changing the name of your boat

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louandkim

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Hi
During our efforts to find a boat to live and travel on we have come up against a stumbling block ... the names of boats, often personal to the originator or funny a long time ago, we are struggling with the idea of living with something that makes us cringe.

This is by no means a criticism of other persons naming decisions. (And I am not saying ours would be any better in the eyes of others) however we have not been able to agree regarding the superstitions surrounding the renaming of a yacht

I have found all the ceremony's on line and am aware that there is no actual regulations that would prohibit the re-naming of a yacht

My question is, what is the general consensus regarding the bad luck that may be invoked and the general views on renaming.

cheers
 
louandkim said:
Hi
During our efforts to find a boat to live and travel on we have come up against a stumbling block ... the names of boats, often personal to the originator or funny a long time ago, we are struggling with the idea of living with something that makes us cringe.

This is by no means a criticism of other persons naming decisions. (And I am not saying ours would be any better in the eyes of others) however we have not been able to agree regarding the superstitions surrounding the renaming of a yacht

I have found all the ceremony's on line and am aware that there is no actual regulations that would prohibit the re-naming of a yacht

My question is, what is the general consensus regarding the bad luck that may be invoked and the general views on renaming.

cheers
Click to expand...

As one who changed the name of his fishing boat from Predator (really!) to Hilda Maud (my mum's name), I can attest to the fact that it is easy to do and that no bad luck has befallen us.

I'm sure that you know that the superstition runs from th time when they carved the name of the boat in the wood and that to rename meant taking some of the timber away thus weakening the boat.

I'm not superstitious but would never have a green boat or where green at sea, I certainly don't whistle and will avoid going to sea on Fridays and will say 'Good Morning' to a single magpie other than that I'm perfectly unsuperstitious :)
 
i'm not superstitious although i find the superstitions all a bit of fun. we renamed our boat and enjoyed pouring some fizz on her bow with the previous owner.

it's meant to be bad luck to refer to the boat by the old name or keep any paperwork on it that refers to it. we keep to this but more for a laugh than a genuine belief in the wrath of neptune.

if you're the sort of person to fret about this sort of thing though then don't add it to your list of worries.

good and bad things can happen to boats and their crew regardless of keeping the old name. i think it's more important to worry about your skills, upkeep and safety equipment. that's what will really keep you safe from danger.
 
thanks for the responses, when I re-read the post I realised that it could come across as unnessesarily panicy.. and was pleased that you guys took it fairly light hearted as it was intended :)

now however Iv got magpies and fridays to worry about!

an excuse to pour champaign about sounds good to me, do you think Strongbow will do?

Kim is firmly in the camp that says "why risk it" and so far there in no budging her. I asked her if changing her surname to mine would bring similarly disasterous consequences - only after previously mentioned Stongbow had been tested..
 
I just put the new letters on after changing mine, no ceremony or anything, don't believe in any of that. She was previously called "Mother's Day", then "Lubrema", now "Kumuka"...
 
IF kim is truly worried about changing the name of your vessel then the best answer I've heard is to haul the boat and do what ever else needs doing and the last thing to do before returning is to change the name.

This method supposedly will not incur the wrath of Neptune as he does not take notice of events on land but will give his care to the new vessel on his waters!

We were lucky when we purchased out boat as she had a fine name and we kept it despite having a whole list of new names we thought we might want.

Of coarse all this superstition is just dark ages mumbo jumbo so dont worry we live in an enlightened age where science has over come old wives tales and back woods foolery, so touch wood nothing bad will happen to you when you relaunch your doomed and fated jinx ship.

All the best
Mark:):):)
 
Hi - we changed our name. The previous one was after a Bahamian brothel and it really wasn't us.

We had the ceremony after a string of minor mishaps (prop wrap in the dock, entirely stupid grounding etc) and enjoyed pouring cheap fizz everywhere. There were 37 people onboard for the party. We adapted Vigor's ceremony, particularly including various Pacific oceanic deities.

Now we can only blame ourselves, but it did seem to make things a bit better.

Incidentally - we don't start voyages on Fridays after some of those mishaps ... But we're not superstitious!!
 
Bad luck...

It's amazing how many people don't care about having green things on boats, though. You see lots of green hulls, green sprayhoods and dodgers, green tenders - and yet everyone knows this is bad luck! I wouldn't have anything green on my boat - apart from vegetables that is, but it isn't their fault they're green.
 
We changed the name of our boat just because we didn't like it. No problems. No hassle. It is just an expensive lump of plastic. If you don't like the name, just change it. Simples.
 
Virgin Pee

Apparently it's alright if you get a virgin to pee in the bilges. I changed the name on my boat but I just cant find a virgin. The fact that I used to be one is always something but peeing in the bilges puts me off a tad. Good luck and enjoy.
 
I have been contemplating the same quandary myself after I spent an inheritance on a boat. The boats name is Tardis IV and the deceased relative Irene Pearl, hence I was thinking of changing the name to SV “Irene Pearl”. At the moment she is on the same lake as where the grandmother grew up after I sailed her a thousand and more miles down the coast from where I bought her.

Maybe a ceremony on the lake might be in order after I do a bit of work on her? The only other thing that gets me is that the first time I watched Dr Who was the original series on an old black and white tv at the grandparents. Both were fans of the show so I am really wondering if it might be just as good to leave the name as is? Maybe superstition is also telling me the boat bought me as much as I bought her. Like the grandparents she is a real exemplar of the old ways.

Still, while I have her on the same lake some sort of cleansing ceremony may be in order?
 
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