Anyone christen their kayak?

Is there any hard and fast rules for this one? I have a name picked out for my new kayak. (no it’s not the Edmund Fitzgerald) I’m a superstitious scientist of sorts and I like the rather traditional idea of a formal boat christening ceromony. Type in Commander Bob in Google and you’ll know what I mean. Besides isn’t this a good time to celebrate or an excuse to drink anyway? Please chime in!

Christening…
Hi!



What a great idea. How will you get it into your church? Are you clergy ok with doing the ceremony?



Ok…just kidding…lol



I didn’t christen my Kayak or my canoe, But I did detail them! Makes them extra special. Plus it’s fun.



So, go on…have a christening party! :slight_smile:

Bubbly
Seems a shame to waste a bottle of Crystali or Dom P bubbly. I say drink the champagne and bust a water balloon on the hull. Save the first battle scar on the boat for a rocky beach landing…

Homebrew on the bow
Once one of my boats does something to earn her name, she gets a homebrew poured on her bow, and her name given.



My Caribou is “Lorelei”, from the German sailors myth (Their version of the Sirens). She got that after getting pitchpoled, bashed on a stone jetty, and still be able to paddle back out & land in heavy surf so I could patch the both of us up to get back to the car.



My WW boat, obviously, is “Rocky”.



My canoe is “Enterprise” (Think James T Kirk)



My Recluse hasn’t told me her name yet. Once I finish the cockpit modifications, her name will probably have something to do with rolling.



And my kayak under construction only has a design name: “Aqissiq”, which is Greenlandic for “Ptarmigan”.



Homebrew is much cheaper than bubbly, and IMO, much tastier!



Wayne

yup
i advised her it was going to be a hard but fulfulling relationship…scratched her hull with a rock, poured some good scotch on her, took a bit myself (mind you it was 8 in the morning…) and then passed the flask about to my friends.



that done, we launched betty and she and i have been happy since.

I like it!
Not only a wonderful excuse for a party, but I just got a new boat last summer and haven’t found the perfect name yet. My husband just bought 2 new boats, neither have seen water yet, but certainly a party is in order there as well! Thanks for the great idea. Hope to be paddling real soon!

Just one Christened…
Mine all have names except for the newest one.



The only one I officially christened was the first one I built. On an Island with margaritas, was fun.



One earned it’s name while still being built, PITA (pain in the a**)…

Mini-ship name and log
Why wouldn’t any good sailor with imagination have a naming for his mini-ship? The Selkie was bow splashed with a good slosh of microbrew and the captain enjoyed the rest of the bottle. I also keep a ship’s log of every trip and service or modification. Besides being interesting to review I have a source of reminders of what works well and what didn’t. I also keep a gear list in the back of the log that I review before longer outings so as not to leave behind something needed. Believe it or not, these kind of logs are actually admissable as evidence, “No, Your Honor, I was paddling at the lake that afternoon.”

Taj

Almost any contemperaneous written
record is indeed admissable! that means you have to write it at the time not later.

Keeping Water Logs…
(pardon the pun…)



Well, Tjohanss, you must a be Viking…Johansson, right? Figures there’d be detailed logs! I have a Viking uncle, sailor, and he keeps good logs, though mostly for enertaining people around a table! Hmm, perhaps this is why we get along so well…



Keeping Water Logs is a splendid idea! I do…

Just have to remember
that when you run into a log on the water, that you log it in the water-logged water log. Sometimes I forget.

Coulda woodchuck
chuck wood if he would chuck wood…lol

passages
I’m the quiet type so any christening is usually something that happens during use. Falling off the car, grinding into rocks, normal stuff that is an opportunity for celebration.

Christening a Kayak uncomfortable …
Christening a Kayak must be uncomfortable and not allow much freedom of movement. A canoe with one of those big kneeling pads would be much nicer. Hear that the Canadians do it best as they remove the center thwart first. ;^)



Happy Christening!!!



Happy Paddl’n!


:^)



Mick

Yah, sure - you betcha
Viking maybe. I wear a silver Thor’s Hammer rather than a kayak pendant. Second generation swede/american. Dad is, and his dad was, deliberate and detailed in their work. I read a book once about the cultural side of why Swedes act the way they do and saw many things I never realized I assimilated growing up. Also, Uncle Sam (N.ever A.gain V.olunteer Y.ourself) drove logs into my brain. I look real funny with all of that timber sticking out my ears.



Taj – Water isn’t a way of life, water is life.

i’m jewish
so, i just just cut off a small piece of gelcoat near the stern…



af

ROFLMAO
I have too many Jewish friends to have missed that one!

Not a kayak
But I christened a jon boat. A buddy of mine were both real tight financially and wanted a jon boat for fishing small lakes. He and I saved pocket change for several years to buy a used jon boat.



Her name? “Spare Change.” A little champagne was spilled on her, but we didn’t break the bottle. The bottle was mostly spilled down our throats.



I have named one of my kayaks the White Whale, but have not had a christening ceremony. Perhaps when I launch the Ultimate Fishing Lounge, which is a kayak that will have oars, bench seats (with backs and cushions), possibly a trolling motor, a cooler, GPS, bottom finder, rod racks, and many other things of comfort. It will be a kayak by manufacturer registration only.


  • Big D

Thanks so much!
I really enjoyed reading all the responses! Safe paddling everyone. We’re waiting for the water to warm up in the Midwest-predicting more snow tonight!

Napolean Brandy
was poured on a cedar strip canoe I had labored on for the previous year. Within 10 minutes of the seats being bolted in, talk of a christening began. It was a hot 3:00 am in July, within eyeshot of the north entry into Quetico Provincial Park. In the group were 3 others, all direct descendents of Voyageurs, who by this time had finished off another bottle and were randomly speaking french and english. A prayer was said, one good pour was released onto her hull, and the rest is history…or soon to be.