The Cat’s Meow Gets a Second Chance

The sinking and rescue of our boat, our home, The Cat’s Meow, will always be a significant event in both of our lives. Here I (Robin) will attempt to describe what that event was like from our perspective. It is impossible to name and to thank individually each of the people and organizations that were part of this amazing event; please know that each of you is very much loved and appreciated by both of us, Martin and Robin Hardy. See all of the photos here

On the evening of May 19th, 2004, Martin and I had spent a very nice evening aboard The Cat’s Meow with friends from Que Tal?, RDreamz, and Cat House while anchored in San Cosme cove a few miles north of Agua Verde, on the Baja peninsula. At approximately 9:30 p.m., the wind shifted, coming from the SSW, which caused TCM to swing over some rocks we had not seen or noticed before on our sounder. We bumped one with our keel.

We decided to move, to re-anchor, in deeper water. As we began to move after raising our anchor, Cat House was also moving around in the small cove, trying to find another spot. The night was pitch black; there was no moon and no ambient light from anywhere. The winds had picked up; it was blowing about 25 knots. I was trying to get our million-watt light to work, Martin was getting the radar warmed up, and we were moving within the anchorage. We thought we were going out toward the open Sea. Both of us became disoriented in the darkness, and before we even knew what was happening, we were driving up onto very large rocks. Somehow, and we still do not understand how this could happen, we had driven in an arc, instead of out to open water we had turned back into the rocks.

We have a full steel keel on The Cat’s Meow, and at this point we were not worried about taking on any water. We were sitting straight up. Que Tal? heard our call and rushed over in their dinghy immediately, and Cat House came right behind them. Martin put TCM in reverse with lots of throttle, the two dinghies tried valiantly to push us from the starboard side, but we were not budging. RDreamz was called and they brought their big steel boat around the rock to pull us off. No amount of work, torque, push or pull would budge TCM. The winds had kicked up to around 30 knots, which made it even more difficult for RDreamz to pull us, they were being moved around by the wind in the shallow waters. RDreamz also suffered some bumps on their bottom while attempting to pull us off. None of this would have been all that bad, if the tide had not been going out on a severe low tide at the same time. While the tide lowered, our big boat heeled over more and more to her port side. Once it started going, it was a lot of weight leaning to the one side, which kept the momentum going.

This was when it got hairy. Water began coming in over our port rail, and into the port side doorway. Things begin sliding to the port side inside the entire boat. We could not walk or manage to do anything inside the boat. We live with two cats, as well, and up to this point they were doing OK, but now they were nervous and could tell things were not going well at all. We knew we had to abandon our boat, our home, at approximately 2:30 a.m. It was very scary and very difficult to manage getting our cats and ourselves out of the boat, into the dinghy of Que Tal?, at that angle in chest-high water, but we did manage to do it without any injuries or lost cats. Que Tal? Dave and Carolyn deposited all of us in the care of Royce and Pam on RDreamz, who graciously made room for us at less than a moment’s notice. Royce had been calling on the VHF radio for some time, trying to reach anyone in the area that could hear and hopefully assist. Finally, Greg Rodgers on Mikelali, who was anchored at Carmen Island, did hear the call. He was able to reach Elvin of Sea Lover in the Puerto Escondido area. Elvin, wife Connie, and Ted from Siempre Sabado piled into Elvin’s panga and drove the 17 or so miles out to us in the black dead of night, leaving their palapa home about 3:30 a.m. They had picked up a very large pump from Terry on Manta, as well.

