“We had a wonderful cat when Jim and I first got married,” Baranski recalled. “It never occurred to us not to take this cat with us wherever we went.”
Baranski said the most challenging part of taking their cats sailing was getting them to and from the sailboat. She said it was difficult to balance the cat carrier with all the gear they needed to take along, especially when they took the tender to the mooring.
Since necessity is the mother of invention, Baranski explained how she modified a backpack, sewing in a mesh front so that the cats could see out.
“It’s a much safer and easier way to get to and from the boat,” Baranski said. “It frees up your hands and the cats love being so close to you.”
Sally Ballinger of Arlington Heights, IL said she and her husband, Ed, take one of their cats sailing with them as much as possible. Tigger’s longest time at sea was 64 days, and Ballinger said when they sail into port, it takes a few minutes for the cat to regain his land legs.
Like Sellar’s cat, Sally and Ed Ballinger’s feline doesn’t care for the purr of the motor. He also prefers to be wherever they are, which frequently means sitting on the dodger while sailing, or running along the boom when anchored. He’s even ended up with grease on his face when the engine required work. The Ballingers say he has to be where they are and watch what’s going on, and he always has to be in the middle of everything.
Probably the greatest fear among those who sail with their feline is that the cat could lose its balance and fall into the water. Ballinger said she’s heard one way to pull a cat to safety is to lay a terrycloth towel onto the water so that the cat — assuming she still has claws — can grab onto it.
