What's in a Name

I haven't really mentioned this yet, but we have decided to rename our Leopard 38.  The previous owner had named it Breathe.

He was a doctor, so I'm not sure if there is a correlation there, if it was just a reminder that we all need to stop and take a breath from time to time, or what the story behind the name was.  Since we never actually met the prior owner (unfortunately timing and schedules just never seemed to work out so I only know his broker), we may never know.  All I can tell you is that it didn't really hold any special meaning for us, and we feel it needs to change to better reflect us.

I know a lot of people have blogs named after their boats...or is it boats named after their blogs.  While I like the name of my blog because it did speak to our intentions, I just don't think it makes for a good boat name. So what to name our boat.

Lots of people with catamarans give their boats "cat" names.  The other Leopard we looked at was Catzpaw.  I know of a Lagoon in St Pete named Meow.  Catatonic, Catatude, Catalyst, Aristicat, Magnificat, ...you get the idea.  We really didn't want to go that route.

We also needed a name that would pass the "mayday" test.  In other words, it needs to be a name that you can see using if you ever need to make that mayday call.  While Breaking Wind might be funny, how does "Mayday Mayday Mayday, we are Breaking Wind two miles off the coast of...." work for you?

Since we are more dog people than cat people (we have two that will be joining us aboard), we thought a more dog based name might work.  Dog Sled (a catamaran kinda looks sled-like, right) or Dogonit, Dingo, Fido (or to be confusing, spell it Phideaux) or Woof. We bounced around a lot of names, but in the end, it was actually Pete's suggestion that won out.

Our boat will be named...

Rover

It seems to work on several levels.  It is simple to say and easy to spell. It conveys the more nomadic life we seek. It pays homage to our furry companions that have enriched our lives.  And when I first told my wife we could have "a cat named Rover" it made her laugh.  Good enough reasons for me.

Now I guess I need to come up with a design...or at least a good font...for the decal. Have I mentioned that I'm an engineer...not really an artist...so this might be interesting. And then there is the whole boat renaming ceremony.  And I guess I need to go look how the current name is affixed so I can figure out how to remove it. Hmm...this might become a bigger job than I thought.