The Mexican Navy ship, the Matamoros, also heard Royce and came back asking for our position, circumstances, etc. and said they were changing course to come assist. The rest of what was left of that night we all spent in a kind of shock, trying to understand what had just happened, and to get some rest. Elvin and crew arrived about 5:30 a.m., and just knowing someone else was there to help and who cared was comforting. At this point in time, we believed that since there was just some water in one side of the boat, we would pull her off the rocks when the tide came back up and hopefully all would be OK.I guess Mikelali or someone else made an announcement on the Amigo net a few hours later. I am not really sure how the word got out. But starting at approximately 9 a.m., cruisers started to show up in our little cove. The Navy arrived somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30 as I recall, and they put two super-pangas in the water. They went to the crash site along with Sea Lover, Elvin’s panga, which carried Martin, Royce, and Ted

One of the most amazing things during this entire episode of our lives was the appearance, unannounced, of an entire fleet of cruising boats in that cove. It was simply amazing to both Martin and myself that these people would change their plans, even turning around, to help us. What a sight, to look out and see boats coming from literally every direction, anchoring, and offering to help save TCM. Some of these people we had never even met before, some were friends we have known for some of our 3.5 years cruising in Mexico.  By 5 p.m., there were 18 cruising boats, 4 pangas and the large Mexican Navy ship. This fleet continued to grow, and by the end of the second day I believe there were close to 30 boats there, helping in the rescue!

People worked hard all day, for four days. The first day, boats offered flotation devices of all types: fenders, dry bags, anything that might help hold up the port side of The Cat’s Meow. Pumps worked furiously to remove water from the sealed areas on the boat. Heavy items were removed from the boat. The Navy had divers in the water, hooking lines to her, and they even attempted to pull her more upright using a giant block and tackle around the base of a huge rock formation.

Meanwhile, some of the women went into action to provide food and water to the workers, including the Navy guys. Sandwiches were made, bottles of water and sodas were packed in ice, and the women went in dinghies around to all of the men and women who had been working, to feed and water them.

Three power boats, OnLine, Bydand, and Reel Time made valiant efforts to pull in unison, but TCM did not budge. Finally, the big Navy ship, Matamoros, had to try to save our boat. The Comandante, David Saldana Amen, made it clear that if they tried to pull our boat off those rocks, more damage could ensue. We understood, we agreed that we needed this big ship to get our boat off the rocks. Otherwise, TCM was doomed.

The Matamoros had to remain quite a distance from TCM, because of the shallow depths and rocks, which made the ability to pull her more difficult. A line approximately three inches thick was attached from the stern of The Cat’s Meow to the Matamoros. Navy men could be seen scurrying around the deck of the big ship, a huge winch-type of device on the bow of the Matamoros was used to tighten the line, and she gave a mighty pull, but the line broke. I believe this happened two more times, sending a moan of disappointment through the TCM rescue fleet. Then the Navy said they would bring out their “special line”, a thicker and hopefully stronger line, for one more pull. It took a long time to have this line arranged for the next big pull. It broke, almost immediately. Thankfully, Comandante Saldana did not pull up the anchor and leave, but actually asked for the assistance of the cruisers and their dinghies! The line was very heavy, and needed to be held up out of the water in order to keep it from getting too waterlogged before another pull. So, about 15 dinghies lined up along the length of the huge line, holding it over their pontoons, until the signal from the big Navy ship to drop the line into the Sea.

Matamoros took up the slack, put the pedal to the metal, belched big puffs of very black smoke, and pulled on our boat. She finally began moving backward, faster and faster and she came off those rocks! A huge cheer went up, but it was short-lived. The Cat’s Meow spun slowly around, and began going down bow-first. I was panicked, standing on the deck of RDreamz, watching my home sinking. I was screaming to the Navy guys to get pumps working, fast! It was awful. Several cruiser dinghies and the Navy pangas rushed to TCM, attached lines, and began dragging her toward shallow water, at the inside of the cove. Cat House put a line on and got TCM into about 12 feet of water, with dinghies going ahead to scout for rocks and a safe place to put her down. The Navy actually pumped all of the diesel fuel out of our tanks, into the water. They were planning to empty the fuel tanks so they could be filled with air, sealed off, and act as flotation for the boat. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, and about 500 gallons of diesel was dumped into the water. The good news was that it was not from a damaged fuel tank, the bad news of course was for the local area and for the divers, both from the Navy and the cruisers,  who were in that water.

