| A buddy of mine is the proud owner of a brand new | | | | very well over the radio. "Ciao Bella" was hard for |
| Beneteau. It's been fun to watch him proceed through | | | | people to understand, and the non-English pronunciation |
| the selection and buying process, and I look forward to | | | | of the spelling made it useless to accurately spell it out |
| taking the helm of his new love one day. | | | | vocally. We ended up saying |
| He is in the midst of making the boat his own, and one | | | | LIMA-ALPHA," which I'm sure made people wonder |
| of the items at the top of the list is arriving at a name. | | | | how on earth we had ever come up with THAT |
| He asked me about this a few days ago; knowing that | | | | name! |
| I'm on my third boat, he asked me how I've arrived at | | | | BOAT NAMING RULE #4: IGNORE ONE OR MORE |
| the various names that have been painted on the hulls | | | | OF THE OTHER RULES IF NEEDEDI have come to |
| I've owned. | | | | believe that naming a boat is kind of a Zen exercise: |
| The question got me thinking about the almost | | | | When the namer is ready, the name will appear. And |
| capricious ways I've named my boats, and the four | | | | when the name appears, it may not follow one or |
| "rules" I've come up with for the exercise. | | | | more of the first three rules. For example, even though |
| BOAT NAMING RULE #1:MAKE IT | | | | I formulated Rule #2 as a result of the experience with |
| MEANINGFULCome up with a name that means | | | | Boat #2, I still went with "Nehalennia" for Boat #3. The |
| something to or about you. Brandy, my first boat, had a | | | | name presented itself to us in auspicious |
| double meaning: Brandy was my nickname in college | | | | circumstances, and it had so much meaning for us that |
| (after the song that was popular in my freshman | | | | we chose to put up with the pronunciation and spelling |
| year), and my husband's father owned a business | | | | difficulties we knew we would encounter. |
| called "Brandywine Something" (I forget the second | | | | AND WHAT ABOUT NAMING THE DINGHY? |
| word). Ciao Bella, my second boat, was named | | | | Well, this is another spot where I have a rule and then |
| because we saw her right after spending a month in | | | | break it. I think that the dinghy's name should have |
| Italy; she looked so pretty there at the dock, it was | | | | some relationship to the main boat: Brandy's dinghy |
| natural to say the phrase we had been hearing | | | | was named "Snifter," for example. But like Rule #3 |
| addressed to pretty women for the past 30 days. | | | | above, I didn't follow my own rule on the other two |
| Nehalennia was named because of my fascination | | | | boats. Ciao Bella's dinghy, a white Avon RIB with a |
| with Celtic mythology; Nehalennia was a significant | | | | zippy 10 HP outboard, was named "White Lightning" |
| goddess in the North Sea region and protectress of | | | | because of the first experience of taking her out for a |
| mariners. | | | | spin (after having owned a wooden-floorboard dinghy). |
| BOAT NAMING RULE #2: AVOID TRITENESSThis is | | | | And Nehalennia's dinghy is named "Digby," after an |
| kind of a corollary to #1. There seems to be a set of | | | | historical character who had a strange and creative |
| names that get used over and over again. I have lost | | | | way of determining longitude at sea (See the book |
| count of how many "Destinys" and "Serenitys" I've | | | | Longitude by Dava Sobel for the story of Sir Kenelm |
| seen on the water (my apologies to anyone whose | | | | Digby and his proposal.). |
| boats are so named). I think it's important to strive for | | | | So even though my rules might make sense, I don't |
| at least some degree of uniqueness in your name. | | | | even follow them, which begs the question of why I |
| BOAT NAMING RULE #3: MAKE IT EASY TO SAY | | | | call them "rules"!!! Still, if you are faced with naming or |
| AND UNDERSTAND ON THE RADIOThis rule is | | | | re-naming a boat, I invite you to at least consider the |
| more of a "do as I say, not as I do" thing. With my | | | | criteria I've listed. |
| second boat, I learned that some names don't work | | | | |