What IS in a Boat Name?
April 19, 2007
by Michel & Jane DeRidder

A large number of cruising yachts in the sixties bore "Fellowship of the Rings" names. There was STRIDER, HOBBIT, GANDALF, FRODO and ever so many more that have slipped my mind. We can only suppose there are even more today. Way back then, when we designed and built our vessel, Peter, Paul and Mary were 60s idols. Compared to the low freeboard, extreme sheer, long overhang, narrow yachts of that era, our new boat looked as though it could have been a normal boat toasted in a giant oven until it puffed up - like puffed wheat perhaps, or popcorn. It was natural that we should choose to name her PUFF after the magic dragon that lived by the sea. We registered the boat with Lloyds of London as such. When we realized that the transom was too broad for such a short name we changed her officially to the more elegant MAGIC DRAGON. Nevertheless her very oldest friends still call her PUFF. (We call her Puffy) The only sad thing about the name is the number of Magic Dragons that have sprung up world-wide over the ensuing years. One of them was particularly unfortunate in our eyes. It kept getting into trouble and we kept getting letters of sympathy for accidents that had never befallen us in places we had never been. One of the beauties of the name is that we have a collection of dragons, and dragon books and drawings throughout the boat. We like to think that they bring us good luck.

There are ever so many clever names such as Foster and Sally Goodfellows' FELLOWSHIP. The name ODTAA we simply could not fathom so of course we asked. "One Damned Thing After Another," said Julian. Ain't it the truth? And so began a friendship. Some boat names giving hints as to the interests or occupations of their owners work well: WATERCOLOR (painter), FREELANCE (writer), TRISMUS (dentist), CRAZY LADY (solo lady sailor). Yacht ICICLE belonged to Canadians, whereas A'STRAY'N is from Sydney. Some give an idea of the boat's construction. STEEL HEART, IRON BUTTERFLY and STEEL AWAY are good examples. PORTLAND LADY and ROLLING STONE are of course both ferro. But then so is WOODWIND - built and cruised for years by John Wood. SILVA DOLLAR may be a sterling vessel but it was named for its home port, Silva Bay, BC. ASTROCYTE was a beautifully built vessel that was cruised extensively in the sixties and seventies by a brain surgeon and his wife. Trouble is the name was all too easy to convert into Atrocity, though Ferocity might have been kinder. Our first sailing boat called SCUTUM (our shield against the elements, part of the constellation Aquila) was sometimes referred to by our more cheeky buddies as Sputum or worse still, Scrotum. Once when we were playing this game of transforming boat names, MAGIC DRAGON was referred to as The Static Flagon.

Some boat names may be thought of questionable taste such as PASSING WIND, WET DREAM, and the mythical GOLDFINGER - apparently belonging to a California proctologist. Still, names that make us smile are a delight. RAT BAG was a familiar sight for yonks, until its owner was forced to part with it for reasons of ill health. We heard it had been sold to a family and were thrilled to discover it at anchor in Matauwhi Bay the other day with a tiny child joyfully swinging under an awning in the cockpit beneath the boom. The quirky ITCHY FEET appealed to us, as did SLOOP DU JOUR - names that are fun. FRABJOUS JOY is another that delighted me (from Jabberwocky and Jive which begins 'Twas brillig and the slithey toves did gyre and gimbal in the wabes' or nonsense to that effect that I had first had dictated to me in Morse Code in the early seventies when I was studying for my ham licence).

Some of the combined names of family members work well, such as BARBARIAN belonging to Barbara and Ian Coutts, which we remember from when we first began sailing in Vancouver, and MICAH ROSE (named after two children) and so it goes. But many such are confusingly difficult to remember - PAOLAPE, for example, made up of the first two letters of four members of a family. The musical MARANATHA also took a long time to install in our heads particularly as we did not know the names of the people involved.

It is a bit tricky using a foreign phrase for a boat name if you are not able to speak the language. We kept hearing calls from Poo-a-Poo and could not help but wonder why that particular name was chosen. Then we saw a boat anchored nearby whose name was PEU A PEU and little by little the penny dropped. There are ever so many boat names beginning with the letter K with clusters of vowels to round the name out - boat names such as KELEA, KALUA, KYARA, KYOGLE only exceeded by the number of similarly confusing place names throughout the Pacific: Kailua, Kaikohe, Kaitaia, Kaokoura, Kapiti. We of a certain age haven't got a chance, by the time we get to New Zealand, in particular, where K names abound. The number of aggressive names in new Zealand is surprising: MAC ATTACK, STRIKER, CHARGER, CATATAC, even one called LYNCH MOB. (No OBLITERATORS so far that we have noticed.) Perhaps a nation committed to win in sports trials naturally has names to match?

