While we are here in the harbor in Georgetown, we usually have the VHF radio turned on and there is a constant chatter with people on boats calling other boats on the hailing channel. Typically you say the other boat’s name that you are calling twice and then your boat name so they know who is hailing them. Once you make contact with another boat then you switch channels and have your conversation on another channel. Sometimes it can be quite the challenge to find a clear channel. I enjoy listening to all of the boat names during all of this chatter. With so many boats from all over the world concentrated here there is quite the variety.
You have the typical nautical names that conjure up images of sailing in the warm Caribbean Sea like:
Dolphin
Starry Night
Island Girl
Wave Dancer
Sea Life
Whisper
Peace and Quiet
Blue Heaven
Barefoot
Unforgettable
Cloud Nine
Decompression
Simplicity
Harmony
Sea Dog
Corsair (means pirate)
Temptress
Then there are the odd ones that you know must have a story like:
Agandau (our friend who deals in silver (Ag on periodic table) and gold (Au on periodic table))
Other Goose (haven’t gotten the story on this one)
63 South (latitude)
Cactus-huh???
Trebouchet (might be a trimaran, three hulled boat)
Aroha (making fun of “Aloha”?, they are from Hawaii)
Float Her (sounds like floater, not an appealing image…just saying)
Some cute or clever ones:
Sol Purpose
Music and Lyrics
Opus (owner has a deep British voice that perfectly matches the boat name!)
Cuz We Can
Loca Lola (she is the beach yoga instructor)
Great Catsby (it’s a catamaran of course)
Wandering Toes (from the Jimmy Buffet song)
Local Knowledge
Shampagne (owner is Richard Shamp)
Many of these people you never meet in person, but you develop an impression of them from their radio chatter and their boat names.
Our boat’s name is Regina Maris which means Queen of the Sea in Latin. We didn’t name her; that was her name when we bought her in 2013. We meant to change her name, but by the time we had brought her down the intracoastal waterway (ICW) from the Chesapeake Bay to NC we had to call the many draw bridges to request openings and identify our boat, so we got used to the name and it seemed to fit. Only one other boat in the world shows up worth that name from a search. A guy who served as third mate on an old sailing ship with this name in the 70s stopped by our boat and introduced himself. She is at the bottom of the sea now. Another benefit of keeping the name is we didn’t have to go through the ceremony to appease the sea gods which is required if you change a boat’s name!
