Boat names and bad luck

[Davydine]

The post about crap boat names got me thinking... If you buy a boat with a name that was changed by the previous owner do you inherit the bad luck?

Is it OK to change back to the original name?

We are looking at a boat that could prompt this debate at the moment. Last thing I need is bad luck on the boat...


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[marina95]

No problem if you perform Vigor's renaming ceremony...

http://www.48north.com/mr_offline/denaming.htm


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[Mudhook]

Come on folks! Like walking under ladders, this thing about changing boat names is a SUPERSTITION. I changed the name of my boat when I bought it because it was one that would have appeared on most people's Crap Boat Names list. Since then I've had nothing but fun, fun fun. If you don't like the name of the boat, change it!

Regards, Mudhook

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[waterboy]

I bought a boat called Joe Cool. The boat was great but that name.....! Changed it to Sans Souci in 1989 and the whole recession started which lasted for years. At least thats SWMBO's theory.

<hr width=100% size=1>I never make the same mistake twice. I always make new ones.

 

[Calluna]

We couldn't stand the boat's original name and weren't superstitious so changed it.

We didn't have time for a naming ceremony so launched her and within a week she'd been hit by a Thames barge, speedboat and dredger. We made sure we did the naming ceremony when she was relaunched after the repairs and nothing's hit her since.

Heather

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[Becky]

My little Moody was called 'Bullseye' by the first owner, a Mr Bull. It was then bought by a Mr Cannon, who not unnaturally re-named her 'Double Barrell'.
Now although the boat was really lovely, I am not a great lover of guns, so as I expecting to be sailing alone most of the time, I re-named her 'Solitaire'.
There was certainly no indication of bad luck, quite the reverse. But don't we make our luck anyway?
Following this theme, we have changed the name of our new boat from 'Spirit of Hiraeth' to 'Cornish Maid'. Reasons are that I am Cornish, and she was built there. And I like ice cream!

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[longjohnsadler]

Re: Superstition

In a similar vein (well sort of) I often wonder if you have a 10 year old malt on your boat and you keep it for a year (ok unlikely), does it then become an 11 year old malt?

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[jimi]

Hiraeth -- welsh for longing for home .. not a good name for a boat .. also an E2 on dove crag!

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[AlexL]

I'm sure its been mentioned before, but the origins of the changing names bad lack story goes back to when boats names were carved into the oak - into part of the keel i believe, thus renaming the boat involved chiseling off part of the boat and thus weakening it. Like many good supersititions this one started with a truth which became buried in superstition.

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[Sybarite]

I knew a man called Bull who married a woman called Iona. Both were enormous!

John

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[Sybarite]

He got it mainly right but the most important part, the libation I have on good authority from Jimi that the Gods will accept it, sort of, second hand....

John

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[Gordonmc]

When I bought her Flap was a sad looking sight, her previous skipper having walked away some three years previous.
Apart from the leaking decks, peeling topsides, and B&Q wood preserver on her brightwork the name failed to inspire. Can you imagine; "Clyde Coastguard this is Yacht Flap..."
But then I found "Flap" carved into a deck beam along with her yard number... suggesting it must have been her original name.
I did some research and discovered her first skipper was a WW2 Fleet Air Arm pilot with two DFC's and a Legion d'Honneur under his belt.
Whatever his reason for naming his boat thus, the moniker stays.

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[wakeup]

Could it be "Fleet Air Arm Pilot" = FLAP.....????

<hr width=100% size=1>As independent as resources permit.

 

[steve_l]

Or could be from old British military (especialy flyers) slang "there's a bit of a flap on" = "there's some kind of emergency situation happening just now".
Maybe it was that kind of boat...?

-steve-

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[Aeolus_IV]

Re: Superstition

No, sadly, its time on the wood which counts. Otherwise I'd have some cracking 30 year old malts by now (well, dregs anyway). Can't afford good whisky now /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

Regards, Jeff.

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