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Is it bad luck to rename a boat

19K views 23 replies 21 participants last post by  treedude363 
#1 ·
I got the boat and I dont like the name Tuffy.
So is it bad luck to rename her?
 
#6 ·
I've heard the banana one but I don't know why it is. I was reading a book not too long ago about the 1998 Australian Hobart race that went terribly wrong, and a guy on one of the boats discovered Bananas and proceeded to throw them overboard. Another boat discovered one of the crewman's wives baked a Banana bread, that went overboard too. :)
 
#8 ·
It is considered bad luck, but can be done so long as proper procedure is followed. Do an online search regarding this. It essentially involves removing all traces of the name of the boat and asking the gods to remove its name from their roles. Alcohol is involved (first for the gods and then for you!). Do not put anything with the new name on board until after the cerimony. One site, as I remember, states that you can remove the old name and apply the ew name to the transom so long as it is completely covered until after the cerimony is followed.

That said, I didn't go through this with my last boat before renaming her and ran into bum luck. I'm not renaming the new(er) boat.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I was told that it is bad luck to rename the boat unless the previous name is either engraved on a wooden part of the boat or engraved on a piece of wood that is on the boat.

INTERESTING ARTICLE TAKEN FROM BOATING WORLD MAGAZINE:

The Case
Against Bananas

Bringing a banana aboard a fishing boat won't win you any friends among anglers-but it might score you a wedgie.

This article was taken from Boating World Magazine

The mere mention of a banana muffin on board was enough to send legendary south Florida fishing guide "Bouncer" Smith scrambling toward the cooler that held the offending item. With his face flushed and a vein bulging from his forehead, he hurled the hapless muffin overboard, much to the objection of its rightful owner. Was this the act of an isolated bananaphobe? Well you can forget about black cats crossing your path or broken mirrors, because to many fishermen around the world, there is nothing unluckier than a banana on board a boat.
Having been cultivated in the Indus Valley as far back as 2000 B.C. , the banana's nickname is "the fruit of the wise" Somewhat ironic when you consider that it is technically classified as an herb (although clearly a member of the "hand-fruit" genus) and is a favorite food of monkeys, whose major leisure activities include hurling bodily waste products and offending sexually uptight visitors at the zoo.
The origin of this superstition is uncertain, but many believe that it began in olden times, when bananas were transported by rickety, overcrowded, top-heavy boats plying the tropics (now known as cruise ships). These boats would frequently sink, leaving behind a residue of floating yellow commas, thus leading witnesses to deduce that hauling bananas was unlucky. A more scientific explanation is that since bananas give off ethylene gas when they ripen, it causes other perishable foodstuffs to spoil more quickly. This expended-gas theory could be why it's also considered unlucky to have a politician on board. Yet another theory suggests that crates of bananas would also contain unwanted pests, such as spiders, snakes, flies, mice and Beanie Babies.
Although the banana superstition is worldwide, nowhere is it taken more seriously than in Hawaii. Some believe the Aloha State's anti-banana sentiment has its roots in legend when the god Pele (apparently before his soccer career) brought his brother to the islands to be the deity in charge of sport fishing. Rumor has it that he was deficient in, how shall we say, the male hydraulics department, giving him a severe case of banana envy. A clue to how Hawaiians feel about the subject can be found on the Kona Fishing Charter website. Although fairly ambiguously written, it states "Absolutely positively, no ifs, ands ,or buts, do not bring bananas on board". Let's just say if questioned by a Large Samoan deckhand folding a filet knife, it might be better NOT to reveal the fact that you had a Bananas Foster for breakfast.
In Florida, charter boat crews have extended the prohibition beyond bananas and related food products to include objects that merely have the word banana on it, such as Banana Boat sunscreen, or items from Banana Republic, During fishing tournaments, anti-banana feelings run high. Not leaving any stone unturned, each person on board is quizzed as to what brand of underwear they are wearing. Should some clueless individual mention they are wearing Fruit of the Loom, a rather unpleasant operation is performed on them. First, they are seized by a couple of stout deckhands and given a punitive "wedgie" to prepare the surgical field. A razor-sharp filet knife is then used to excise the label, which curiously doesn't even have a banana on it. Experts recommend not struggling during this procedure, particularly if after a hard night of carousing the underwear is on backwards.
Some bold individuals spit in the eye of this superstition such as the Banana Lure Co., which features trolling lures that look like half a Chiquita. Attempts to inquire about how business is going have gone unanswered…..

And as far as saying "pig" on a boat....

