Published May 2013 in Freshwater News

Author’s Note: If you used to visit the Island Cafe in Portland, Oregon many years ago, you know that it’s gone through a lot of changes over the years.  There was one area of the old Island Cafe that was a sailor’s sanctuary – The Pirates Cove.

To many of my sailing friends and acquaintances, the Island Café, that venerable, tiny slice of the tropics located on Hayden Island (or Tomahawk Island for those of you who are truly detail-oriented) was, in its earlier days, a classic sailors waterfront bar and grill.  It had that magical balance of laid back island ambiance coupled with a sort of charming ramshackle sailor’s hangout.  The floor in the bar area was a little uneven, the bar stools wobbled delightfully, the beer was cold and the food was classic burger / fish & chips basic.  You could pull your boat up to the dock after a day of sailing, walk to the bar, and be almost magically transported to some nameless beach bar in the Bahamas or the BVI or Mexico.  It wasn’t fancy, but what it lacked in linen tablecloths and crystal martini glasses it more than made up for with lazy fun, sun-filled days (even when it was raining) and a host of colorful local characters (whose antics occasionally put the Café in harm’s way with various authorities).

By the time you read this, the Island Café will be open for the season, and you’re in for a new atmosphere.  Shawn and Traci McMurray have just completed a major, MAJOR renovation to the place, with a larger kitchen, new seating that’s both indoors AND outdoors (depending upon the weather), new additions to the menu, and generally speaking, an entire upgrade.  Shawn gave me a quick tour recently, and I’m here to tell you, you’re gonna love the new digs.  You’ll still find rum drinks at the bar and Buffett on the radio, but you’ll also now find a couple of pretty nice flat screens, new tables and chairs, and multiple overhead doors to the let warm weather and sunshine stream into the indoor dining area on those aforementioned sun-filled days.

What you won’t find is a little place called The Pirates Cove.

The Pirates Cove was the uncovered deck area right next to the bar.  It was the regular hangout of a group of sailors (which I was fortunate enough to belong to) who basically made that little piece of Island Café real estate our own.  Somewhere along the line, one of us gave the space its moniker, and Shawn and Traci reciprocated by flying a Jolly Roger off the railing and mounting a sign on the wall proclaiming the name.  It was a small bit of sailor-claimed territory, close to the bar and our refills.  But it was more than that.

The Pirates Cove was a sailing incubator.  It was like going to sailboat maintenance school, or a place to discuss various cruising destinations and the best ways for getting to them.  It was also a place to break down racing tactics and results, from Dennis Conner’s ’87 America’s Cup win to a great move that one of the locals had pulled while racing on the river.  Particularly on weekends, there was a constant stream of boats running up and down the North Portland Harbor for us to check out and comment on, and there was also a pretty good view of the docking proceedings at the Café itself, which sometimes offered better entertainment than a three-ring circus.

Many an idea was born and bred in The Pirates Cove.  The seeds of my very first Oregon Offshore campaign were sown there.  We made plans for the Lopez Island Lats & Atts Cruisers Rally while hanging there with our friends.  Heck, it was from The Pirates Cove that we helped owner Traci devise her then-potent rumrunner recipe, one or two of which would send you home happier than a clam at high tide.

Rarely did non-sailors venture into The Pirates Cove in those days.  For starters, it was still a designated smoking area at the time.  On top of that, there were few or no tables, and…well…the space was usually crammed with the regular set of ragboaters, leaving little room for anyone else.  Occasionally, new non-sailors would join us, and that’s when the stories and lies REALLY got out of hand.  Those fifteen foot waves we saw with regularity in the ’07 Offshore suddenly climbed to twenty-five feet, and our explanation to two young ladies one evening on how to stay on course when sailing at night up the Washington coast (a well-lighted set of north-south traffic lanes complete with stop lights and a yellow underwater median line) had no business being believed, but was anyway.

Most of all though, The Pirates Cove was a sanctuary, a place filled with good friends who understood your obsession with mast and hull and canvas, and the jobs your carried out to keep your boat in good repair.  I personally walked in there one late Saturday afternoon, having spent the entire day replacing the sewage lines on my boat.  After more than a few predictable comments regarding the nature of that particular type of repair, I didn’t have to buy a beer for the rest of the day.  The Pirates Cove was that kind of place.

The new and improved Island Café will, without a doubt, be better and more comfortable than its predecessor, and I can’t wait to check it out now that it’s up and running.  But I’ll miss parts of the old place, too.  I’ll miss many of the local characters who livened up that corner of the Café, and who for the most part have scattered to various ports throughout the region and world.  I’ll miss the sailing discussions, the camaraderie, and the unique personality of that little spot at the end of the bar.

I’ll miss The Pirates Cove.