota County spokesman Drew Winchester said Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources staff attributed the submersion to above-average high tides.

Winchester wrote in an email to the Sarasota Observer: 

“Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources staff are investigating potential solutions to elevate the dock’s access ramp. Of course, any solution that required expenditure of funds would be subject to county procurement policy and available budget.”

Dobson is optimistic the county, which was notified about the issue in late October, will work with rowers to solve the issue.

“The addition of that (dock) has been an absolute godsend,” Dobson said, “for the quality of the program, for people who need it.”