Is it Bad Luck to Change Names of Used Boats?

[sbenest]

True, but the REALLY fat ones are too slow!!

[TrevC]

It's best to just rig up a (large) old traveler with a tray of big macs on it. You can run the lines back to the cockpit.

[Trebek1]

It's best to just rig up a (large) old traveler with a tray of big macs on it. You can run the lines back to the cockpit.

ROFLMAO!

[oldsalt_1942]

When I bought my Kaiser 26 it was named "Little Dipper." Not a bad name, but not what I wanted, either. When I hauled out to do the bottom prior to taking a 9-month sojourn to Mexico, Belize and the Rio Dulce from Fort Lauderdale, I just put the new name, "Nancy Dawson" on the transom. No formalities. No ceremonies. No BS. I had a wonderful time, no bad luck and lived on the boat for the next five years.

As the saying goes...JUST DO IT! If you want to have the fun with the ceremony and hoopla go ahead. My only caveat would be don't give the boat a name it would be embarrassed to wear like "Bull Ship" or "Wet Dream."

[Sailndive345]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Hahahaa..... Well I changed from Panasea to Moondance with my Hunter37.... 1st Departure NC.. had engine failure due to dirty Beaufort fuel clogging filters every 5 mins 3 miles off Lookout Point...
2nd Departure... picked up sunken mooring in Tayors Creek when leaving anchorage... bent prop shaft and had to sail back up the ICW to Oriental for haulout and new shaft..
3rd Departure.. got hit by 3 gales in 3 days, the final one throwing up seas that punched out Fwd bulkhead and broke new autohelm..
4th Departure... repaired autohelm failed again so had to solo wheel steer the remaining 1000 miles to Azores... Beaufort fuel clogged filters again.
I refuse to believe it was down to a name change... as 5 previous name changes were totally uneventful... In fact all were great sailboats...
Total boats owned to date 14...

It would be interesting to test this centuries long superstitution about the bad luck you get when -improperly- changing a boats name... If you were to change the name back to the original, I wonder if she would have smooth sailing ever after - or, would it cause double the amount of bad luck?.....

Sailndive

[Canibul]

I figure any boat I own, as a US Citizen living in the TCI, would have dual citizenship. Should be okay with two names...


one bit of advice here, though. When coming up with your new, cool, phonetically clever boat name....mentally imagine yourself in a panic, needing help desperately, and talking to a non-native English speaker on the radio. Not the time to have to be explaining how it's really not spelled the way it sounds...

[nico105]

This is nothing more than superstition. There is no luck or bad luck. There are also no gods, just one God. I renamed the 'Nico' from 'My girl' and had none of these superstitious events occur. I put my faith not in superstition but in the creator God and his son Jesus Christ. It's merely a name change on a boat that you now own and care for. Problems occur because of not taking care of the boat, not a name chane...IMHO

[makolab]

Deinately your choice. Since I was a kid (now Im 43) we were sailors and every boat we had kept the same name due to the superstition. No harm done. Now I have a 25ft cruiser that was named "Just One More..." but the name was never put on the boat. I wonder if I would/could dodge the "bad luck" bullet if I change the name. Is it bad luck to change the name if noone ever knew she was named? My wife and I cconstantly debate this issue. Thoughts?

[GordMay]

Superstition is the child of ignorance and the mother of misery.

A superstition is any belief that is inconsistent with the known laws of science, or not based on reason, knowledge, or experience.

The foundation of superstition is ignorance, the superstructure is faith, and the dome is a vain hope.

[Red Mantis]

Originally Posted by GordMay

A superstition is any belief that is inconsistent with the known laws of science, or not based on reason, knowledge, or experience.

I suppose the knowledge and experience of a million sailors over the course of a thousand years doesn't count?

I maintain that it's a matter of correlation far more than causation. A sailor who has respect for the sillier superstitions traditions of sailing seems more likely to respect the more honored traditions as well, thus keeping himself and his vessel out of trouble.

[GordMay]

To what “knowledge and experience of a million sailors over the course of a thousand years” do you refer, and how does it apply to the question?
Traditions, based on science & reason, are rational rules of thumb, synthesised & simplified from knowledge & experience, and well worth noting and applying.
Those based upon ignorance are not.

Like other forms of silliness, superstitions can be fun, as long as they are'nt taken seriosly.

Originally Posted by Red Mantis

... A sailor who has respect for the sillier superstitions traditions of sailing seems more likely to respect the more honored traditions as well, thus keeping himself and his vessel out of trouble.

Those who honour ignorance as highly as knowledge don't seem (to me) to have any standards.

[S/V_Surya]

I personaly liked the keel hauling tradition, or was that walking the plank. Hmmm

[Red Mantis]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Traditions, based on science & reason, are rational rules of thumb, synthesised & simplified from knowledge & experience, and well worth noting and applying. Those based upon ignorance are not.

I suppose you've an easy way of distinguishing one from the other? Suppose I have no background in meteorology. Should I disregard "red sky in morning" as ignorant superstition? Suppose I'm unskilled in rope work. Should I tie my fenders on with a granny knot, since all that "right knot for the right job" talk is just stuff and nonsense?

If half of sailing tradition is the product of centuries of observation, trial-and-error, and hard-won experience, and the other half is harmless superstition, are we better off telling people to follow the traditions or to disregard them? Do we have a quick and easy way of telling which half is which? And no, I'm not talking about boat renaming, but rather the hundreds of little things we're taught that most of us don't examine too carefully.

Perhaps, in the end, we're better off just looking down our noses at the ignorant heathens and chiding them for their silly behavior, even though they're not hurting anybody and it makes us come across as condescending Internet scolds.

[s/v Beth]

Perhaps, in the end, we're better off just looking down our noses at the ignorant heathens and chiding them for their silly behavior, even though they're not hurting anybody and it makes us come across as condescending Internet scolds.

I got lost here. Are we the heathens or the scolds?
Its not often I get accused of being ignorant and condescending in the same post!
Well done!

[Waterborn]

Everyone knows it's bad luck to be superstitious!