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Writer's pictureTaryn Pickard

How NOT to Rename a Sailboat

The process of renaming a boat seems like it should be an easy one.  You decide you don’t like the current name, you pick a new one, you put it on the boat, right?

 

But, as we have found out over the past three years, nothing on a boat, especially when you’re rebuilding it, is as easy as it seems…

 

When we bought this beautiful boat of ours, we knew we didn’t love the name (Papa Rumba). That, however, was pretty much the only thing we didn’t love about her, so we decided we would make due. But  when our beautiful boat turned into a full on restoration project, we decided it would be the perfect time to change her name. Afterall, a good chunk of the boat was going to be new. She deserved a new name to go along with her new look, right?


Sailboat in Todd Inlet
before the rebuild

Now there is the whole issue of the belief that renaming a boat is bad luck, but this boat had already been renamed once, so we didn’t really think that doing so again would something negative, as long as we did things properly…

 

Your boat is your lifeline, your caregiver, a part of your family that feels like it has a soul.  Choosing a name for something that is such an integral part of your journey is significant.  This is also the name that you will call over the radio if you’re in distress and it’s the name that other boaters will remember you by, probably before your own name.  So choosing the right name felt important to us. 

 

But it turns out that actually choosing a name for a boat isn’t quite as simple as we had hoped. 

 

Firstly, we wanted a name that we actually liked. But there are quite a few restrictions on what names a boat can have.

 

Each boat name needs to be unique from any other registered boat, the name can’t be copywritten, sound like any distress signal, or be a Canadian city or town or a famous Canadian person, among other restrictions. And we wanted it to be easy to call over the radio with the nato- phonetic alphabet.

 

All these things quickly cut down our list of options and we had a very hard time picking a name. At one point we even reached out to you, our community and ran a contest to help us pick a name.  You had some amazing suggestions, but in the end we settled on a name that we somehow pulled out of thin air at the last moment. 

 

So now that we had a name, it was time to physically rename her.  Not only did we need to put the new decals with the new name on the boat, but being the semi- superstitious people that we are, we also wanted to make sure we did a proper renaming ceremony. 

 

Of course, none of that went to plan…

 

We really didn’t want to re- launch the boat without a name on her. This wasn't only because of superstitious reasons, but also because it wasn’t really legal to have a boat in the water without a name on it. Still, we ran out of time in the boat yard and ended up putting her in the water without a name. 

 

I was sure that putting her back in the water without a name was going to bring upon us some curse from Poseidon, but things seemed to go ok, and after sitting in the water for a few days we finally had a chance to put the name on the boat. However, that initial install also didn’t go as planned…

 

sailboats on moorings with full moon
Mark Bay, Nanaimo on the full moon

 

When we began the day was overcast but it wasn’t yet raining, although it was threatening to.

 

There are three positions where we decided to apply the name- two on the bow and one on the stern.  The stern was covered by solar panels, so we started there in case the rain came while we were apply decals.  And of course, it did. This meant that we were able to get our decals on the aft end, but the bow was still without a name. 


One of the most important parts of this entire renaming process for us was the renaming ceremony, which is supposed to be done before our maiden voyage. We weren’t going to be able to do our final renaming ceremony until all the decals were on, and this worried me.  We were running out of time before we left on our first adventure, and I didn’t want to test our luck. But, again, it turned out that I didn’t get to have control. We ran out of time before the weather was going to turn on us and had to leave before the decals went on the boat.   

 


sailing in the Salish sea
sailing across the Salish Sea

As we headed out on our maiden voyage without the full name on the boat, the weather began to build.  Soon we were in waves larger than either of us were comfortable with accompanied by big winds that just kept getting bigger.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't sure at this point that this weather had something to do with Poseidon punishing us for not putting the name on the boat the way he demanded.  But that afternoon we safely made it to our anchorage, and my fear of the wrath of the ocean gods subsided a bit...

 

We didn’t get a chance to put the final bow decals on until we reached Cortes Island about a week later.  But with all the decals on the boat, we were finally ready for the final naming ceremony, except for one thing- we were short on friends to witness.

 


The Gorge, Cortes Island
The Gorge, Cortes Island

We knew we were heading to an anchorage to meet up with more friends in a few days, so we decided to test our luck a little bit more and wait until we reached them to have the final renaming ceremony. 

 

In order to prep for the renaming ceremony, we scrubbed the old name from all documents and items on our boat, prepared a coin to be donated to the ocean with the old name on it, and got some booze ready as offerings to the gods. Once those things were done, and we had a script of what to say, it was time to gather our friends around us and officially rename the boat!  

 



 

I found a script online here

 

With Logan, myself and Max on the bow, and our friends in dinghies around us in the water, we started the official ceremony. 

 

toasting to the sea gods for boat renaming ceremony
Photo by Mae Ying

When the script called for it we poured champagne or rum into the water, shared with friends, and said the fancy words we were called to say. 

 

Within 20 minutes the entire thing was over, the boat had a new name, our debt had been paid to Poseidon and we were ready to sail again!


Steel sailboat
Photo by Mae Ying

So there you have it.  Our beautiful Sea Lily.  Just like her rebuild, the journey to this point was far from a straight line.  But finishing the renaming ceremony felt like we were finally able to close one chapter in our sailing journey and begin another.  We can't wait to see what the future will bring!


Helpful Government of Canada links:

 

 

 



So if things had gone to plan, these are the steps we would have taken:


1) Choose a new name, based on the criteria listed above. Legally register the new name.

2) Remove the old name from the boat

3) Put new name decals on the boat

4) Scrub the old name from all documents and items on the boat and replace with new name

5) Hold renaming ceremony as outlined here (or similar)

6) Congrats! Your boat has a new name!


Thanks so much for reading! Have you renamed a boat? Did you do things differently? Please let us know in the comments below!



sailboat in the bc wilderness

 

 

 

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