This is a repost of my description of the renaming ceremony I used to rename Dragonfly from Tempest. -
It is true that it is generally bad luck to change the name of a boat. However, there are appropriate ways of doing so. This link (Ceremony for Renaming Your Boat | Boat Safe | Water Sports, Product Reviews, and Nautical News) describes the traditional way of doing so. Iti
involves the onerous task of erasing all references to the vessel's old name and convincing Posidon to forget the boat's old name and remove it from his ledger, replacing it with the new name. I, on the other hand, am renaming my new boat by a slightly different method. In the end, they are essentially the same but, my method, deeply founded on the ancient and accepted tradition of symbolism, as is that describe by the link above, takes advantage of a more natural route.
As the death card in Taro symbolizes change rather than a literal translation of death, I symbolically scuttled my newly purchased mariner named 'Tempest'. This is done to allow the old boat the dignity of having lived out its natural life. Thus, there is no spiritual conflict with the new identity.
The way you symbolically scuttle the old boat is to cover her in water. This is most easily done by simply washing her with a hose completely. Make sure she is entirely covered and wet above the waterline. Soap is optional but it does help to identify the areas that need more water before other areas dry completely. Remember to hold in your mind the idea your new boat is sinking and will be lost forever while you do this. Also, it helps to start out with help but, as you proceed, yell, "we're sinking! We're sinking! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Mayday! Mayday! ABANDON SHIP!" or something to that affect. Words are not, strictly speaking, necessary, remember, this is symbolic. Have your help leave the vessel but, you, as the captain, must go down with your ship so you have to stay aboard and soak yourself down. This is something that I happen to find completely natural and often unavoidable whenever I wash my boat anyhow. It is also a good idea to soak you crew down as they "abandon ship" since they are "symbolically jumping into the water to escape (high pressure nozzle works best).
When done washing your boat, take this time to remove your captain's hat and hold it to your heart while bowing your head in respect during a last moment of silence for the sad passing of such beauty as your old boat surely was. That is, if you still have your hat after going down with the ship.
Next, it is appropriate to scrub the old name from your vessel. As the young initiates were traditionally washed before meditation on their journey of rebirth as a full member into the ranks of the wise, so you must wash the old name from your vessel. In ancient Greece, an inductee to the hermetic societies were prepared for this process by cleansing then a period of "incubation" in a cave to symbolize descent into Tartarus. Upon crawling back out to the surface, they were thus "risen from the dead" as a new man.
I find the period of time it takes to paint a new name on the stern is nearly enough incubation time. Remember, while preparing your brand new vessel for her new life under her new name, you want to be holding in your mind, images of her new life under your caring, attentive and wise ownership.
You are nearly done at this point in the renaming process. Symbolically, there isn't any real need to do more but, I feel it should be important to take some significant characteristic of the old boat and change it. Something like her color, change out her old mainsail for a new one. Get her a new auxiliary motor or, in my case for Dragonfly, make new hatch boards for her with a cool little design that is unique to the new identity. Do magazines (and forums) focus too much on larger boats...
Now, you have symbolically ended the life of the old vessel and launched a completely new boat that will carry her new name as though it was hers from the day she was launched at the original boatyard where she was built.
By the way, I definitely recommend a liberal use of either champagne or beer throughout this long and involved ceremony. My particular method is to act more directly as a vessel of Poseidon's presence than is recommended in the ceremony described by boatsafe.com at the earlier link. After all, one can never be certain that Poseidon gets his fair share of you just willy-nilly dump copious amounts of expensive beverage into the sea. Of course, only you can judge what kind of libations Poseidon will be in the mood for while your own ceremony is being conducted. I think it is important here that one goes with one's gut on this point.
I hope this clarifies and helps you figure out how to correctly change the name on your new mistress, ahem! boat.
- Will (Dragonfly, not related to Tempest)
It is true that it is generally bad luck to change the name of a boat. However, there are appropriate ways of doing so. This link (Ceremony for Renaming Your Boat | Boat Safe | Water Sports, Product Reviews, and Nautical News) describes the traditional way of doing so. Iti
involves the onerous task of erasing all references to the vessel's old name and convincing Posidon to forget the boat's old name and remove it from his ledger, replacing it with the new name. I, on the other hand, am renaming my new boat by a slightly different method. In the end, they are essentially the same but, my method, deeply founded on the ancient and accepted tradition of symbolism, as is that describe by the link above, takes advantage of a more natural route.
As the death card in Taro symbolizes change rather than a literal translation of death, I symbolically scuttled my newly purchased mariner named 'Tempest'. This is done to allow the old boat the dignity of having lived out its natural life. Thus, there is no spiritual conflict with the new identity.
The way you symbolically scuttle the old boat is to cover her in water. This is most easily done by simply washing her with a hose completely. Make sure she is entirely covered and wet above the waterline. Soap is optional but it does help to identify the areas that need more water before other areas dry completely. Remember to hold in your mind the idea your new boat is sinking and will be lost forever while you do this. Also, it helps to start out with help but, as you proceed, yell, "we're sinking! We're sinking! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Mayday! Mayday! ABANDON SHIP!" or something to that affect. Words are not, strictly speaking, necessary, remember, this is symbolic. Have your help leave the vessel but, you, as the captain, must go down with your ship so you have to stay aboard and soak yourself down. This is something that I happen to find completely natural and often unavoidable whenever I wash my boat anyhow. It is also a good idea to soak you crew down as they "abandon ship" since they are "symbolically jumping into the water to escape (high pressure nozzle works best).
When done washing your boat, take this time to remove your captain's hat and hold it to your heart while bowing your head in respect during a last moment of silence for the sad passing of such beauty as your old boat surely was. That is, if you still have your hat after going down with the ship.
Next, it is appropriate to scrub the old name from your vessel. As the young initiates were traditionally washed before meditation on their journey of rebirth as a full member into the ranks of the wise, so you must wash the old name from your vessel. In ancient Greece, an inductee to the hermetic societies were prepared for this process by cleansing then a period of "incubation" in a cave to symbolize descent into Tartarus. Upon crawling back out to the surface, they were thus "risen from the dead" as a new man.
I find the period of time it takes to paint a new name on the stern is nearly enough incubation time. Remember, while preparing your brand new vessel for her new life under her new name, you want to be holding in your mind, images of her new life under your caring, attentive and wise ownership.
You are nearly done at this point in the renaming process. Symbolically, there isn't any real need to do more but, I feel it should be important to take some significant characteristic of the old boat and change it. Something like her color, change out her old mainsail for a new one. Get her a new auxiliary motor or, in my case for Dragonfly, make new hatch boards for her with a cool little design that is unique to the new identity. Do magazines (and forums) focus too much on larger boats...
Now, you have symbolically ended the life of the old vessel and launched a completely new boat that will carry her new name as though it was hers from the day she was launched at the original boatyard where she was built.
By the way, I definitely recommend a liberal use of either champagne or beer throughout this long and involved ceremony. My particular method is to act more directly as a vessel of Poseidon's presence than is recommended in the ceremony described by boatsafe.com at the earlier link. After all, one can never be certain that Poseidon gets his fair share of you just willy-nilly dump copious amounts of expensive beverage into the sea. Of course, only you can judge what kind of libations Poseidon will be in the mood for while your own ceremony is being conducted. I think it is important here that one goes with one's gut on this point.
I hope this clarifies and helps you figure out how to correctly change the name on your new mistress, ahem! boat.
- Will (Dragonfly, not related to Tempest)
