Naming your boat

can’t really be deliberate naming

– Last Updated: Jun-24-11 11:33 AM EST –

The names just sort of suggest themselves over time. And they tend to evolve. "Jimi" started out as "the Blue Barge" and was "that tie-dye lookin' piece of sh*t" for a while. Then a friend borrowed it to paddle wearing a hippie costume for a regatta parade (he dressed like Jimi Hendrix with a big afro wig) and the handle stuck.

I certainly know more men who name their cars (not to mention elements of their own anatomy) than I know women who do.

Mother earth
named the critters.



Men name places and animals that come when you call them. Women name babies and cats. Women name inanimate objects, men threaten them if they don’t work.

AMEN!

– Last Updated: Jun-28-11 2:22 PM EST –

do what you want.It belongs to you and only you!!!!

I named mine…
… just 'cause I built her. Anything built by me that’s going to be supporting my rear end in water that’s over my head is gonna have a name.



Otherwise, it might just get offended and dump my rear end out into the water. If’n I’m real unlucky, she’ll head to the bottom and let my butt follow.



On the other hand, be careful what you name 'em, too. I decided to appease the 1/4 Irish blood in me and picked out a Gaelic name for mine - Iníon Nollag. Means “Daughter of Noel”, roughly. Problem is, I think she inherited a bit of that Irish redhead teenage daughter’s spirit. Oh, she’ll treat me just fine in that deep water, or when I’m feeling nervous. But let me get confident, or put myself in a position where she can let my big head deflate a bit, and she’ll take advantage of it. Seems she loves to watch me fall on my butt in six inches of water as I’m getting out of her and back on land.

my name
My dad picked my name and he always used it. It was my mom who addressed us generically (“One of you kids better clean up this mess” or “You, there! Set the table/pick up the baby/take out this garbage”, etc.).

There’s the red boat
The orange boat and the other red boat. One glance and I can reliably call them by name.

Many Names
My OT Disco has many names! When in WW with it I call it every name in the book and then some. Most rapids start with me slinging the F word followed by an insult to the boat followed by praise as soon as I make it through!



In camp we refer to her as the Hogged Backed Saint. Seems to fit when you’re looking at her hull! Good ol’ boat though, seen a lot!



dougd

One boat…
I have named one boat of probably 50, or more? I’ve owned over the years.



It was a purple Mohawk Probe 12 II with purple flotation bags. I had white, vinyl lettering especially made, prominently displayed on both sides of the bow. It’s name was “Purple Haze”.



“I feel funny, but I don’t know why; scuse me while I kiss the sky”. Jimi Hendrix



BOB

Purple Haze
Only one boat has a name and it is Purple Haze. Its a 18’ Kevlar HopOnTop18 AKA Hertiage Shearwater. Purple/blue fade on top, white on bottom.



The rest of mine just go by model name, like Disco, Scrambler, or Mars.



And then there are Aaron’s boat, Kathy’s boat, Brian’s Boat, Cheri’s Boat, and Chyane’s boat.

Eyes - Turkish Nazar

– Last Updated: Jun-24-11 8:28 PM EST –

The eyes keep away evil spirit, and the effects of the evil eye. It reflects the evil away.

Every vehicle I own has a Turkish Nazar in it for protection. A bead with a eye painted on it.

And, of course, there is one over the doorway to my house.

When ever you get something new that might cause people to be jealous, you need to get a new Nazar to protect it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazar_(amulet)

.
Only a canoer would consistently feel like they were too cool for subjects on their posts.



Ryan L.

Fitzgerald
Both canoes named after the fitzgerald.not just because i like the song.

It’s an outrigger canoe tradition
When I took delivery of my Huki outrigger in Sacramento, California, Huki Jude told me it was a Pacific basin tradition to name one’s personal outrigger canoe.



Since I had had a beautiful multicolor Indonesian batik fabric inlaid under the clear gelcoat of the hull and ama, and since my first goal was to paddle Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay, I baptized my va’a “Tahoe Batiki”.



Cripes, that whole story sounds so weeny-ish. I want to quickly add that I now mainly paddle an unnamed, monochromatic slut boat that’s inlaid with icky silt and splattered bugs.


Proper boat christening
Go to Commander Bob’s website for the real boat christening ceremony that is well worth the effort and laughs. Get a bunch of friends together, have a great meal, then read through the ceremony for naming your boat and do it. Makes everything a bit more magical and funny. I was at one once where one of the participants said after the ceremony “I don’t see folks that serious at church!” It was great and that boat will always bring that paddler home safely. Cheers------------

Interesting Story . . .
When I built our Pygmy Arctic Tern 14s, we named them, for a lot of the reasons stated above. So, when I got my Wavesport Habitat, the idle thought crossed my mind to give it a name - maybe something exotic. At that moment, the name “Putanga” popped into my head. I didn’t even know if it was a word.



“Wow, where’d that thought come from,” said I, and since I was sitting at the computer, I Googled the word. To my amazement, putanga is a Polynesian term meaning, “the way through.” Other translations are gateway and passage. What a name for a whitewater boat!



Some of the vinyl letters get scraped off from time-to-time, but on a good day, when I put in, the stern of the boat has the name, Putanga, on it.



Where did the name come from, I haven’t a clue, but I’m grateful for the source that put the name in my mind.

A name NOT to use:
I believe every fifth sailboat, pontoon boat or powerboat I see is named “Dream Catcher”.



I am more inclined toward derisive names. Never forgot the name of the Land Rover in “The Gods Must Be Crazy”: The Anti-Christ.



Jim

You can’t change the boat’s name…
Once it’s on the boat. Or bad luck will occur. There is a ritual for changing a boats name and if you google it there’s a load of information on the subject.



http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm



You did not tell us what you named it. If you don’t put the name on it, the next owner does not have to worry about what they call it. This is serious stuff you’re involved with now and you can get professional help and it’s highly advised.

"Slacker V"
Seems like a great name for your fifth boat.

It depends on the circumstances…
My first kayak was a CD Slipstream. It was known as the $!!***boat most of the time.



My blue/red/white P&H Vela was called “Happy Jack”, after a song by the Who.



The pink ExplorerLV never got named beyond Pinkster; the new owner has named it, though, and what a great name she’s given it!



The RomanyLV was “BlueTooth” after the Norwegian Viking King who was called that because one of his front upper teeth was rotted and was, well, blue. It was NOT named for a technological wonder, despite my being married to an electrical engineer.



The AvocetLV is known, alternately as: “The 'keet” and “The Budgie” as the deck is sort of a parakeet blue and the seam is a sort of parakeet green.



Lastly, the Pintail is known as “Moby Grape” because the deck in purple and the hull is white.



My Mega BullittS is Orca as it’s black/red/white



The husband doesn’t name his boats, unless, with the exception of his CetusLV (black/red/white;black keel strip (which was supposed to be red))you want to call them Mango Tango 1 and 2.

The Boat’s name
This could be embarassing but I’ll cough it up.

Freyja:

The Norse goddess, who was the sister and female counterpart of Freyr and was in charge of love, fertility, battle, and death.



I look at it like this, it’s a long boat, swede form, that’s paddled, hence viking like.

The Eddyline people call the model line “Raven”.

A raven was Odin’s bird and some mythologies contend that Freyja was Odin’s bird as well.



Embarrassingly convoluted but that’s how I named it.

My tithe to the goddess of sensuality.