Entering a sailboat over a sugar scoop transom in heavy seas

[Kettlewell]

If you are a cat sailor, what did you do, or what would you try? In any case, it will take a fair bit of seamanship.

Of course it depends on the cat, but on our old 32-footer we had a nice stern deck that our inflatable dinghy could just scoot under and in rough conditions we found it easier to board by jumping up or sitting on that deck. OTOH, the Coast Guard tried to board our boat that way when we were offshore half way to Bermuda and they nearly took our rudders out. Eventually, with their huge RIB they came alongside per my directions and boarded over the side. Our boat sported a giant black streak down its side for years after. I have had a hole knocked in a hard dinghy while trying to board a cat's stern scoop in a rough anchorage, and it was rather disconcerting just to approach that big slamming stern.