We prefer the DRIFTERS, WANDERERS, DREAMERS, ZEPHYRS, SUNFLOWERS, MOONPENNYS, SWEET SURRENDERS of the cruising world. So far we have encountered only one IF and one BECAUSE. We have met up with a host of MAGIC CARPETS, probably because it is such an evocative name for a cruising boat that wafts its owners here, there and everywhere. Other frequently used, popular boat monikers are QUEST and ILLUSION, and SERENDIPIDY no doubt for the same reason. We are not surprised to have encountered several DAWN TREADERS - but only one MEHITABEL.

Boats are sometimes named after race horses, for there is a wide range and an imaginative choice of names in the racing world. Wines are occasionally pressed into service. We have encountered various CHAMPAGNES. D'Arcy Whiting called two of his boats after his favourite libations: CORUBA and TEQUILA. Doug Duane named his cruising yacht HINANO after the Polynesian beer. Food is also a source of fodder for new boat owners. Roberty Bob named one of his yachts BUBBLE AND SQUEAK. (For the uninitiated, an oven dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage - at least that's what we ate by that name as kids.)

Dinghies normally bear the name of the yacht to which they are tender, but many name the dinghy something somehow related to the boat name. TOPSY's dinghy was called TURVY for instance. RAINBOW's was named POG - Pot of Gold. There have been ever so many that have leaked from our memories that deserve to be remembered for their aptness or humor. We began by painting on the stern of our first dinghy the obvious PUFF, a terrible mistake because, after it escaped from our stern due to a sun-weakened tow rope, that was the last we ever saw of it. The mother ship of the escapee could not have been found by the best-intentioned salvager. Which is why ever since we have painted on our shore boat MAGIC DRAGON, though for a few years we changed that to the possessive MAGIC DRAGON'S.

Though registry regulations usually state that a boat's name must be affixed to the transom and both sides of the vessel, many seem to ignore this. No boat name whatsoever can be found. Part of this problem comes from the fact that sterns of large motor vessels and mega yachts hinge upward or downward to reveal storage caverns into which treasures of all kinds are hidden. And there are old-timers whose names are rendered difficult or impossible to make out. Their gilt boat names are chiselled into name boards that look lovely but are difficult to read. These are exceeded in difficulty only by certain computer-generated lettering. We love this form of calligraphy - so neat and easy to apply. But some is of such clever complexity that we can make out boat names only by swimming up to them and studying them at close range and at leisure. Admittedly, part of our difficulty could stem from deteriorating vision.

Then there are boats belonging to those we hear from time to time and whose adventures bring us vicarious thrills. We heard the other day that the indefatigable WANDERER III is back up from Antarctica and in Puerto Williams, Kiki and Thies enjoying their adventures as much as ever. There are a few others of our acquaintance in Chile at the moment, the French yacht INYA of the glorious inlay designs is one of them. Another is an engineless H28 by the name of SPIRIT OF REMA, 64 days out of Opua on his first offshore voyage. We suspected Edward Anker might be headed for Chile when he disappeared from Opua without revealing his destination. Now for the first time in his life Edward is online - from a country that has free internet access, he says, from all schools and libraries. Fellow cruisers suggested he should get with it! Then there are e-mails regularly from the Canadian family cruiser TESS, about to embark on the final leg of their circumnavigation with their two 'boat-schooled' sons. Their last letter came from Panama. NINTH CHARM is now exploring Indonesia, their latest tantalizing e-mail tells us. These contacts give us enormous pleasure, and the names of their boats make our hearts leap.

We had the pleasure not long ago of meeting up with our very first SALLY FORTH, a Sharpie captained by solo liveaboard octogenarian, Charles Strange. Chas comes up to Whangaroa from the Auckland area each year to spend several months up there. He says he owns a retirement unit (he calls it God's Waiting Room) but has no intention of changing his lifestyle yet if he can help it. SALLY FORTH has joined our list of special boat names.