Gale Force Overtakes SolMate

A gale force wind blew into the marina on the 6th of May, 2004. Life aboard SolMate will never be the same.

Thursday was laundry day. It's as if someone knew that the biggest, softest heart in the marina, would be spending time at the washers and dryers that day. Thursday is the day a fluffy kitty, dishes, blanket and all, was dumped behind the machines to fend for himself.

Stan is nothing if not adept at domestic negotiations. He emailed MJ, who was at work, about kitty, giving her all day to mull over the pros and cons of kitty aboard. She had plenty of time to either harden her heart or rationalize keeping kitty. After work, Stan introduced her to kitty, who was cowering in the heat of a dryer outlet. MJ had already decided that the sweet, fluffy thing would never survive the night out there alone in a marina full of big, bad feral cats (we live in a tough hood).

Kitty immediately made himself at home on the boat. MJ ran to the store for kitty essentials while Stan entertained him on the boat. By Friday, Gale had a name, had seen a vet, gathered an impressive array of toys, and settled into SolMate life. Stan wrapped the mast-catpost with rope, and kitty's crew position was firmly established, reigning boat cat.

A picture book at the vet showed Gale to be a Maine Coon Cat, orange-background with dark stripes, a white bib and a huge, fluffy tail.  Someone had chomped that tail, which had a pretty good abscess going, and he was skinny at 7 1/2 lbs.  It didn't take long for the tail to heal and the bones to fill in.  It's taken a little longer for him to emerge from the safety of the cabin.  In a week he still hadn't ventured into the cockpit unsupervised.  That's okay because the skippers haven't quite prepared the kitty self-rescue system, yet.  Ropes and ladders are still in the design stage.  Depending on how comfortable kitty is underway, Gale may get his own harness and tether, too, but our guess is that he'll prefer a hobbit hole down below. He's already found quite a few cozy corners, and gained two more pounds.