Bruce Hansen is one of the last of Oregon's iron men who go to sea in wooden ships.
His favorite, a Pacific City dory he built fresh out of high school, is one of a unique Oregon fleet that is staging a comeback in the boating world.
High adventure has returned to the high seas.
``I had this boat 50 miles out on a tuna trip one year,'' Hansen shouted above a droning outboard after threading the 21-foot Pamela J between foaming swells that would swamp lesser boats. ``Filled it almost to the gunnels, too. I was lucky because the seas were pretty calm. But I couldn't go too fast. It took forever to get back and I didn't make it very far up the beach. I had to transfer everything before loading onto the trailer.''
Hansen, 56, is one of three brothers who own Mar-Dustrial Sales Inc., a marine equipment company on Swan Island. All three Portlanders are descended from a long line of seafarers.
Even as a boy, Hansen loved the sea - commercial fishing from Baja to Alaska, crossing ocean bars and trading sea-run trout for pancakes at a local restaurant near the Neskowin campground where his family spent weekends.
But it isn't his aluminum gillnet boat, small Danish fiberglass spring chinook boat or the family's ocean tuna troller that captures Hansen's office-bound heart.
Hansen is one of a handful of dorymen who still ply their passion from time to time in relatively quiet waters on the leeward side of Cape Kiwanda.
The trademark flat-bottomed, go-anywhere dories defy the surf. Dorymen no longer haul tons of coho salmon ashore, but a few still use them for limited chinook seasons, commercial crabbing and bottom fishing off Cape Kiwanda.
And sport-fishing for ling cod, sea bass, halibut and cabezon is enough excuse to fuel the resurgence of coastal dory glory.
Pacific City dories once composed Oregon's most active commercial fishing fleet, occasionally landing as many commercially caught salmon as the Oregon Coast's entire fleet of larger troll vessels.
In the 1970s, pickups and trailers in two rows lined the beach south of Cape Kiwanda as far as the eye could see.
Every launch was an adventure, and it wasn't unusual in the days before global-positioning systems for residents and beachcombers to give directions to dorymen who had beached their boats in the Pacific fog to find out where they were.
``We only had compasses, CB radios and the sound of the surf,'' Hansen said. ``I can remember when trailers were pulled down here with Model A's with extra-wide tires. We tied the outboards in the backs of the boats and put them on after we rowed out far enough.
``It was tougher then, because both rowers had to stay in unison to keep up momentum through the breakers.''
Invention of the motor well in the 1960s revolutionized dory construction and the design's golden era lasted until coho salmon runs crashed in the late 1980s.
Paul Hanneman of nearby Cloverdale is leading the dory comeback. The former state legislator, lobbyist, commercial fisherman and dory builder revived the Pacific City Dorymen's Association last year to fight commercial tourism development that threatened dory access to Cape Kiwanda.
Dorymen responded and their momentum shows. The beach today is its most active in several years.
``In the '70s, it wasn't unusual to see 500 rigs on the beach,'' he said.
Hanneman, 61, has seen Oregon dories operate from Mexico to Alaska and two years ago watched one ferrying passengers across a bay on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
He estimated Oregon's aging dory fleet at 1,500 to 2,000 boats.
``It's hard to say because so many are in disrepair,'' he said. ``But we're still the home of the dory fleet. There is nothing else quite like an Oregon dory anywhere in the world that I know of. Even the boats coming and going from the beach in Baja are just long canoes.''
The typical dory is designed for Oregon's surf.
The flat bottom is a single sheet of 20-foot marine plywood, shaped to sweep up at the bow and handle the waves. The outboard is balanced to tilt forward and lock in place when landing on the sand or launching into the shallow surf line.
A center helm holds the steering stanchion, dry storage and electronics platform. Seat/storage units for passengers are spartan, usually no more than painted wood.
Dories float in just a few inches of water and, accelerating toward the beach with the swells, act more like power surfboards.
One beauty of the dory is that it also can be used nearly anywhere that other fiberglass and aluminum boats go, with the exception of shallow rivers, where jet sleds need to be fast and light.
Cape Kiwanda remains the doryman's favorite launch site. Access to the beach from a Pacific City street is kept clear of drifting sand for dories and the cape is a natural breakwater for most waves.
Dories can be used just about anywhere on the coast in light surf. Hansen said the only other beaches regularly used by dories are Gearhart and Cannon Beach.
The boat's design and instant reaction to waves allows its passage over smaller bay bars like Nestucca, Salmon River, Nehalem, Siletz and Alsea.
Only a few custom builders still produce dories and the best place to buy a dory is out of the classified ads or a yard - unless it's sitting on the ground growing flowers.
Rita Stacy, Hansen's girlfriend and first mate, almost shivered in anticipation as Hansen prepared to return through the surf.
Hansen turned the boat to run with the swell, powering up the backs of the breakers and backing off as Pamela J crossed the crests and swiftly surged toward the parked rigs.
He goosed the outboard at the last minute, then cut the engine and shouted, ``Hang on!'' The dory slid to a stop.
