Ridiculous question: Naming a dinghy

[Macblaze]

So as a compromise when we bought our boat we named the dinghy her choice of names: Laughing Baby. Well old Laughing Baby has come to her end of days and we just got a brand new Highfield UL290—which I am guessing will become Laughing Baby as well or at least Laughing Baby II.

But just how fussy is old Poseidon about tenders? Should I plan on slipping him a libation with a bit of pomp, or just rip the vinyl letters off the old inflatable and cast it aside in favour of the nice shiny new aluminum bottomed beauty with a recycled name?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Jim Cate]

IMO, dinks need to earn their name, and that can take some time.

Our first inflatable was a tired ol' gray Hypalon Zodiac Mk II that came with our previous Insatiable. It was huge for a 36 foot yacht (13.5 feet IIRC). Once we came to appreciate the range and comfort it provided, its name evolved into "Zod the Magnificent", mostly abbreviated to a simple "Zod". Zod served us well for several years and many miles of full time cruising... SF to Mexico to the Societies, back to SF and Mexico to NZ and Australia, gradually becoming more patch than hypalon.

When Zod finally made its final voyage, we bought a really nice German inflatable made by the DSB company. After those years of a decaying antique steed, this shiny new craft became known as "Disby" as in DiS be the new dinghY. Disby lasted us through the switch to Insatiable II...

But as all things rubber do, Disby died of old age and we bought our first RIB, a 3.5 m Gemini with an alloy hull. A wondrous good dinghy, but kinda lacking in character. And then, not long after purchase we returned to Tasmania from the big island, and there in downtown Hobart, some mongrels stole the dink, attached to our stern whilst lying to a mooring off Battery Point. After several anxious days the police found it lying inverted some 15 miles up the Derwent, floating under a bridge. When we approached it no particular damage was visible... and then we flipped it over and discovered the outboard missing (no surprise, that) and the tubes a mass of charred hypalon. Apparently the thieves had removed the 12 year old Suzuki (nearly worthless) and poured petrol into the hull and set it afire, destroying a ~three month old 5K$ dink.

The tubes were (literally) toast, and the hull, once glistening white powdercoat, a blackened ugly mess, with melted nonskid pads and other scars. We removed the tubes remains and with a lot of labor, cleaned up the soot, melted plastic and heat-treated Bostic adhesive, leaving a structurally sound hull with dubious cosmetics. Later we had the Gemini dealer up in Queensland order and install new tubes... about half the cost of a new dink, and so it rose from its ashes and became... Phoenix!

The above is a hell of a lot of rambling before answering your query... and no, there was no ceremony involved with the naming of any of them, no party, no champers. Honestly, we didn't even think of it, for if we had, a party likely would have emerged, but as far as a launching ceremony... well, how in the hell do you break a champers bottle on the bow of an inflatable?

Cheers,

Jim

[Macblaze]

That poor thing!

Now I have the image of a bottle of champagne ricocheting of the tube and into my forehead. Might be worth it just for the youtube views...

[Montanan]

Such is the opportunity for a grand party and gathering, albeit with proper COVID social distancing protocols being observed.

Buy a bottle of good Champagne & invite your friends to witness and party.

Boat De Naming Ceremony – Begin by invoking the name of the ruler of the deep as follows:
Oh, Mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans. To whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage. I implore you in your graciousness to expunge for all time from your records and recollection the name (insert your vessel’s old name). Which has ceased to be an entity in your kingdom. As proof thereof, we submit this ingot bearing her name. To be corrupted through your powers. And forever be purged from the sea. (At this point, the prepared metal tag is dropped from the bow of the boat into the sea.)

In grateful acknowledgment of your munificence and dispensation, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court. (Pour at least half of the bottle of Champagne into the sea from East to West. The remainder may be passed among your guests.)

You must conduct the renaming ceremony immediately after the purging ceremony. For this, you will need more Champagne.

Boat Naming Ceremony – Begin by again calling Poseidon as follows:
This version is for the Southern Hemisphere. For the Northern Hemisphere swap around the attributes of the wind Gods, eg:

Great Boreas, exalted ruler of the North Wind would have frigid breath instead of scalding.