Terry, of the trimaran Manta, based in Puerto Escondido, dove and removed the stabilizer that had punched the hull and caused the sinking. Although he had tried to clear the path of the stabilizer before the Navy pulled TCM, the fin had evidently been wedged and was pushed up when the boat came free of the rocks. Another place near the bow was also moderately damaged, not quite going through the planking into the chain locker. (The Cat’s Meow is a wood-hulled boat, double planked with mahogany and very tightly fastened.)The Cat’s Meow was at least stabilized, could not sink any more, and at dark everyone needed to return to their own boats, rest, and eat. Susan from TwoCanPlay organized a night-watch, with cruisers volunteering for two-hour stints to protect TCM from any one who might want to take advantage of her. What a wonderment: that someone would take on the organization of the watches, and that people tired from working all day would volunteer to provide protection for our boat.

The second day, boats appeared carrying plywood, nails and screws, food, barrels, and all types of materials to manage a rescue of our boat. Plywood was cut, using the top deck of Gusto and the skills of her captain, Matt, to make patches for the two damaged parts of the port hull. Terry “designed” the patch of three layers, and divers from TwoCanPlay, RDreamz, EnDorphin, Wanderer, and probably others for whom I have no names all worked like horses in the diesel-water all day long to attach those patches and to prepare flotation. Nails were called for, and more brought down from PuertoEscondido. The Dinghy Diner ladies were in full swing, providing breakfast, coffee, lunch, water, sodas, and dinner to everyone in the entire fleet, including the Navy guys who stayed and worked all of the second day to save TCM.

After one horrible night and two full days of work, The Cat’s Meow was still in grave danger of being lost. Besides boats and people coming to the aid of The Cat’s Meow, an entire machine had been put in motion. I truly do not remember all of what was going on, there was so much happening all of the time, but here is what I can recall: Club Cruceros from La Paz and many individuals from La Paz were coordinating supplies and bringing them by truck and trailer to Puerto Escondido. Barrels to act as flotation, plus generators and pumps were loaded and driven down by the two Mikes of Amazing Grace and La Otra. Plywood and food and cleaning supplies were being brought to the crash site by boats from Puerto. Escondido. Johnny Johnson, former multi-time winner of the Baja 1000 race, drove a pickup piled way too high with more barrels, driving around a point of rock during a rising tide, to get to the beach on our side of the cove. The Hidden Port Yacht Club of Puerto Escondido was organizing the purchase of LOTS of food, pumps, and other supplies and for the transportation to us. The yacht club also collected donations and matched them dollar for dollar! Jerry of Mirador, Lynn of Wild Flower, and Greg of Mikelali were acting as coordinators of people, boats, supplies, communication. I heard that there were updates going out to the cruising fleet all over Mexico at the top of each hour via single-side band radio, people in California and as far away as Panama were getting email updates…..I had no idea there were so many people connected to our ordeal. Mike of Amazing Grace dropped off an envelope of money to me, donations made by the people in La Paz. I cried.

Que Tal? along with friends Mike and Katya of Kindred Spirit, back in Sausalito, arranged a method for people to make donations to help us out; another amazing and very much appreciated gesture, and we have received  donations from people in the States and as far away as Micronesia!

Jose Alfredo Carrillo Arroyo and Daniel Cabrera Ruiz of the Navy ship Matamoros wanted to continue to work for TCM. They and their hard-working crew did not want to leave us. Mexico City, however, had different plans for them and ordered Matamoros to continue on her way to Quaymas. The two men who had helped coordinate the pull of TCM off the rocks needed our signature on a few papers, but we were charged nothing. They explained why they had to leave – we had been shocked they had stayed so long and worked so hard – and they gave Martin and me their own “official” Matamoros hats, a gesture of friendship. It was pretty emotional saying goodbye to these men and their crew. Without them, our boat may never have been saved.

