Nicest / most endearing / best boat names

[Robin]

Must have been an exciting ride. But you had the right boat for it.

A rather different memory of the Theodora/Kindly Light stands out for me.Do you remember her heavy, gimballed aloon table? Now, of course, gimballed tables can be disorientating because your brain "corrects" what you see according to expectations and it appears that they, and not the cabin around them, are tilting.

We were sailing in Southampton Water with a party of dignitaries on board. I think the OYC was trying to extract money from their wallets. Flat water, but a fair bit of wind and we were heeling significantly. Lunch was prepared - salads, cold meats, cheese, pickles and chutneys, bread, butter, plates, cutlery - all laid out ready on the saloon table. A veritable groaning board.

Then someone came below and, instinctively, without thinking, stretched out a hand and put the table straight......

You should have seen the mess! (No, it wasn't me wot dunnit )

The table is still remembered well. It would stay level as the boat heeled, but it had limit stops. When it reached the stop and the boat heeled more, the bit that your eyes told you was the highest side was in fact the lowest side, so if you put a cigarette or something else round on it then it would roll 'uphill'. We used to do that to one crew member that suffered from sea sickness, worked every time.

I also remember standing in bilge water legs astride the propshaft to wind the clutch in/out, and taking plugs out of the running engine to clean them. The engine was a four cylinder with 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 firing together, with decompression valves on each, so you shorted out a plug, decompressed the cylinder, removed the spark plug, cleaned it and replaced it (fun getting the threads to engage with the piston pumping up) and hopefully it now firing again. The cleaning needed because the engine was running on paraffin, having first been started on petrol. Then there were the kapok ex MOD lifejackets that sank when we dropped them in the water and the DIY harnesses we made by putting a bowline in the end of a bit of rope. Elf and Safety would have loved it!

 

[Litotes]

the DIY harnesses we made by putting a bowline in the end of a bit of rope. Elf and Safety would have loved it!

Don't go knocking those bowlines - one of those saved my life!

Long story, but essentially I was 18 years old and helping a friend of my father's to move a Folkboat from the Solent to somewhere on the east coast. Turned out he knew almost nothing about boats and certainly not enough for that trip.

Very bad weather brewing, but he insisted on starting. Worse and worse - night coming on. He decided to anchor in the lee of Dungeness as we could make no headway against wind and tide. He proposed to spend the night in open water, anchored in 40 feet with about 60 feet of chain. Probably a CQR to boot

I protested but there was not a lot I could do. As we were trying to anchor at dusk a big motor yacht came by and asked if we were OK? Would we like a tow? "Skipper" was a lawyer and, I suspect, thinking of salvage etc. So he said no. Whereupon I said yes - I'm going even if you aren't.

So they got the towline on board and we towed astern in the darkness and into a rising sea until they deposited us in the outer harbour at Dover.

During the tow, he was overcome with seasickness and retired to his bunk. I tried to keep steering and was aware of the chafe on the towline - so I went forward regularly with bits and pieces to try to minimise it. Anyone who knows Folkboats knows their low freeboard and this one was really digging her nose in as we towed above hull speed into the seas. At one point I was washed over the side. But I was very, very lucky. I had a bowline around my waist so I didn't part company with the boat and, by some miracle, I was almost immediately washed back on board again.

A letter from the owner of the motor yacht later confirmed that the towline was, indeed, severely chafed. Great bloke to whom I am eternally grateful.

No lifejacket, no light, a dark night, a rising sea, just the motor yacht's stern light ahead and a "skipper" prostrate in his bunk. If I hadn't known how to tie a bowline I probably wouldn't be here now.

Sorry for the thread drift.

 

[Blueboatman]

Working boats seem to have good names. The Good Intent, Provident, Bonne Ami etc

Had one called Marieta which was quite tomboyish and suited the boats temperament quite well so I transferred it ( and ahem some of the named equipment) to the next boat.

Current one I quite like, the French can pronounce it, it sort of means Silver Mine in Cornish which is a good omen right ? And as Part One reg'd it will have to do!

 

[[32511]]

My pal Sandy has just sold his small (18 ft?) yacht, "Fidget"
Apparantly she is a bit twitchy in the handling department.

 

[chinita]

There used to be a boat in our yard called The Office.
Handy when someone calls and you can honestly say "I'm in The Office"

Now in Brightlingsea Waterside Marina.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Now in Brightlingsea Waterside Marina.

A waterside marina - that must be handy!