AT THE SITE OF THE NEW CARISSA — Titan Salvage has been in a race against the weather.

Salvors working to rip the New Carissa stern out of the sand and surf off the North Spit this summer have stopped cutting down the wreck. They’ve shifted their focus to pulling what metal is left out of the sand.

They’ve had wind and waves chasing them.

They finished rigging chains to puller connection points on the wreck as Tuesday’s summer storm started hammering the New Carissa with wind and crushing waves.

The crew made it just under the wire.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on it for the last couple of days,” Titan Salvage Master Shelby Harris said.

They completed the last connection of the anchor chains strung from the Titan’s hydraulic pullers to the wreck early Tuesday afternoon.

Generators roared on the decks of Titan’s Karlissa A and Karlissa B barges and the winds grew steadily stronger.

Crewmen raced to prepare the last of the six 340-ton capacity pullers for action. The New Carissa was pierced and bound with six chains, the links of which weigh about 100 pounds each. The growing surf crashed into and filled the dismembered remains of the wood chip vessel. A constant stream of water flowed from a blue hose as Titan pumped out the inside of the wreck to counteract the deluge.

If Titan had the right timing, the worsening weather would be favorable. Harris said these strong waves washing sand out and pounding against the wreck should help the pullers.

“Those swells are good for us now,” he said.

But it wasn’t good while crewmen were working on the wreck. Harris said his crew raced to prepare the rigging before the weather chased them onto the barges.

“You just make a priority list of things you have to do and things you would like to do,” Harris said. “You get as much of what you would like to do done until you get pushed off.”

Workers spent last week cutting connection points into the Carissa’s frame. Connections had to be strengthened to withstand the force of the pullers without breaking.

“You need a lot of steel strength there,” Harris said. “We tried to make each point as strong as we could.”

Salvors found the thickest points in the stern and then made cardboard molds. From the molds the crew fashioned and welded steel reinforcements to double and triple the strength of the chain connections.

Monday morning, the team starting rigging the wreck to the pullers.  Some the pullers are attached to the deck of the Karlissa A. Others are connected to the barge with button anchors that will allow them to lift off the deck — all 10 tons — as they pull on the New Carissa.

Harris didn’t expect to see any significant movement in the wreck right away. He wanted to draw the slack out of the chains first and ease into pulling mode. Putting an equal amount of force on the wreck from each puller will even the chains and allow the waves push on the wreck while the pullers yank on it.

“I expect we won’t see anything spectacular,” Harris said. “Hopefully it will be non-eventful.”

Just to be sure, Harris moved his crew to the deck of the Karlissa A and sent the cable car connecting the barges to the shore back to the beach.

The storm started to flex its muscles as the cable car made its last trip to the beach before pulling started Tuesday afternoon.

The southerly wind kicked up.

Waves slammed into the barge legs and crashed over top of the New Carissa.

As the storm strengthened, the pullers took over.

Workers waited.

There was no visible difference in the position of the wreck from shore, but soon word came over radio from the Karlissa A. The pullers were applying 1,200 tons of pressure on the wreck.

On shore, David Blondell kept an eye on the cable car wires. Blondell, the owner of Coos Bay  fabrication business MAD Industries Inc. and working with Titan this summer, said any movement of the Karlissa A would affect cable car wire tension.

“That’s why I wanted to have it on the beach,” Blondell said.

After an hour’s wait, Blondell got the call to come get the crew. Six pullers and the churning surf would be left to work on the wreck overnight.

Now that pulling has started, Harris said the focus will change from rushing to get the work done to a game of patience. He didn’t know how long the pullers will have to yank on the shipwreck before cutters can continue slicing away steel. It all depends on how the Carissa moves, he said.

“You know you have the force to move it, but you’ve got to manipulate it, too,” Harris said. “You can’t just yank it out. It will come.”

Staff Writer Jolene Guzman is covering the New Carissa removal for The World. She can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 235; or by e-mailing to jguzman@theworldlink.com.