Rename or not?

[ChrisJHC]

I once was on a boat with a group of Anglican priests.
I asked them what their opinion was re the “heathen” renaming process.
They all agreed that it was all a bit of fun and none of them had an issue with it.

[Thomas1985]

That would be the orthodox response…

Playing a drinking game on your boat isn’t worship.

[Katapult Mike]

Originally Posted by Iron E

What is the regret and why?

I guess that wasn't obvious? Regret is that new name is hard to pronounce, harder to spell, and REALLY hard to spell phonetically on radio.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Katapult Mike

I guess that wasn't obvious? Regret is that new name is hard to pronounce, harder to spell, and REALLY hard to spell phonetically on radio.

I just expected something else I guess... I didn't think your answer was how hard it was to pronounce and spell the name of your sailboat.

[Bowdrie]

Pick something that won't require you to spell it out every time you use it with anybody.
And names like "Betty Sue/Billy Jean/Miss Bobby" are way overused on old rusty boats that haul dead fish to market.

[Thomas1985]

How about “Gertrude” or maybe “Marge”?

[Katapult Mike]

Originally Posted by Thomas1985

How about “Gertrude” or maybe “Marge”?

Yeah. You could also go with Myrtle, Velma, or Bernadine. Probably popular at one time, but most of them have sunk by now.

[Thomas1985]

“Agatha” or “Ethel”

[Thomas1985]

The SS “Janet Reno”

[boatman61]

"Boudica"

[Don C L]

When I was a kid and I got my first real boat, it came with the name "Magic Twanger." You'll really be dating yourself if you know what that refers to. I wanted to change it. An old salt counseled me that, yes, I could re-name my boat but only after I had run her aground first.

[Iron E]

Every time a "Boat Name" thread pops up I see the "Pick a short easy name" answers.
I have to admit, I always find them pretty humorous.

Having been involved in hundreds of SAR operations, not once did I utter, 'Chief, perhaps they would have survived if only their boat name was simpler.'
Also, never once was the most difficult part of the journey "phonetically spelling our name"... seven days on the sea, constant reefing, very little sleep, a couple of repairs, replacing a fuel filter and bleeding the system, and not being able to cook on three of the days because of being tired and the weather. But the most difficult part of the trip? Having to spend 30 seconds phonetically spelling our name when arriving.
You should be able to slowly and coherently speak the phonetic alphabet in less than 30 seconds.

My 2 cents, yes, name your boat what you want, and don't sweat the ritual (unless you want to because they're fun)
So long as it fits on the boat and the CG approves it, you're gold.

On one last note, while we were driving out of town, we received a call from the CG that they found a debris field near the location of our boat; they found boat debris with the same name as our boat. This gave us a bit of a shock. I can't tell you how common this is, but a new name was in order.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

We have renamed most of our boats, and we conduct a small ceremony with a nice bottle of wine, clinking glasses, spilling a little on the bow, and then drinking the rest. The best renaming ceremony was in Shelburne Bay Vermont. We did the usual ceremony right at sunset over the Adirondacks, and just as we clinked glasses the yacht club ashore blew off their cannon for sunset (unplanned) and the sound echoed off the surroundings, which was appropriate since we were naming her Echo!

That's a great story. Very cool when life gives us these moments.

[Cari Laut]

Originally Posted by leecea

One possible extra thing if you do change it.. not sure if you can reprogram the name in your AIS or if that needs a dealer.

I know we had a dealer do something on our AIS and I think it was the boat name as we kept the original MMSI.

I think we were allowed to update the MMSI record online but our AIS unit kept sending the old name.

It probably depends on the specific unit, but I was able to log into mine from a computer and change the boat name.

[SailingHarmonie]

On every piece of gear I have worked on you could always charge the boat's name, and all other parameters, it was only the MMSI number that was locked, per USA FCC rules.