Chaisson yelled to Steve Mendonca, a barge operator, who jumped down to the boat from his barge, startled to see the man trapped under the 140-ft-long barge. With Cuticchia still upright in her kayak, Chaisson positioned the boat to protect her while he and Medonca focused on rescuing the other kayaker, a large man who weighed more than 250 pounds, before he ran out of time.

“It was only a matter of time before he got sucked up,” Mendonca says. The man had been pinned under the barge about three to five minutes, the team estimates.

“Steve grabbed the man’s upper torso while I reached down under his crotch and around one leg. We tried to pull him in, but struggled for a couple minutes. He wasn’t able to help us. After lifting half of his body onto the boat railing, I rolled him in on top of me,” Chaisson says.

During that time, Cuticchia held onto the railing on the other side until Chaisson was able to pull her into the boat, despite her protestation that she was fine. Chaisson took the two distressed but uninjured kayakers to a nearby dock where they rejoined their group.

“They were lucky Mark was there that day since it was difficult to maneuver in that area,” Bullock says. “It looked like a funnel as you came through on the north side of Pier 3. It was one of the highest currents of the year.”

Since 90% of the Walsh Whittier Bridge crew work near water, the firm created a rescue team for the project in August 2013. Winter is especially risky due to ice floes in the river and cold water temperatures, Bullock says. Walsh requires safety classes for all members of the team and rescue skiff operators who train in a coordinated effort with the Newburyport and Amesbury Harbormasters, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Amesbury Fire Department. “We carefully select confident boaters to be operators of skiffs and others are knowledgeable about boating" Bullock adds.

At post-drill meetings team members discuss rescue times and how to improve skills, and practice 911 calling, Bullock says. MassDOT, as owner, also encourages teaming for safety on the project, he says.

Newburyport Harbor Master Paul Hogg says the monthly training meetings involves anticipating every possible situation—"everything from a car coming off the bridge to a bridge man overboard to a kayaker rescue."

"For the amount of traffic on the Merrimack River, things have gone very well with only a hiccup now and then. "It's a busy area," he says.

Last December, an equipment operator slipped and fell into the Merrimack River, but with safety protocol in place was rescued immediately and treated for hypothermia, Bullock says.

"The communication we have as a group is what saved those kayakers' lives,” Bullock says. “The trades really work well together here from the bonding we have through training.”