How did you name your boat?

[Andrea]

How did you name your boat? I am always curious about how people name their boat and if there is a story behind it. After seeing all of the names on this site, I am looking forward to hearing the stories...So, If you have a boat how did you come up with the name?

[Andrea]

I love mixing music and sailing! What a perfect name for you guys!

[Dean & Katie Calkins]

Altho we are boatless @ this time..our previous name was chosen by my husband! "Third Time's A Charm". Our story..met on Feb 22, engaged on Mar 20 and married on Apr 14 all of 2001!! Less than 2 months courtship. This is the "Third" marriage for both of us...and we haven't had an argument yet...9th anniversary coming up soon!! We realize it's a long name but we are just gonna have to have a bigger boat to fit the name cuz it means so much to us! Our plan for a 41 foot should be able to fit "Third Time's Still A Charm"... what do you think?!! :)

[Andrea]

Love it!

[Terri]

Naming a Boat the Cockney Way
How does a rowing boat get a name like "Pony off a Lemon"?

First let me digress. One of my favorite blogs is Cap'n JP. I love his accounts of life on the Thames as they make me nostalgic for London and my rowing days. I grew up close to the Thames and got into rowing as a teenager. I have always loved being on the water and had no access to sailing so rowing was a substitute.

A lot of people think that rowing, like sailing, is for posh people. Like sailing this is a misperception. It's actually very down-to-earth. One of the clubs I rowed for, Furnivall Sculling Club epitomized this. The club was started in the late 1890s by Dr James Furnivall, (pictured on the left) one of the co-creators of the Oxford English Dictionary. Furnivall was an enthusiastic waterman. Here is what Wikepedia has to say about that:

Furnivall was always an enthusiastic oarsman, and till the end kept up his interest in rowing; with John Beesley in 1845 he introduced the new type of narrow sculling boat, and in 1886 started races on the Thames for sculling fours and sculling eights. In 1896 Furnivall founded the Hammersmith Sculling Club (now called Furnivall Sculling Club), initially for working-class girls, and he "entered into its activities with his usual boyish enthusiasm, for it brought together two of his favourite activities: vigorous outdoor exercise and enjoyment of the company of young women"

The last point was in keeping with his love life, which accounted for the twinkle in his eye, but I digress too far.

The club's membership was anything but posh. The atmosphere at the club was not like the "stick-you-arse" clubs further down river that will remain nameless. It was a lot of fun.


Every year, the club would buy a couple of new boats. Traditionally, new boats were named after past members. They had respectful but dull names like "Arthur Jones", "Geoffrey Swallows" or occasionally something a bit more rousing like "Triumph".

One year, the club bought a sleek new quad scull. This was a fast boat and would be crewed by four of the club's best rowers.

Naming the boat fell to the crew and a couple of committee members. The traditional naming convention they got together in the pub to ..er brainstorm.

After a few pints of Fullers ESB, the whole notion of giving the boat some boring name after a past member went by the board. They started talking about the more inspirational things a cox would use to encourage the crew. One of them had heard a cox recently shout at the crew:

"I want to you to make this boat move like sh*t off a shovel!"

The image was inspiring but even after a few beers, they agreed that "Sh*t off a Shovel" was probably not the best thing to paint on a boat's bow.

"How about using cockney rhyming slang?" suggested one of the party. (For those of you who don't know, Cockney Rhyming Slang is a London slang where you rhyme a word with two words and then shorten it. For example, stairs are apples and pears but abbreviated to apples. So you in London you go up the apples.)

They couldn't remember the rhymes for the words in "sh*t off a shovel" so they explored around it. They came up with using Cr*p off a Spade? The cockney rhyming slang for Cr*p is Pony and Trap which abbreviates to Pony. The rhyming slang for Spade is Lemonade which shortens to Lemon.

So they decided to call the boat "Pony Off A Lemon" as in that boat moves so fast it goes like "a Pony (and Trap) Off a Lemon(ade)."

They kept the name a secret till its public unveiling on the following Sunday morning. Most of the club turned out. All were expecting a traditional name. I wasn't there but I wish I had seen the look on the faces of the spectators when they took the covers off.

Lovely!

[Andrea]

Great story - thanks for sharing Terri!

