Teaching a boat cat to swim and find the rope ladder in an emergency

Lauren Landers Sailing practices a safety drill with Mako roughly every six months: putting him in the water so he remembers how to swim and, critically, how to find and climb the rope ladder back onto the boat. She does this when he is already wet from an outing to minimize extra stress. The goal is not to frighten him but to ensure the knowledge is current, because a cat that falls overboard needs to know how to get back on board independently. Lauren notes it had been a while since the last drill and the rope ladder had also changed after the old one was lost during their Pacific crossing, so Mako needed to be reintroduced to the new one. She acknowledges it looks unpleasant but draws a clear line between his comfort and his safety.