Blessing the Boat

[Phoenix of Hamble]

I'd heard the same story, but related to the base of the mast.....

 

[MasterofHera]

Bless the change of name on your boat by all means. But the reason for a change of name being "unlucky" goes back a long way. Pirates /Privateers and other general thieves catured boats and to disguise the fact that the boat was stolen they cut out the ships name which was carved into the main beams in the hull. Thus next time the boat was under stormy conditions the hull failed and the boat foundered bringing about the folklore of changing names being unlucky.

 

[Wunja]

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Is there any set script, traditions, or do's and dont's we should be wary of?

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Hi Nick, A hunt on the internet will come up with variations of a service, however they seems very pagan in nature, calling on the god Poseidon/Neptune to do his stuff.

The other thing that needs to be done before hand is to remove the boats name from Neptune/Poseidon's list of vessels. This requires the removal of all references to the vessels former name, another blessing, more champagne etc, etc.

Alternatively, as someone else suggested, leave it in the hands of the vicar.

 

[roly_voya]

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[/ QUOTE ] There are many good renaming rituals. One recommended method is to have a virgin pee in the bilge. That will purify the boat and startle Neptune into striking the old name from his big book.

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[/ QUOTE ] mmmmm.... could be a problem finding a virgin in Lymington ..... well, over 16 anyway !

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[/ QUOTE ] Having seen them in the wild (Botswana) they are graceful, fast and aquatic.....sounds like an ideal name for a boat to me......

I love they way things can get inadvertantly juxtaposition on here, these three posts appeared consecutively... I can see the David Attimbough film now, tracking the shy virgins through the Botswanan jungles... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[narooma]

Superstition has it that you walk five times round the boat while explaining to it why you are going to change its name.

Prefer the 'virgin' idea myself.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Crikey, after all these 'interesting' suggestions, i'm going to make a killing selling tickets to witness Nick's renaming ceremony.....

Roll up roll up.... tickets on sale now.... watch Nick wander around his boat muttering to himself (probably about how to avoid the pee running out of his bilge pump through hulls) while a liberal vicar sprinkles champers all over the anchor locker....... and for the finalé, watch him put the new name stickers on upside down, and then realise that they won't stick due to the champagne running down the topsides.... in the mean time he'll also be trying to stop a number of Lymington scrotes from gouging out the name from his transom with a blunt chisel /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BlueSkyNick]

happy for you to make a contribution - just worked out that the stickers will be over 200 notes !

the date is set for the evening of 16th May.

 

[Avocet]

We've never registered a boat with the SSR - That way Neptune won't know were out there to put us on his list!

 

[Spars]

The anagram answer is 'We Lech'and let the 2 Lady Vicars bless it!

 

[David_Jersey]

My understanding is that you can make it up as you go along / tailor the ceremony to your requirements (the number of Virgins available!).

 

[Iota]

All one can add it sounds like a great excuse for a party, so enjoy it and dam the expense

Iota