[Capt. John]

We just renamed our sailboat "Neptunes Toy". I did this in respect for King Neptune ...... I feel like I'm in a toy when we are out in the deep blue ......... I also feel as though King Neptune is toying with me in general. Here are the rules we followed when we renamed our sailboat:

Boat Name Changing Rules
By Michael Duty, eHow Contributor .updated: September 24, 2009

I want to do this! What's This? ..
So, you just bought a new boat and the name doesn't suit you. There is a specific set of guidelines for changing a boat's name, but these simply uphold thousands of years of sailing tradition and superstition. You don't need to fill out any forms with the DMV or any other entity because because your boat's official identification is its state-assigned registration number. And that doesn't change.
.Appeasing the Gods
The guidelines date to the ancient Greeks and Romans. According to mythology, various gods of the air and sea kept log books with names of each vessel and their deeds on the high seas. So, whenever a new ship was built and commissioned, she would be presented to the gods for entry into their logs. It would not be good for the sailors on board if Poseidon looked up one day and found a ship sailing in his domain that was not logged into his books.
Scratching Out the Old Name
Since Poseidon (Greek) or Neptune (Roman) would have the ship's name in his log, sailors wishing to change a vessel's name should petition the god(s) to strike the old name from the roster and add the new name.

First, remove anything and everything labeled with the vessel's old name. According to tradition, even something as simple as a key chain with the old name should not be left on the boat. Replace any life preservers or anything else that has the old name on the boat. Be sure not to bring anything with the new name on it until everything with the old name has been removed.

Once everything with the old name has been removed, you can paint the new name and bring on board any cushions, key chains, signs or other trinkets or gadgets with the new name.
The New Name
Once the changeover is complete, you must petition the deities to accept your boat's new name.

Dan Meadows of Nor'easter Magazine suggests you buy a bottle of champagne and stand on the bow. Open the champagne and pour a little into the water. Say something like "Poseidon/Neptune Great Ruler of the Sea, I ask you to strike the (old name) from your rosters.
Pour a little more champagne into the water and say: Great Neptune/Poseidon, Lord of the Oceans Ruler of the High Seas, I ask you to add (new name) to your rosters and keep her in your favor.
Then pour a little more champagne into the water. Finally, for an extra measure of luck, Meadows recommends offering champagne to each of the four winds. So walk around your deck, pouring a little champagne into the water on the north, south, east and west sides.
After doing everything to appease the deities, you may enjoy the remaining champagne yourself.
Tidbits
What you actually say and whether you address Neptune or Poseidon does not matter. But Meadows says that flattery never hurts when trying to appeal to deities.
Boat name changing ceremonies are meant to be a celebration; so have friends on hand to help drink the champagne.
Conclusion
So, you can change your boat's name without incurring the wrath of the gods. Just be sure to eliminate all traces of your boat's previous moniker before putting on the new one. Then be sure to invite some friends over to help you appease the deity of your choice and have good time.
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Read more: Boat Name Changing Rules | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5452251_boat-name-changing-rules.html#ixz...

[John]

When we were looking for a boat we thought we wanted a boat in the 27' or 28' foot class.  I'm somewhat conservative (frugal, cheap, etc.) and it sometimes takes proding from my first mate to break me out of that mold.  After looking at a lot of 27 and 28 foot boats, we happen upon a guy who was selling his old 30' Catalina.  One step into the salon of that boat changed everything...she loved the spaciousness of the 30.  So the infamous quote from that experience was...."oh John..just Live Big and buy a 30, you 're going to eventually want one anyway."  Thus the name of our boat is "Live Big."

[Kurt]

Great Question, when we were looking for our new boat, my wife said that she wanted a "Captain Ron" type of boat. The closest design that fit the bill was a Vavabond-47, because of draft constraints, we wanted to keep the draft 6' or less. Now for the name; I was trying to come up with something "soft" that also reflected the classic lines of the boat, and sounded like it was the name of a old skipjack or wood lapstrake fishing boat. Well it came to me, we had the perfect name already in the family. My daughter's name is "Anna Lynn", and what a fit it was..and since my daughter is the youngest of three children (two older brothers), I guess maybe I named the boat just to stir up the boys.....LOL and it sure has created some really funny discussions at Holliday times when we all get together. And I guess the best part is I just love the name, at the same time it really adds "character" to the boat.  

[Jim Ashworth]

We named our boat Lil Provo.  We have traveled the Caribbean for years trying to find that perfect little island.  Our favorite place is Grace Bay on Providenciales.  On the island they refer to it as Provo.  Providenciales is called Provo, thus our escape in New Jersey is to sail Lil Provo.