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**Jim Cate** · 20-07-2016, 16:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hene

One caution: we kept the simple name she came with when we bought our boat nearly 30 years ago. We thought "Mary T" would be easy to spell and pronounce on the VHF, and it generally was. However, I got tired of being called Mary, since my name is Carol...and we still have the boat!

And I'd like to add greetings to Jim and Ann Cate, who are still as generous with their experience and help on this forum as they were to us in Fiji in 1994, unfortunately the last time we shared an anchorage!

Wow... what a pleasant surprise, Carol. And gosh, has it really been that long? Seems like just yesterday that I was on board the Mary T trying to help Sig with your steering issues. We'd love to hear from you and find out what has been going on all these years!

And for the other readers, the Mary T was one of the survivors of the infamous Queen's Birthday storm in 1994. The primary reason for survival was that the crew just wouldn't give up, kept on pumping and struggling and never hit the big red button as so many others did... an inspiring story!

So, Hene (WTF?), welcome to CF. I look forward to your contributions.

Jim

khughes44 · 20-07-2016, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmer

Hi everyone! My husband and I just bought a 26' Columbia MKII and are really excited. We haven't sailed much, but looking at filling our empty nest syndrome with a new hobby. We are wondering about boat names... how does one pick a name? Does it always have to do with one's personality or character? Named after their firstborn or what? We have a few names picked out, but don't know if people will "get it" if it references a favourite movie or something. Does that matter? How did some of you come up with your names?

Hi Kimmer,

We are also empty nesters, from Vancouver, who just bought a 26' Columbia! We'll be moored in Port Moody initially, so we will keep an eye out for you around the inlet.

I will name our boat after my wife. Her name is Dawne, as in daybreak, and the boat will be called Prima Luce, which is Latin for first light. This is my first post here. I look forward to hearing more from you as the adventure gets under way. Good luck with the new vessel!

deblen · 20-07-2016, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

I have this mental picture of a boat named "I'm OK" (there must be one somewhere ...) and the following radio call:

Mayday, mayday, mayday
I'm OK, I'm OK, I'm OK

Ca va bien!!

**TrentePieds** · 20-07-2016, 18:49

@#60

Hullo Jim - you should be interested, although the park is named after Charles Henry Cates (with a terminal "s"), who was one of the original settlers on Burrard Inlet in the 1880s when the shores of that inlet, which is now the harbour we know as "Port of Vancouver" was covered with "first growth" forest, and inhabited by people of the Squamish Nation, who were not always pleased to find intruders on their shores. "Charlie" Cates ("The Capn") seems to have had a good relationship with them, for he was able to log on their domains and build a wharf of the "North Shore" as a base for a fleet of tugs and barges he built and operated until his death in the year before I was born. Thus I haven't known him personally.

Charlie's tuga and barges brought granite and other building materials for the building of the City of Vancouver after the settlements of Granville and Gastown burned to the ground in 1886. These materials came from the quarries at Gibsons on the Sechelt Peninsula where the complex of deep, deep fjords collectively called Howe Sound cuts far into the Coast Mountains, and from Squamish some thirty miles inland at the very head of Howe Sound.

Cates Towing exists to this day as a subsidiary of SeaSpan ULC, the major local marine transportation concern in these waters.

Cates Park is a very lovely little park on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, just west of where Indian Arm leads north for thirty miles from the very inner end of Burrard Inlet. It is located where The Capn had his wharf.

Howe Sound, my local day-sailing water, is named for Admiral Richard Howe - 1st Earl Howe - who had been with Edward Hawke at Quiberon Bay. Earl Howe had been told off to blockade the coast of "America" during the American Insurgency of the late 1770s and early 1780s. He was on the outs with Lord North who was Prime Minister at the time because, so claimed Howe, North would not give him a sufficient number of ships to do the job at hand. Howe resigned in disgust. Had North been more open-handed, the world might well have looked entirely different today :-)!

Cheers

TrentePieds

Stu Jackson · 20-07-2016, 20:09

Many thanks to Lord North.!

