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Can Your Boat’s Name Also Predict Its Future?

On Friday last week, we shared the story of a boat that had sunk off Treasure Island’s northeast corner. After being alerted to the sunken boat by reader Craig Russell, we contacted the Coast Guard to ask if they had any information. It turned out they did, as you can read in Friday’s Lectronic Latitude. But the one thing we omitted from the story was the boat’s name. And yes, it was intentional. The email we received from the USCG included “s/v Rocky Seas,” but the way it was written left it unclear as to whether that was actually the name of the boat, or if someone was just making a wry comment. It also made us wonder if the name you choose for your boat can also determine its future.

It turns out the boat’s name is in fact Rocky Seas, as evidenced by the photos Dwayne Newton sent us. Dwayne had been out sailing on January 1 (that spectacular day marking the start of the year), and discovered the boat aground on the northeast corner of Treasure Island. He had a perfect view of its transom.

Boat name_rocky seas
Would a different name have brought about a different result?
© 2023 Dwayne Newton
A sad end for a once seaworthy boat.
© 2023 Dwayne Newton
The future does not look rosy for Rocky Seas.
© 2023 Dwayne Newton

We’ve written many stories about boat names. Whether about their “punny-ness,” or whether and how to rename your boat — there’s a lot of sailorly tradition and superstition involved in the latter. But what do you think about the meaning of a boat’s name? Can the name you choose for your boat influence its future?

4 Comments

  1. Andy Graham 1 year ago

    My story is simple. I HAD to rename a sailboat I purchased many years back and sold just a couple of years ago. The name of the vessel, “Daddy’s Girl” (pause for me running outside and spitting whilst turning around three times…) almost had me NOT buying it. I’ve been sailing for 55 years and I just did not see myself referring to my little bonny boat, but somehow avoiding having to speak her name out loud no less. As I sailed her from Ventura to Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, my worst nightmare came true. The Coasties showed up because I had inadvertently sailed into Navy practice waters. They hailed me and I was required to answer back with the alarmingly shaming response, ‘Roger, this is Daddy’s Girl. Go ahead.’ Needless to say, I figured it was Posiden come calling because I had the very idea to change the name without paying proper respect to the depths. I sanded off the name that very week. I also, appropriately decided I would keep whatever name my next yacht came with!! Andy Graham – Serenity Beneteau 41.1

  2. Daniel J Iriwn 1 year ago

    Sometimes the boat name is because the source of funding. My first sailboat a Montgomery 12 that I bought while I was in college was named G.I. Bill.

    This started a life pattern where “I spent half my money on sailboats and the rest I just wasted!”

  3. Kelvin D. Meeks 1 year ago

    My first boat was named Renaissance.
    I spent a five month sabbatical on her – and the experience was indeed a renaissance of spirit, for me.

    My current boat is named Sashay.
    I was not thrilled by the name – but once outside the Golden Gate – and seeing how she danced/glided over the waves…I was happy to keep the name.

  4. Tasha 1 year ago

    Early last summer or so a boat came to the same anchorage in San Diego where my family likes to spend our weekends. We’ve been going there for about 4 years now. Husband always checks tides before dropping our anchor. In this particular anchorage low daytime tides expose a good chunk of sand that stretches for 10-30 feet.

    So a sail boat anchored very close to this particular part. I was passing them on my paddle board and told them they were way to close to the beach. The younger of the two guys told me he’s been coming here for over 20 years and knows what he’s doing. The next time (4 or so months later) we saw their boat, same location, but it was on its side because the keel was sitting in the sand. They had to wait until the next day to get it out of the shallows. The boat’s name was Keelin’it or Keeling It

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Easom Makes His Mark
Not long after we published this story on the new Hank Easom buoy at Yellow Bluff, we received the following email from Ron Young. “It is with great sadness that we write with the news that Hank Easom passed away around 9:15 pm, Tuesday, February 14, 2023.