They say the best day in boat ownership is the day you buy your boat and the day you sell her. For Joe and I, today is the closing date on our new sailboat, so this is officially the day we now finally own our Taswell 43. Best day #1.
I must say, thinking about the whole buying experience with the selling broker and his clients, we lucked out as they have been extremely professional, thoughtful and kind throughout the entire buying process. The other day, I called to arrange taking over the same marina slip, and learned that they did one last boat clean, dive to clean the boat’s bottom and do general maintenance on the boat. How kind is that? We look forward to one day speaking with the former owners and letting them know we appreciate how wonderfully they maintained their boat.
Joe and I actually considered keeping the former name, which is Fortune Cookie. Cute name. However, we wanted a shorter name for a variety of reasons, so we finally picked Mahi after careful consideration. Renaming a boat isn’t something that you do lightly. In maritime lore, it is considered bad luck to rename a boat and offends the gods of the sea and wind.
So how do you counter the bad karma of renaming a boat? You do a funky procedure and renaming ceremony to appease King Neptune, Poseidon and Aeolus, the Greek god of the winds. Of course, this ceremony involves bottles of champagne, a speech, pouring some into the sea and christening the new name by smashing a bottle on the hull. Oh yes, drinking a toast is also part of it. Hmmm… would the gods mind if I saved the good stuff for drinking multiple toasts and poured the cheap stuff into the sea?
Hmmm… on second thought, it best not to tempt fate.
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