Oceandeep · 20-07-2016, 21:34

My Boat was named MoonShadow when I bought her. I was thinking about changing the name but it was a big deal to change it. Doccumented vessel, teak name plates,etc so I kind of let it go.
But then a couple of things happened. We were cruising up the California and my friend was playing the Cat Stevens song " followed by a Moon Shadow" which I had always liked. Another night I was climbing aboard and the moon was out full and I noticed that I could see my shadow on the deck. There really is such a thing as a Moon Shadow. That did it. The name stays. I think that she was trying to tell me something and most sailors are a superstitious bunch anyway

My advice is to take your time. Your boat will tell you her name if you listen. Something will happen or you will get some insight and it will just click. Take your time. Wait for it

charleshagen · 20-07-2016, 22:32

How about "Offshore Bank Account"

Chalifour · 21-07-2016, 04:31

Congratulations! What a wonderful move and yes your boat name is important and deserves to be carefully chosen. You'll live with it for a long time and will be judged by it. In our case, it took us 6 months to choose the name of our ship. She is called "Dance Me" before Léonard Cohen song titled: Dance Me...to the end of love! Cohen is our favorite and we thought that the name was most appropriate to our ship. As it turns out we get complemented time and over again. We even often get a smile from port police and customs officers when we check in! She seems to make our life easier at times!

Our advice is try to avoid commun territories and remember that the name of your ship must be exclusive in the country or state where you wish to register her. For this matter you might need to consider a slight modification if the name already existe in the registry. In our case we were lucky that it didn't exist but were prepared to add II and call her Dance Me II or Too! Also keep it simple because in distress you will have to use the marine alphabet to describe her. Good luck in your search and let us know where you land.

Sea Dreaming · 21-07-2016, 04:53

[QUOTE][Our advice is try to avoid commun territories and remember that the name of your ship must be exclusive in the country or state where you wish to register her/QUOTE]

If you are registering at the state level in the US, every state will have its own laws. I can't speak for every state but in Colorado a boat name does not have to be unique. I suspect thats true everywhere.
USCG registration also does not require a unique or "exclusive" name.

Someone probably already posted this, but you can look up names you are thinking of. Names do not have to be unique, but you might decide on a different name if the one you want has 500 registered already. Office of Science and Technology

finefurn · 21-07-2016, 04:57

Name it after something you like as much as sailing. Keep it short, One or two syllables and only one or two words. Long Names or phrases don't transmit well over the radio. We name ours after our dog, who seemed to love the water more than us The "Molly D"

bumpman · 21-07-2016, 10:24

Since boats are feminine, commercial fishermen often use their wives' names, usually common names. E.g. Molly S., Susie R., Debby T. or Robert G. (female skipper). Another group of names is from children's stories, e.g. any of Santa's reindeer, Seven dwarfs, etc. But the radio is big and anything that could be used easily on the radio will also be remembered by friends, new acquaintances along the way, marina personnel, CGs, etc. Simple but catchy.

FollowingCs · 21-07-2016, 11:38

I'm not an expert, but one thing I've been told... you will be called by your boat name in the cruiser community, so name with that in mind as well.

We want 'Following Cs', but it breaks several rules (mis-spelling, well Homonym really, somewhat nautical, not great on the radio, only meaningful to us, etc.). All of our kid's names begin with C, so Following Cs represents our time after 3 kids.

My wife's name is Cristal (yes, mis-spelled also), so thought of s/v Cristal Blue or s/v Cristal Clear.....

And yes, it's been pointed out that if I don't do this correctly, Following Cs could also represent life after the divorce....

- Ray
~ Following Cs ~

topmast · 21-07-2016, 11:40

When I named Thane, the name search done by the authority came up with a decommissioned British navy vessel. So OK, also a US vessel but that didn't count ,being yank. Dozens of registered 'North Star' numbering with numerals like IV and XII and XX to separate them in the book of ships . Only one boat per name. I'm the only Thane and North Star of Herchel Island (North Star for short) are the only vessels so registered ..By any other name , not a rose.