Publish Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Location: Georgetown, Great Exuma Island, Exumas, Bahamas
Coordinates: 23° 30.767′ N 75° 44.725′ W
One of my favorite boating pastimes is listening to the VHF radio and hearing all the boat names. The range of names is as varied as the boats upon the water. However they do break down into a few key categories:
1. Female names (i.e. Margaret Jean, Adrianna, Caroline, Jenny Girl, Eleanor N)
There is a large contingent of boats named after women. I often wonder who these women are who have inspired a sailor/boater to name their precious vessel after them: grandmothers, mothers, wives, girlfriends, lost loves, or daughters?
2. State of Mind (Tranquility, Liberty, Freedom, Joy, Priority, Leviity, Intrepid, Wanderer)
3. Nature (Windswept, Whispering Winds, Sandpiper, Tortuga, Star, Mariah, Osprey, Sea Mist)
4. Life Mottos (Carpe Diem, Free @ Last, Patriot, Bad Boy, Our Turn, Sea Rogue, Dream Seeker)
5. Play on Words (Seas the Day, Odd@Sea, Seaduction, Cayman Stayed, Baer Necessities, Aqua Daze, Sealice)
6. Food. No kidding….just this past week in the Exumas I have heard of Chicken and Fries, Cherry Pie, Escargot and Watermelon. I love food, but I had never really thought of naming a boat after food items. Chicken and Fries and Cherry Pie were having a conversation the other day via radio, and by the end of it I was craving both items. 🙂
7. And of course, Humor. (More Cow Bell, License to Chill, Just Ducky, Hairball, Borrowed Horse)
You just gotta love these clever boaters. 🙂
Cool story! My 2 favorite boat names in Exuma are, “Never Again II” and “Exzooma”.
Where is Sam the Skull?
Reminds me of a story my best man told me once. He named his boat by combining the nicknames of his two kids. What a great way to invest them in their new adventure. Right?
All was fine until his first trip to Avalon. As they approached the harbor, the radio was crackling with all kinds of normal day-to-day traffic, and then he called in. “Avalon Harbor, this is the ‘Spud Bean’…”. Dead silence…chirp…chirp…chirp.
I guess it does matter what you name your boat, eh?