[seagulls calling]
[horn honks]
TERRY: There's not very many people, which is good.
NARRATOR: Toss any notions you have overboard
of a slow, calm boat landing.
TERRY: Okay, ready? Hang on.
NARRATOR: In Pacific City,
the fishermen come in full throttle.
[boats splashing]
Boat after boat zoom straight for the beach.
MAN: I have to be extremely careful with surfers
or kids jumping in the surf,
or pedestrians on the beach.
NARRATOR: Their only break to slow them down is the sand.
Hey, just hold on, hold on.
Hold on.
Yeah, baby.
That was a good one.
NARRATOR: This is one of only a handful of places
in the world that lands fishing boats
in such a dare devil fashion.
Pacific City, Oregon has followed this tradition
for more than a century.
That spurred a major project
by a group of students from Linfield College.
Hi, how you doin'?
I get a hug, you betcha.
Hi, Terry's the name.
NARRATOR: They have decided to chronicle the histories
of the people who depend on a very special craft,
Dory Boats.
I'm like, "What the heck is the Dory?"
I had to go look it up
and figure out what they were,
and just as much background as I could get online,
which was pretty sparse.
I think that's a big reason this project is happening.
NARRATOR: To learn about Dory boats,
the students have come to an undisputed expert.
Okay, then this here I can,
Just tuck it in your back pocket
or put it in your front pocket.
Could you please tell us your full names
and when you first became involved with Dory fishing?
NARRATOR: Terry Learned built his first Dory boat
with his father in 1967.
We had a real good year, I fished with my dad that summer.
So I said, "I've gotta get into this fishery, big time."
NARRATOR: At the age of 71,
Terry's one of the last commercial Dory boat builders.
Drive her in.
First one!
That's it.
Coming over, coming over.
ANNIE: With three or four of us,
it'll probably take us about three hours.
And if we get on the line at the top here,
which we're almost there.
MAN: Right there.
Only thing I ever wanted to do was build boats
and commercial fish for salmon.
For some of us,
MAN: Okay, last one.
ANNIE: They call it "The Fever", it's in your blood.
There was never anything else you can do.
We use a lot of high tech tools here.
NARRATOR: Terry's daughters, Annie and Pam,
pitched in on Terry's 82nd Dory boat.
TERRY: The hardest part
is probably getting everything lined up right
so your boat is not caddywhompus.
We're comin' up?
Yep.
ANNIE: Yeah, there you go.
It's an eyeball game for us.
You gotta eyeball it and say,
"Hey, look it's gotta be right,
or we're not going to put a nail in it."
[hammer hitting nail]
About two thirds of what I do
is in the book with pencil scratchins
that have been improved over the years,
about one third's up here.
Get a little putty on that one.
You can move to clamp to the outer.
TERRY: Almost everybody asked me,
"How many sticks of wood go on the Dory 2?"
And said, "I have no idea, I don't wanna know."
NARRATOR: The Learneds pride themselves
on hand craftsmanship.
TERRY: That's the only way build a quality boat.
And to me, it's a hobby that I make a few dollars at.
All right.
TERRY: Okay.
MAN: Are you ready in there?
Yes, sir.
TERRY: If you don't have fair curves in a boat,
why build one?
NARRATOR: Terry and his family have gotten so good,
they finished this frame almost twice as fast
as any they've ever built before.
Okay, woo!
PAM: Hour and a half, it's a record.
What? ANNIE: Oh, it's a record!
ANNIE: It's only noon!
You're kidding!
CASEE: When people tell us their stories,
they're so excited to tell us and so interested.
What they do is completely amazing.
TERRY: Got Dory stories that won't quit here.
Everyone has a story to tell,
so it's just a huge group effort
to try and collect all these histories
and personal stories and experiences.
NARRATOR: The history the students study
reveals that Pacific City
probably would have no fishing industry at all
if it were not for this very special design of boat,
without any keel.
This town doesn't have a port.
There is no dock or marina,
just one section of surf,
protected by Cape Kiwanda,
and a very smooth beach.
The Dory's flat bottom allows fisherman
to launch directly from the sand,
through the surf.
On many days, waves fight back.
They build wall after watery wall,
which must be breached.
Old timers have home movies to remind them
just how fickle and dangerous those waves can be.
And yes, it shows double-enders going over backwards
and many boats slumping.
I think we used to fish tougher oceans than we do now.
And our boats are better,
our gears all better,
our electronics are better.
But even at that,
we've only had three people ever drowned
since 1900 here.
It's very terrifying to watch it,
because I don't think I could ever do it.
Just watching how strong people have to be
and kind of how they know the ocean
and how they understand when the waves come in
and when is a good time to leave.
It's a real art, almost, trying to figure out when to leave.
Okay, hang on.
If it's a big surf,
and the boat ever gets sideways in deep enough water,
these boats can roll completely over,
so you don't want that to happen.
NARRATOR: Fishermen like Mark Hall
must calculate the risk day to day,
based on the waves.
What they love is how close the beach here
puts them to good fishing.
They can have their lines out within five minutes.
MARK: Right there.
JERRY: We got 'em now.
Yeah, I think so.
That's a nice Lingcod.
Oh, wow.
I guess you'd call it a unique fishery,
in that within a half a mile a shore,
you're catching fish already.
MARK: There we go.
JERRY: Got him?
MARK: I think so.
Hi, Sandy.
Hi, Jerry.
Hi, how you doin', hun?
It's one of 'em my dad worked on.
They're an excellent boat.
This is the fourth boat I've owned
and it's everything I've wanted in a boat.
NARRATOR: Pacific City gives thanks for Dories
at the Annual Blessing of the Fleet.
Let us bow our heads and pray.
NARRATOR: Hundreds turn out every year.
Lord, we bless these Dories
and dedicate them to your honor.
We ask the guardian angel of fishermen to be with us.
It's a big ocean out there, it's a dangerous ocean.
Do we pray going out? Absolutely.
Do we pray while we're out there?
Yeah, sometimes hope we catch some big fish.
Do we pray coming in?
You got it.
We can't do it by ourselves.
So it's a blessing to all of us
to be able to participate in this.
NARRATOR: Each year, this ceremony ends the same way,
a scattering of flowers
to remember those Dorymen who have come before,
like Annie Learned's grandfather.
First one is always for Little Skipper, Victor Learned.
It's a time of remembrance and respect,
and for me, family heritage,
and remembering my grandpa, of course.
All the other fishermen, too,
but my grandpa, especially.
He never thought it would continue like this.
He never thought there'd be a turnout like this,
he never thought I'd be 37 years old
and still building boats.
NARRATOR: By the end of their oral history project,
Linfield students have done 77 formal interviews
and learned about a world
they probably never would've experienced on their own.
It's a community I have great respect for,
that it's such an honor to get to listen to these stories,
because they're so personal and individual,
but what these Dory fisherman have done
is so remarkable when you stop to think about it.
The fact that it's so under the radar,
but so unique,
and in the state of Oregon
that very few people have heard of
is just kind of baffling to me,
that this community has been here for over a hundred years
and maybe like 5% of the people
who live in the state know about it.
How many other places on earth can you hop in a boat
and be fishing in five minutes
on the ocean?
That is to say, that's a really special thing.
We're about the only place in the world
where fishing off the beach with boats like we do
is increasing in popularity
instead of fading out and being lost forever.
JERRY: It's a very practical boat to have.
We're proud of 'em, definitely are.