Boating Superstitions? Hmm... Really?

[BosnBill]

Renaming your boat is supposed to have severe consequences unless you perform a ceremony to rid the old name from Neptune's Book of the Deep. Superstition or a necessary ritual? What's your angle on this? Article: Rename my boat ceremony? What ceremony?

 

[epervier]

Renaming your boat is supposed to have severe consequences unless you perform a ceremony to rid the old name from Neptune's Book of the Deep. Superstition or a necessary ritual? What's your angle on this? Article: Rename my boat ceremony? What ceremony?

It could be a bit of harmless fun, but my personal view is the hocus pocus attached to renaming a boat is a load of bollox.

My view is, you can name you craft whatever you like, but whether the radio licensing authority will let you use a dodgy name is another question

 

[jonnybuoy]

My brother-in-law is a master in a big container ship fleet. He says they often rename ships without a second thought. The renaming ceremony is a bit of mythology methinks.

 

[Searush]

Renaming SR would certainly bring me bad zest. I would have to pay the MCA a heap of dollars or let the Pt1 registration lapse. And if the registration lapsed I would have to give my Blue Ensign back.

The ceremonies are a great excuse for a party - why knock that?

 

[prv]

Agree - ships have always been renamed without much fuss; I think (but am not sure) that the "bad luck" idea may have been dreamed up by the Victorians, so it's not even a proper ancient superstition.

If I was renaming a boat I would still take the excuse for a pissup though

By contrast, I've known people get genuinely upset about whistling on board, and while I would buy a green boat if it was otherwise a good deal, I wouldn't paint one that colour by choice.

Pete

 

[ontheplane]

I understand the superstition comes from olden days when the name was carved in - so to rename you had to take the wood down a level and re-carve, which made it thinner and more likely to crack / break.

Not so valid nowadays of course

 

[gravygraham]

I remember reading a lengthy thread on this subject a few years back - hopefully this'll be relevant to me in the next couple of months as I'm back in boat shopping mode. Glad the consensus seems to side with the hocus-pocus theory as I'm not one to stand on ceremony, even if it's my boat!

 

[stuhaynes]

I understand the superstition comes from olden days when the name was carved in - so to rename you had to take the wood down a level and re-carve, which made it thinner and more likely to crack / break.

Not so valid nowadays of course

Obviously not been aboard ours then!!