I've never heard that one before, but because Roc said it then it's probably true. I do know some sailors get a tattoo of a pig on one foot and a rooster on the other foot. Supposedly because back in the day those two animals when transported by ship were carried in wooden crates that for whatever reason floated. Whenever a boat sunk the roosters and pigs were always found on dry land
In boot camp one of my combat water survival instructors (who was a bad mother f***er by the way) had a pig and rooster tattood on each of his feet. And when I say bad mother f***er I mean it.
:Marine:
 
#16 ·
:icon_pirate:found this article
http://www.quahog.org/factsfolklore/index.php?id=88

Never on Friday and, Please, No Pigs: Fishing Taboos

by Michael Bell
Leave your ham sammich at home.
Ocean State is a well-earned nickname for Rhode Island. Beginning long before recorded history, people living around Narragansett Bay have depended on the sea for food, transportation, trade, recreation, and even artistic inspiration. But balancing the sea's bounty is her destructive potential. Whoever gains her treasures must also accept her wrath. No wonder this giver and taker of life has created an abundance of folklore among those who sail beyond the horizon.
Fishermen are no exception. Confronting danger and uncertainty on a daily basis, they tend to be conservative, even superstitious, about how they conduct their work. Since their success and survival are linked to elements they cannot control (including the weather, the migratory habits of fish, and the market price for their catch) or can influence only indirectly, if at all (such as a dwindling supply of fish, government regulations, and international treaties), fishermen put great stock in things they can control.
Down through the generations, Rhode Island fishermen have established an unwritten code that tells them not only what to do but also what not to do. These traditional taboos retain a powerful grip on behavior even though their origins, and any logical explanations for them, may be unknown. When pressed for an explanation, a fisherman who avoids turning a hatch cover upside down might say only that to do so is "bad luck." Searching for an adequate answer, one old-timer finally said, "It isn't good seamanship to turn a hatch upside down. It don't belong that way. I've seen it done a few times and we always had trouble."
Fishermen often tell personal experience stories to show that, no matter how illogical these beliefs may seem, they are not to be taken lightly. Oh, they say, you can joke about them and laugh on the outside, but in the end you'd better heed them. A young mate on an offshore dragger told me that the first two boats he was on were both sold and that, contrary to accepted tradition, their names were changed. "One boat sank and the other had nothing but problems," he said, convincing him that he would never change the name of a boat if he bought one.
And, just as inexplicable, pigs are bad luck on a boat. Even mentioning the word is tempting fate. A retired fisherman, whose career spanned the days of sail and the electronics revolution, referred to this animal as "the curly-tailed guy, you know, the pea eye gee." He was "a kid" when he first heard of this prohition from an older crewman, so he "paid no attention" to it. He thought, "That guy's gotta be nuts. What's that got to do with it?" Of course, he found out:
As I got older and went skipper, we're sitting at the table one day having dinner and this guy was talking and he come out with that word. Me and this other fella had been speaking about the old-timers, how crazy they were about the pig. I looked at him and said, 'Don't say nothin'. If you say anything, then everybody's laughin'.'

So, we're fishing along, you know, and it was rough that day. We're haulin' back, scallop drag full of scallops, rocks and everything else. When it came up, the boat took a roll and the scallop drag went way out. The guy that was on the winch head wasn't too familiar with it, you know. He could handle it, but not on a rough day. Now, the scallop drag's turned around, she's comin' like this. And we got this boom across the middle of the deck that we had just put new lights on-nine lights, all brass, underwater lights. Great big, beautiful lights. Brand new, the first trip!

That scallop drag come in, headed right for that brand new strip of lights that was on a pole almost at big as the booms were. It hit that goldarned thing and doubled-up like a horseshoe. We finally landed the drag on deck, in a mess. That boom cost eight hundred and some dollars. Eight hundred and some dollars in them days was like five thousand today! So, anyway, after that a few things happened and the word was brought up again. And I never, ever seen it when it was brought up that we didn't have some kind of trouble. I don't know why. I have to say it this way: Everytime it's mentioned, something happens-to me!
Fishermen usually are not eager to test these taboos. One old salt made this point by telling me a story that "happened a long time ago." He prefaced his legend by explaining that "Friday was always a superstitious day. I had a lot of friends that wouldn't sail on a Friday." Then he described how "some Englishmen" set out to prove this superstition wrong. They began by building a boat. They laid the keel on a Friday, launched the boat on a Friday, and even christened it Friday. Naturally, it was Friday when they embarked on their maiden voyage. And, no surprise, they haven't been heard from since.
It's been said that someone who would go to sea without a darn good reason would go to hell for a holiday. Based on some of the sea stories I've heard, the difference between the two isn't always so clear
 
#20 ·
definitely heard of no pigs on a boat, for sure, not sure where i heard of it just i know i heard it. and bananas this is brand new to me...


Is It okay to change the name, if the boat was abandoned on a lake for two weeks, then you took the boat home, and successful had the registration changed to your name, via derelict boat registration. i mean amazon queen is a cool name i guess, for a lil hobo house boat, but its getting painted battleship gray with a PT boat style sharks mouth, and amazon queen doesnt really fit that paint scheme.
 
#21 ·
definitely heard of no pigs on a boat, for sure, not sure where i heard of it just i know i heard it. and bananas this is brand new to me...


Is It okay to change the name, if the boat was abandoned on a lake for two weeks, then you took the boat home, and successful had the registration changed to your name, via derelict boat registration. i mean amazon queen is a cool name i guess, for a lil hobo house boat, but its getting painted battleship gray with a PT boat style sharks mouth, and amazon queen doesnt really fit that paint scheme.
 
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