I wasn't superstitious until...
I never considered myself to be the superstitious sort, so I didn't see the need to put a rush on the re-naming ceremony. After all, I renamed my last boat and performed the ceremony months later and there was never a hint of bad luck. Unless you count the time we almost sank because of a rusted-through exhaust elbow on my engine. Anyway, we decided to hold a re-naming ceremony toward the end of the season because that's when we could call it a party and have some fun with our friends in the marina. Most of the "bad" luck we had that first season in our C34 MarkII was so minimal in nature that we didn't even think about it. Until we anchored in one of our favorite little spots - Tices Shoal on Barnegat Bay. After setting the anchor we were greeted by a squall that, we were later told, had winds of 60-65 knots. Several other boats were washed ashore in this one according to Tow Boat US. Our boat handled it really well - maybe that was really good luck? To make a long story shorter, weather that year wasn't kind to us. We planned a trip to Cape May and were beat up with 30+ knot winds, 10 ft. seas and small craft warnings. On another trip, we fouled the painter of our dinghy around the prop shaft. Then the deciding factor - we planned a trip to an anchorage for an afternoon of eating and swimming and just having some fun on the water. Three miles from the marina I noticed that my dinghy was still tied close to the transom and I needed to release the line a bit to better tow it. Instead of asking someone to take the wheel, I reached behind me to loosen the line (I know...stupid) and felt a snap. The good news is that I still have the finger. That was the only time I ever wished my boat had the speed of a "stinkpot". Be it bad luck or stupidity, we arranged our re-naming ceremony the following week and were joined (in the rain) by almost the entire marina. And the four pins sticking out of my finger were quite a conversation item. After lots and lots of champagne, as required in such a ceremony, the pain didn't even matter - much. All in all I'm still not superstitious but if I re-name another boat you know I'll be holding the ceremony ASAP. That was two years ago and the sailin's been great ever since!