Two more days ensued with all forces working to raise and to save our boat. Martin and I did realize it may not happen, but we were determined to try to save our special boat, and when we asked the fleet that had gathered to please help us to do that, they rallied. More plywood and more nails and more food and more cleaning supplies were brought to us. On day 3, all open areas on the boat, including the scuppers, all hatches, etc. were blocked off by plywood. Somewhere around 15 lines were attached to TCM’s “mast” by Tony of Red Sky, who used his previous knowledge as a firefighter to rig the lines. These lines completely surrounded TCM, going out to points in the water, like a funny-looking Christmas tree. They would be used to balance TCM as she rose from the depths, loosening some while tightening others. All pumps available were readied; all flotation devices were made ready on both sides of The Cat’s Meow. Again, the night watches were held, and the Dingy Diner ladies helped to keep everyone’s spirits up and tummies fed. They even organized a dinghy-raft-up spaghetti dinner!

During the pre-dawn hours of Monday, May 24th, cruisers converged on The Cat’s Meow, with her generator-run top deck lights ablaze, to begin pumping the water out of her at low tide. The flotation devices were filled with air. Slowly, she rose. Then, she “popped up” and stayed there! She rose with the sunrise, patches in place and holding, pumps pumping, people cheering. It was a sight! Within a few hours, towlines had been attached and Siempre Sabado, piloted by Captain Ted and Admiral Billie, was towing her back to Puerto Escondido, her home. The barrels were loaded back onto the truck on the beach and onto boats, all items that had been placed on the beach were removed and put somewhere, the boats that had loaned their varying types of flotation devices hopefully all recovered them, the beaches and rocks were scoured one more time for anything that might have been on TCM. When the last of the fleet of boats left, by about 10:30 a.m., no one would ever know anything had ever happened in San Cosme Cove. Dave and Carolyn Shearlock of Que Tal? had been working non-stop since our first call for help the night of the 19th.

Likewise Pamela and Royce of RDreamz and Joe and Vicki of Cat House. Elvin and Connie with the panga Sea Lover, Dennis and Susan of TwoCanPlay, Lynn and Delores of Endless Summer, and so many others that I cannot list here were so very central in the raising and saving of The Cat's Meow.I rode back to the harbor at Puerto Escondido on RDreamz with Royce and Pam while Martin was on TCM along with Elvin and a few others. By the time RDreamz arrived, TCM was tied securely to the big cement dock, and another team of people had already been unloading all of our belongings onto the dock. TCM is a 52’ trawler, and there was a lot of stuff on that boat! Elizabeth from Cambria became the “jefe” – the coordinator – and had a regular triage going. (I started calling her the Energizer Bunny, because she was always there, always working, and just did not stop.) De of Flutterby had already taken all clothes and other things made of material to the little laundry at Willie’s Tienda (market) up the street, along with special detergents and degreasers to wash it all. For three days, another entire team of people helped to sort and clean all items big and small from our boat. Some special items, such as our wedding photos, were saved with the care of very special people. The freezer, the vacuum system, the refrigerator, all pumps and electronics, all of Martin’s tools were rinsed or soaked in fresh water and sprayed with WD40.

Dick from Corazon de Acero, Lance of Milagro, and Dave of Equity worked together to save the huge International Harvester marine engine, and when she was turned over and ran with a purr, a big cheer went up from the workers on the dock. Dave also worked hard and long on our generator. The plywood patches were reinforced, generators and pumps made ready, fuel stored in barrels, temporary hookups for the engine and anchor windlass were installed.  For three days, cruisers and other folks who had just heard about The Cat’s Meow showed up and worked in the hot sun. Many things were lost, many things were not able to be salvaged. Furniture we had in our lanai room – a living room style addition we constructed over the aft deck – suffered greatly, the six-foot couch having to be discarded. All the carpet had to be removed, all books were lost, including all of our chart books and charts. Many things were saved, however, and after all, “things” can be replaced.

