Some consider it unlucky, but there are ways around that, by means of a renaming ceremony. Remember the ceremony should be performed naked under a full moon by all the regular crew!!
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Remember the ceremony should be performed naked under a full moon by all the regular crew
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With full documentary evidence by way of colour photographs or video in case the insurance company, in the event of a claim, needed to be satisfied that the correct procedures had been carried out
In Ye olde Modern Tymessss-
Some say if the vessel is out of the water then Poisiden wont be offened , just be sure to make 'virgin' sacrefices or pour Rum on the water after first relaunch.
Only applicable if you belive that olde tyme stuff!?!?!?.
It dont matter about the name if the 'nut behind the wheel' dont know what their doing the boat is going to sink anyway.
Back int day, it was considered bad luck to change the name of the vessel because the name had to be carved into the main beam below decks, to help deter pirates. (it still is, on nearly every ship in the world the IMO number is carved into a beam in the engine room).
So to change the name meant chopping out this beam and replacing it, which would certainly have made it rather weak, some of these ships had incidents afterwards, and a myth grew around them.
I've always doubted the veracity of that particular version. Ship builders were used to ships being blown apart and other huge damage, and repairing them. If they couldn't replace one piece of wood, how did they repair ships that had been in battle?
Apologies to the previous owners, but there was no way I was going to be helming a boat called "Bumble" (or Iditarod, for that matter, but each to his own /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif), and the bit about the naked ceremony could be tricky to organise.
At a guess i would say it was because of where it is, ie. a main structural member. it could be a load of old tosh, but when you consider the methods they had to do it with.
its probably a superstition not worth worrying about, but it bothered me so much i was a 16 year old lad with a boat called daisy, and too scared to change it!
They often repaired huge damage at sea, or by beaching away from any port or yard (they were explorers back then, and had to be self sufficient). If they could repair huge damage away from a port, imagine what they could do in a decent port with all the skills required.
Never mind the virgins and libations to the gods- the pragmatic French rename the boat, drink the wine, sail down wind and tack back 7 times upwind to lose the bad luck.
Worked out for our old boat "Vulpes Exp." when prev. owners wanted to take the name with them.