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Published on: 8/13/2007
Last Visited: 12/8/2007
When it comes to boat renaming protocol, John Vigor literally wrote the book: "How to Rename Your Boat and 19 Other Useful Ceremonies, Superstitions, Prayers, Rituals and Curses" (Paradise Cay Publications).About 20 years ago, Vigor, a sailor and boating writer, essentially "made up" what has become known as "Vigor's Interdenominational Boat Denaming Ceremony."Type the name into your search engine, and you can easily find a copy of it on the Web.
"It's fun," says Vigor, 70, of Bellingham, Wash. "And there's always grog around, and that's always fun."
Over the years, Vigor, who sails a Cape Dory 27, has probably gotten feedback and questions from 50 or more boaters regarding the naming business.A common one involves whether all references to the old name have to be removed."What if the old name is on the dinghy's oars?"someone asked.The former name, Vigor says, has to be removed from everything connected to the boat, from oars and fenders to charts and log books.And Vigor maintains you just can't paint over it â€" the name literally has to be expunged.Sanding is preferred.
And if you perform the denaming incantation, remember the words have to be read out loud."I always do it with my own boats," says Vigor, a former South African newspaper reporter whose current boat is named Sangoma (Zulu for "natural healer")."But I'm too embarrassed to do it in public, so I just go down below and mutter it to myself."
Vigor is no fan of names that involve a double entendre.And, he notes, "There's also a superstition about names that challenge the gods, like Wind Tamer or Wave Beater.I'd never name my boat that."
Renaming ceremonies aside, Vigor himself isn't tremendously superstitious.Rather, he subscribes to a philosophy he developed involving an "imaginary black box," which Vigor describes as a bank account of sorts into which points for good seamanship are collected.Points go in for everything from checking the expiration date on your flares to keeping up with routine maintenance to maintaining a close weather eye.Then when you find yourself in a situation where all hell is breaking loose, points are withdrawn from the imaginary box, and you and your vessel emerge intact.
"In other words, it's earned luck," says Vigor, adding, "we don't refer to luck by its name.
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