On Wednesday evening we had a “Hardy Party," Hardy being our last name and the entire project a “hardy” one. It was a potluck affair, held in the dilapidated old Moorings building the Hidden Port YC calls home. Although the trappings were not fancy, the spirits and emotions of the people in attendance were very high! We were there to celebrate an extraordinary event: the coming together of so many people from so many walks of life to help save one cruising boat, The Cat’s Meow. It was nothing short of wonderful to have the chance to celebrate this victory with so many friends.

After most of the cruising fleet left the area, Martin and I and a few hard-core others living in the Puerto. Escondido area continued to clean up and stow away our belongings. Each night we paid the guard at the parking lot to watch our things, and even the guards had begun helping us with the moving of the items to the trash or to a little storage area. De offered us her palapa home AND her car to use while she was in the States. Dario and Erin of Ballena arrived from Mazatlan loaded with items donated by cruisers there, including another envelope of monetary donations. SVSerenity gave us a laptop! Total Yacht Services sent us lots of wire, filters and other important supplies. Cruisers from Mazatlan sent offers to help, to gather items we might need, and more. Again, the caring from other boaters was just overwhelming. As cruisers who had been working with us for days began leaving to continue their summer plans, others were arriving and offering to assist us adding “new blood” and energy to our cause. We continued working and getting TCM ready to be towed to La Paz.

The very large Ozark Lady, out of La Paz, offered to tow us, but we could not be ready in time for their needs. Then Captain Ron of Argo, a 42’ trawler, and his crew Jerry, offered to do the job. Two weeks after the night we went up on the rocks, Argo left Puerto Escondido with The Cat’s Meow in tow to La Paz, and Ron would not take one penny or the offer of diesel in payment. Martin, Dario, Royce, and Dave of Que Tal? went along to be sure the patches would stay in place, to assist with anchoring, etc. They made it safely into the La Paz Bay and to the Abaroas Boat Yard, where TCM now sat high and dry for five months, getting her hull and the stablizer fin repaired. The Abaroas Boat Yard did one fine job, re-planking the bottom with more mahogany, and taking great care with all aspects of their work. We found the yard and the employees to be quite friendly, helpful, and good workers.

The entire interior of our boat is trashed. It looks like a drowning victim. All but the structural parts have to be replaced, from the floors to the headliners. We had just installed a new Xantrex inverter about a month prior to our sinking. We had spent the entire winter in Mazatlan working on the generator and had the shaft aligned; Martin had remodeled the bathroom, including the addition of a bathtub; I had just finished painting the entire hull and the rubrail. She was looking better and running better than she had in the six years we have owned her. Now, we are starting over. Of course, we are making some of the changes we eventually wanted to, and people have told us that we “get to redecorate." Life has handed us a big bucket of lemons, and we will make the best of our lemonade. The Cat’s Meow will be even better when we are finished with this re-do. Right now we are living in a small apartment, with our cats of course, near the boat yard here in La Paz. Every day Martin and I work on our boat, thankful that we still have a boat to work on. Each day we see a little more progress, and although it is slow, our home is coming back into shape.

It is impossible here to list all of the people who have assisted us, who have given us a piece of their time and lives, money, clothes, household items, boat parts, physical help, and lots of emotional support. We would not have our boat to work on, had it not been for the amazing tenacity, caring and help shown by so many people, here in Mexico and in the States. We can only hope that our THANK YOUs will suffice for now.

In the months to come, we hope to be able to share with other cruisers the good will shown by some of the makers of boat parts that so many of us use. Garmin, for instance, has already come forward with help in replacing our two GPSs, and Xantrex also donated a rebuilt inverter to replace our newly installed one. As well, we will give updates on the progress with our fine boat here on the webpage.

Once more, Thank You to so many people for so much good will and caring. We love you back.

See all of the photos here