Darwin Awards Competition at Cape Kiawanda Today!

[Guy]

Absolutely fantastic weather day on the Coast today, Kids were playing in the water at Pacific City people were lazing around in shorts & T shirts! The fine weather went to some folks heads though as they competed for a coveted Darwin Award









These kids climbing up the cliff face with aid of some old fishing rope & the churning sea below came in a poor second



We had been Whale watching at Depot Bay but I found the goings on at Kape Kiawanda to be far more entertaining

[forester]

I cannot imagine the guys in the water speaking in sentences that do not either start or end with the word "dude". This is the way of their people.

[Guy]

I cannot imagine the guys in the water speaking in sentences that do not either start or end with the word "dude". This is the way of their people.

I was at a safe distance close to their girlfriends who they were obviously trying to impress! Some seemed duly impressed but based on their facial impressions I'm thinking one or two of them were where having seconds thoughts

[Splintercat]

"...but based on their facial impressions I'm thinking one or two of them were where having seconds thoughts..."

Well, at least THAT is encouraging -- as THEY get to decide who gets to stay in the gene pool (if the waves don't decide that, of course).

Gaa! Just looking at those photos is troubling! When I was in high school/college, we owned a dory and launched from the PC beach -- there were ALWAYS kids body surfing in the launch/landing zone if the sun was out, no matter the season. It was a crap shoot hoping that you could see them as you barreled toward the beach at 20 knots... yikes! We used to rely on people on the shore to point out the yahoos hiding in the surf...

300 miles of coastline, and they choose the 1/4 mile section where dories launch to swim... oy.

Tom

[Guy]

When I was in high school/college, we owned a dory and launched from the PC beach

Tom I'm so impressed you owned a Dory Boat! I've been fascinated by these craft since I first saw them in 1985. In fact most of my trips to the beach since then have been to Pacific City because of these boats. I never tire of watching them launch from the beach or their high speed returns with horns sounding. Some of those old guys have it down to a fine art, hitting a wave just right & ending up with their boat high & dry on the beach.

[Roy]

When I was in high school/college, we owned a dory and launched from the PC beach

Tom I'm so impressed you owned a Dory Boat! I've been fascinated by these craft since I first saw them in 1985. In fact most of my trips to the beach since then have been to Pacific City because of these boats. I never tire of watching them launch from the beach or their high speed returns with horns sounding. Some of those old guys have it down to a fine art, hitting a wave just right & ending up with their boat high & dry on the beach.

Guy there used to be a charter dory for fishing down there. We went out with him one time we did not go far out but got some nice bottom fish and my wife caught a nice Halibut. If you like fresh fish and a fun boat ride its worth money.

I was down that way yesterday to it was a great day.

[BrianEdwards]

The first time I seen a dory boat come flying into the beach I wondered what on earth had just happened. The people casually got out and walked up the beach as if nothing unusual had taken place. It wasn't until years later I heard about Dorys and realized what I had seen. I have to wonder if the finding Nemo character was named after these

[Splintercat]

Tom I'm so impressed you owned a Dory Boat! I've been fascinated by these craft since I first saw them in 1985. In fact most of my trips to the beach since then have been to Pacific City because of these boats. I never tire of watching them launch from the beach or their high speed returns with horns sounding. Some of those old guys have it down to a fine art, hitting a wave just right & ending up with their boat high & dry on the beach.

I'll post some pictures at some point, Guy -- I'm just getting to that period in a massive (and multi-year, it turns out) slide scanning effort (my dad was prolific with his photos, too!). We had the dory from about 1975 until about 1988, I think. Should be some good photos in there, though probably not of launching/landing, as he was busy at the steering wheel! I was his first (and usually only) mate... which is a fancy way saying I was last in when launching (pushing the boat into the surf in chest-waders) and first out after landing (to run and get the truck & trailer!).

It's actually very approachable for sport fisherman, if you can afford the boat, trailer and truck to pull them (the boats are typically 28-32 feet long -- larger than they look). If you launch a couple of times with a charter operator (that's how we got hooked), you probably know enough to get started safely. The key is knowing when to turn around and go home after that long drive from Portland -- it's very tempting to go out when the weather is good but the ocean is rough, or when the ocean is smooth, but the fog is rolling in -- we learned the hard way (more than once -we were slow learners) to resist that temptation! But the fishing was great, and we pretty much lived on bottom fish and salmon for that entire period! The fish stocks have dropped a lot since then, but dory fishermen still do well fishing off PC.

The coolest part of that launch is parking your dory next to Haystack Rock and absorbing just how HUGE that monolith is -- basically, it's Beacon Rock by the sea, but with another 200 feet extending below the surface. Getting an ocean perspective of Cape Kiwanda is pretty cool, too, and a charter doryman will take you surprisingly close to the cape (...where you can watch yahoos getting washed into the ocean... )

Tom

[Guy]

Oh & I forgot the the guy who came in third...



Definitely something in the air there yesterday

[ghosting]

“No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.”

- Hemingway