Oh, Mighty rulers of the winds. Through whose power our frail vessels traverse the wild and faceless deep. We implore you to grant this worthy vessel (Insert your boat’s new name) the benefits and pleasures of your bounty. Ensuring us of your gentle ministration according to our needs.

Boat Naming Ceremony – Ask for the winds’ blessing:
(Facing north, pour a generous libation of Champagne into a Champagne flute and fling to the North as you intone Great Boreas, exalted ruler of the North Wind. Grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors. Ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your scalding breath.

(Facing west, pour the same amount of Champagne and fling to the West while intoning Great Zephyrus, exalted ruler of the West Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your wild breath.

(Facing east, repeat and fling to the East.) Great Eurus, exalted ruler of the East Wind. Grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors. Ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your mighty breath.

(Facing south, repeat, flinging to the South.) Great Notus, exalted ruler of the South Wind. Grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors. Ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your frigid breath.

The Boat Naming Ceremony is completed!
Of course, any champagne remaining will be the beginnings of a suitable celebration in honor of the occasion.

At last, the ceremony has been completed. Now you may bring aboard items bearing the new name of your vessel. Need to install the name before the ceremony? Make sure the name is not revealed before the ceremony is finished. It may be covered with bunting or some other suitable material.

[chrisr]

because our dink is 3.6m & the outboard is 8hp, we need to register it

in nsw any boat that is registered must have a name, so we named our dinghy (which is a RIB) "Ribbie"

the old dinghy was a small RIB that we had named "Riblet"

cheers,

[Joh.Ghurt]

By law of the nation my boat is registered in, the tender has to be marked as (translated): Tender of [Main ship name]

If you don't, you need to register it on its own.

Case closed for me.

[dfelsent]

Moonbeam’s dink is named Moonbuggy. Took months of struggle and circling around to get that one right.
My kids named our old orange and black Zodiac Tigger.
I’ve had other dinks with no name. It takes time!

[Danm1]

My tender came with a name painted on the stern. "Missy." Would never name a boat that, but will never go to the effort of removing the paint. It's a dinghy. I call it the dinghy.

[DMF Sailing]

When I was a kid we towed a wooden pram that became known as "The Pram."

Then, for fun, my dad added inflatable little dinghy that said "George O'Day" on it, presumably because he's the guy who designed it. It became "The O'Day." It's 49 years old and still kicking, but it's not suitable for adults and I gave it to a family with small children long ago.

"The Zodiak" is already taken and I am mute before Poseidon because I don't know what to say.

[Monte Cresto]

Boat in SB named "Strawberry Moon" and dinghy named "Strawberry Shortcake",

[sail sfbay]

My first dinghy was named "Original Contract". Then we purchased a 56 ft powerboat boat to go with it and named it "Change Order".

Just purchased a 50 ft powerboat that my wife named "Oasis" and guess what she named the dinghy.........."Midnight at the.......".

[redhead]

I love all these dinghy stories. I never realized that they become part of the family for others as well. As I had never named a dinghy before I have no background on re-naming so I'll learn from this thread.

Our dinghy named itself also. Here in the PNW we are blessed with secluded harbo(u)rs everywhere. With 10 feet of boat under the water we almost always jump in the dink and see how close we can get to shore so we can stern tie. So there was never any doubt that it had to be "Scout".

[garychurch]

If you name your tender or dinghy you may not want to name it T/T (your boat name). As pointed out to me if you are at a dinghy dock it will be obvious that there may be no one on you named boat and nefarious things can happen while you are gone from it.

[mvmojo]

We cruised full time in the Caribbean for over 6 years. "Down island" many cruisers named their dinghy something significantly different than the mother ship and used that dinghy name for boat to boat vhf radio communications. It was often reported that nefarious locals monitored the VHF listening for which "boats" were going ashore for lunch, dinner, the beach, etc. Knowing the boats were unoccupied gave them a free pass to climb aboard and take what they wanted. By using dinghy names (which were not painted on the dinghies BTW), locals were clueless as to whether, when the dinghy was missing, there was someone left aboard or not. We would often include in our radio conversations that we were going to leave the dog aboard (even though almost nobody had a dog!).

[Scorpius]

Scorpius's dinghy is not in the best of shape so it is named "Scruffius".