Trouble at Cape Kiwanda

"You wouldn't swim in front of your main shipping channel," says Terry Thompson, a Lincoln County commissioner and former legislator who operates a dory boat out of nearby Depoe Bay. "Even if you blare your horn, if someone's in the water with a hooded wet suit on, they're not going to hear you."

Authorities say the driver of the boat that hit Ortega did apparently blow its horn. The boat's driver, Darrell Martin, 55, of Beaver, didn't return phone calls to NEWSWEEK. After interviewing 20 witnesses, Tillamook County authorities aren't pressing charges against Martin, says Sheriff Todd Anderson. Martin had a lookout who reported seeing a clear lane to the beach. "The loss of an arm here does not convert an accident into a crime," Anderson says. Martin did receive a citation for failing to carry a boater safety card, as is mandated by state law.

The same swell that forced the boats to return to shore may have also tempted young surfers such as Ortega to steer their boards closer to the cape—smack dab in the dorymen's path. "On Sunday a few of them decided to go up and surf right in the middle of where the boats were coming in," Hanneman says. The giant waves may have made it virtually impossible for Martin to be able to see the profile of a surfer.

"It was kind of a perfect storm," says Lance Conragen, a Salem surfer who paddles out in Pacific City 100 days a year. "When the swell comes up, surfers have no choice but to head to the north end. They can't get out anywhere else. The boat operators who launched in the morning with four-foot swells were facing 10 feet by midmorning. They had to come to shore. The fact that there was an accident is not surprising."

So the question now is how to prevent future mishaps. Some surfers consider the dory fleet antiquated and unnecessary. Dorymen counter that there are plenty of other places to surf besides the boat lane. "Out of 380-some miles of coastline, we only ask for about 1,100 feet," says doryman Terry Learned.

Despite the friction, both factions are conducting surprisingly artful negotiations. Representatives of surfers and dorymen are in talks with state park officials to erect more informative signs on the beach, and they're brainstorming about other ways to educate both the surf community and the fleet about how to avoid each other safely. "It's a public beach," says Hanneman. "Our association has never supported closing off or dividing user groups away from our area." And Gary Gregg, a longtime Pacific City surfer, says, "If one of [the fishermen] got into trouble, we would be paddling over to rescue them."

Cole Ortega's dad, Charlie, is too focused on his son's recovery to worry about the future at Cape Kiwanda. "I held him all the way to the hospital," he said at a press conference this week. "Every time he closed his eyes, I thought that could be the last time."

For all the frequent users of this beautiful stretch of beach, July 6 will hopefully be the last time surfers and boats collide with such tragic results.

A recovery fund has been established for Cole Ortega: Cole Ortega Recovery Fund, P.O. Box 423, Pacific City, OR 97135

© 2008