Name changing ceremony

[rhythmsurfer]

So the time has come after nearly 4 mos on the hill to "rename" our Hunter 36 from Senior Time to Irish Blessing. I have read most of the traditional stuff to do like: silver dollar under the mast, cover over the name until end of ceremony, and kind words to the gods of wind and sea. When I go to do something I do it with pizazz. I am open to any suggestions that any of you sailors suggest. I am thinking champagne to appease the gods and boat herself, and beer from the local brewery across the street for our friends and family. What do you think????

 

[Rich Stidger]

Most re-naming ceremonies I've heard of involve a proclamation, consumption of vast quanties of alcohol, and possibly a sacrifice of a virgin.

Due to a shortage of virgins, John Vigor's procedure is often followed-

http://www.48north.com/mr_offline/denaming.htm

 

[Ross]

You could use a Druid theme this close to the solsitice. Just a week away and full moon Wednesday.

 

[KMm]

Here is the rename ritual in great detail. I don't know who the cheapie was that came up with a silver coin under the mast when you reset it was but in the golden era of sailing matey, it was a gold coin under the mast face up. All 12 of the boats I have had, got it, if I dropped the mast. The Gods are real specific about their due. Fair winds and keep to the code.




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

 

[Roger Long]

Due to the excellent luck I've had with Strider (ex. Research) I think the following ritual is highly effective if carefully followed:

1) Place ladder against transom.
2) Plug in heat gun.
3) Gently warm old letters or decal and scrape off with plastic scraper.
4) Clean surface.
5) Apply new name.
6) Remove ladder and unplug heat gun.

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

We bought a new boat, formally named "Norm's Place" and that name had to go. We renamed her "Smitty" after my grandmother (her last name was Smith and her nickname was Smitty since elementary school).

From our experience, you don't have enough booze listed. We went through 3 bottles of champagne, four bottles of red wine and 2 cases of beer. We had about 12 friends and family and then people from the dock started to join in.

Here are the two best ones we found: the Frugal Mariner and Bluewater Sailing

We went with bluewater. Here are some of the things we learned and had fun with:

1. The ship's bell is key. Get someone who likes to drink and have fun to be the "bell bitch" as we called him.
2. Every time the bell rings, that is time for a toast. This is probably why we went through so many bottles.
3. Get a cool, old silver dollar. Ours was from 1831 and from my wife's coin collection she had from when she was a kid. Right now, ours is in the bilge under the mast. We plan to mount in on the salon ceiling, under the mast (the compression post is usually smaller then the mast so there is are below the mast to mount it).
4. Get someone associated with the new name there to give a toast. For us my grandmother has passed but my grandfather was still with us. With your new name, get the oldest Irish person you know or something or an Irish relative. To me it would be cool if they had a thick accent.
5. If you get the champagne bottle from west marine that breaks easy, be careful. It really does break easy. My bride slammed it against the anchor and she hit it so had that it ripped through the net that was supposed to hold all the glass after. I had to fish glass out of the anchor locker.
6. Designate a camera man, we have some great photos from the night. Here are a couple of my 86 year old grandfather in the stern rail seats and of part of the ceremony.
7. We had two, nice crystal champagne glasses. One for Neptune and one for the Gods of the Wind. Highly recommend, you don't want to offend the Gods.

Most of all, have fun. It was a blast and we will remember it for a long time. It is a great excuse to have some good friends to the boat with some expensive booze.

Oh, one last thing. Have a bucket of water and some magic erasers handy for right after to cleanup the spilled red wine. The rest can wait for a good washing after everyone leaves but you want to get the red wine up quickly. It can stain.

 

[Tim R.]

Due to the excellent luck I've had with Strider (ex. Research) I think the following ritual is highly effective if carefully followed:

1) Place ladder against transom.
2) Plug in head gun.
3) Gently warm old letters or decal and scrape off with plastic scraper.
4) Clean surface.
5) Apply new name.
6) Remove ladder and unplug heat gun.

I also use the "Roger Long Renaming Ceremony". Works every time!

Although, now that I think about it, I removed the name while in the dink rather than on a ladder. Roger, will this minor variation from your strict ceremony cause me problems with Neptune?

 

[Roger Long]

will this minor variation from your strict ceremony cause me problems with Neptune?

Only if you fall in the water while holding the heat gun

 

[Joe]

Hmmm...... I thought you had to get a lawyer to change the name. A much preferable sacrifice... also much easier to procure than a virgin... you'll find many feeding at the bottom of the bay.... wave a dollar bill and they'll jump right in the boat, just like asian carp.

 

[Deadhead]

Renaming - En Masse

There was a mass boat renaming ceremony on our dock on the morning of Memorial Day Sunday. 5 boats, 8 bottles of champagne and an aging hippie chick in a wrap around skirt who recited some mumbo jumbo about Neptune, Poseidon, and lost virginity.

Luckily, the first mate and I had spent the weekend at anchor and missed the whole shebang. We got back around 4:00 that afternoon - everybody was waking up from their naps and about sober enough to go for a late afternoon sail on their newly christened boats.

FWIW - I used the Roger Long Renaming Ceremony myself. I found it to be more than adequate, although I did throw in a Hail Mary when I was extending to the absolute stability limit of the ladder and the extension cord was stretched to the max. Luckily there is no alcohol involved in the ceremony and my righting moment was enough to overcome the tipping moment.

 

[MGoBoat]

As I am new here forgive me if this seems to be another topic.

We bought a 24 year old boat without a name. The family we got it from never gave her a name. As she has been sailed, does she need to be renamed or just Christened appropriately?

My father was a plank holder on a Navy ship, I was thinking of linking her name to that boat. His ship was the CG-10, the USS Chicago, a guided missile cruiser, nicknamed Big Windy (city). I was thinking 'Lil' Windy' might work for our small sailboat.

 

[Stu Jackson]

You could do simply one "naming" ceremony, but why not have an excuse to have two ceremonies by "pretending" that the boat already has a name: "nothing."

Nice boat name.

 

[mcrow33]

I'm now in the middle of my renaming ceremony. I'm using the Roger method. Man, I don't know what they used to glue the old name on, but what a job getting it off. I spent over an hour with a heat gun and scraper. There was no gentle heating either. Now I need to clean up all the old glue before applying the new name.