The Great Escape

Saturday February 9, 2013

After Thursday I was afraid it would happen, and it has.  We’ve raised a little escape artist. Georgie has found out that she can climb down the ladder.  There were a few times on Thursday when she would begin to jump down one rung on the ladder, and we’d quickly swoop her up and set her back on deck along with a scolding.  But then yesterday when both of us were distracted getting the dinghy down off the davits so it could get a good cleaning, she hopped all the way down to the ground.  I caught what she was doing just moments after she got down, and was able to quickly grab her and once again set her back where she should be.

From that point we said that we’d no longer let her run around on deck at night, one of her favorite things to do before bed to blow off steam.  It seriously sounds like a race track up there sometimes, with her sprinting lap after lap.  But now we couldn’t trust her to be up there alone and promised her only deck time would be during the day where we could keep better tabs on her.  Except, last night the sun went down and we both got distracted, forgetting she was out there.  After hearing nothing but silence from up above for quite some time I turned to Matt and asked, “Where’s the cat?”.  We both looked at the companionway which was sitting wide open.  Oh, s&*t.

Throwing on headlamps we scoured the deck, looking in every nook and corner and under the cushions that were still drying, trying to find any place up there she might be hiding.  Nothing.  So then we brought the search to the ground.  I had brought a bag of her treats with me, and we began to walk the yard, shaking the bag and calling her name.  I was on one side of Serendipity while Matt was on the other when I heard a yell, “I found her over here!”.  Running over to assist him catch her, I heard a loud noise and then a yell of pain from Matt, quickly followed by yells for me to quickly get my ass over there.  As I came up behind him and saw Georgie in his hands, and thought that maybe she clawed or scratched him as he tried to grab her.  Nope.  What he didn’t see as he was running full speed to get her, was a metal chain that ran the width of the boat next to ours, and ran smack into it with his face.

Grabbing Georgie out of his hands I climbed half way up the ladder and pitched her on deck as I tried to catch up to Matt who had stumbled to the men’s bathroom to check out his face.  It was not a pretty picture.  The nose was most likely broken, he had to snap it back in place, and covering his nose and forehead were cuts and bruises.  He took it pretty well, and back at the boat, although I knew he was in a lot of pain, I couldn’t help but look over at him and giggle a little bit.  He looked like he had just stepped out of a hockey ring without a helmet on, but when people inevitably see the damage and ask what happened he’ll have to reply with “I chased my cat into a chain link”.

Today has been back to work on both projects we couldn’t start until this point, and ones we should have done once we first got here.  Since the dinghy was lowered yesterday, that was given a nice cleaning, bringing it back to close to it’s original white shade.  Gotta love MaryKate On & Off.  I swear that stuff is like a Magic Eraser for anything boat related.  Then it was on to faring the prop shaft area and getting that ready to install.  A little time spent with 3M 4200, and lots of time afterward with vinegar and acetone, and we were ready to call it a night.  Knowing what’s in store for me tomorrow though, I’m not sure I’m ready for this night to end.

I think all the trouble started here, during her first walk.

V-berth cushions drying up on deck.