Page 35: of Marine News Magazine (March 2019)

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TOWING COMPANY PROFILE

Hometown boy done good.

A self-made man, the late Capt. Beau Payne was a Miami River Rat who worked his way from rags to riches. “We grew up poor,” said Cathy. “Our mom was a barmaid. Beau was drawn to the water, instinctively, fshing the canals fshing near our frst Miami home. Then he’d sit on the Miami

River, for hours, just staring at the boats going up and down. As soon as he could, he got a job as a deckhand and worked his way up. We lived only a few blocks away from the river.”

As a young man, Payne was a deckhand for

Capt. Barr, and worked his way up, establishing his own towing company while running tricky tail and tow maneuvers. “As the tail boat captain, this maneuver is your show to run,” said Tomlinson. “Your boat acts as both the rudder and the emergency brake when moving these freighters who are not on their own propulsion or steering. You communicate with the towing boat and they act on your behalf to provide forward momentum and help start and check turns. The bridge reports distances to you. Imagine moving a 250-foot freighter in a channel that is 65 feet wide and having to clear anywhere between fve and 10 draw bridges in downtown Miami with countless pleasure craft, fshing boats and million dollar yachts tied up on each side, or trying to pass at every impatient opportunity. This is not something just anybody captain can do and it is something I have never seen before working at P & L.” “Beau Payne was a legend on the Miami River,” said Dr. Frances Bohnsack, former executive di- rector of Miami River Marine Group. Bohnsack and Payne attended many Miami city commission meetings together. They fought bureaucrats and high-powered Florida law frms representing pow- erful real estate magnets whose agenda was rezon- ing working waterfront from commercial to resi- dential for skyscraper condos on the Miami River.

“He could do anything,” said Isabella. “He was a tough guy with a big heart who wouldn’t back down.” “Beau funded the lawyers, we couldn’t af- ford to,” said Bohnsack. “At the meetings, they laughed at him because he was a hard work- ing man. Beau was painstakingly scrupulous in showing up with us in front of disrespectful city commissioners bent on rezoning the river for developers to build four-story skyscrapers. Beau fueled our funding and was a signifcant con- tributor. We won all three times in court. He de- serves a plaque somewhere on the Miami River.

I miss him still. I don’t know who’d have stepped up to help if Beau hadn’t. He took a stand.” 35 www.marinelink.com MN