A Boat Name

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We were beginning to think we might name our sailboat Mystery because coming up with a name was a mystery for so long. When we purchased Escapade last August, we knew we wanted to change her name to something more personal and fitting to our sailing lifestyle. But coming up with her name proved more difficult than we imagined!

Many family and friends helped us by suggesting possible names. Terrapin II was a common suggestion, but we wanted a different name because this boat is very different and the type of sailing trips on her will be different. We started accumulating ideas for our boat name in a document and it grew to quite a nice long list to ponder and choose from. The problem was that none of the names grabbed both of us with “that’s the name” emotion. Tony preferred some names and I preferred others, but none seemed to be “just right” for both of us and where we are in this season of life and our sailing adventures.

We were asking for a lot in one name. It should be somewhat meaningful and also fun and light-hearted, easy to say, not too long (repeat it three times on the radio), and we want our sea turtle logo to work together with the name. A few easy ways to achieve all that was to look at foreign language translations for sea turtles like Honu or Tortuga or Skildpadde (not so easy to pronounce 3X).

One idea was to come up with a name that represents one of our life mottos such as “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain”.

Over the years, we’ve had our share of opportunities to put this into action. When you are faced with an upset (financial, relational, emotional, other), how do you respond? Do you learn to “dance in the rain?” Our friends on SV Warrior are inspiring role models of this attitude to be an overcomer and dance in the rain.

One of our grandchildren Kayla helped me brainstorm a way to condense the meaning of overcoming and dancing in the rain into one or two words. We came up with Raindance or Sunshower as a few ideas. While Tony liked the meaning and message behind these, he thought it might sound like we want it to rain.

Our boating friends Mike and Audrey came up with a fitting concept for our boat name. They suggested the word Koselig which conveys the sense of being content, comfortable, and happy. A similar word is Hygge which we are familiar with from reading books about happiness and using the Hygge conversation card deck. We liked the idea of a name that reflects how our sailing adventures often bring a feeling of warm, comfortable, contented times with others, but we wondered if the word was a bit tricky to pronounce.

Our son Lucas kept reminding us of his suggested name of Kraken. What is Kraken? A legendary, huge sea monster! When you are brainstorming, all ideas are considered and we add them to the list. You never know with us! We weren’t sure how our sea turtle and a sea monster related to one another, but Kraken was added as a possibility.

Luke also chimed in with the name Rose (short for compass rose) when I was explaining how we’re trying to chart a course for our retirement. We do like nautical analogies and metaphors for life!

Are you interested to hear more about our name journey?

Encore or Turbo Terrapin were excellent name ideas from boating friends Doug and Amy. Tony liked Encore, but I kept thinking of the thrift store in Bayfield, WI named Encore. A name with Turbo (or another word for fast) would be fitting because our Com-Pac 33 sails faster than our Westsail 32 which was a heavy displacement full keel boat. But when I want to sail fast, I think friends like Doug & Amy or Ben & Kitra will happily take us out for a spin. They have fast boats!

Tony tended to like the sound of Hawaiian words and I liked the meanings behind many of them such as Lokahi meaning unity and harmony or Mahalo which means to be thankful & grateful. Ohana was another fitting name because we value the connections, support, and love of family and friends.

We decided to try thinking of different movies, characters, and books for inspiration for a name. One of my favorite movies is Mary Poppins so I thought Poppins would be a great name. I always smile when I think of Mary Poppins! What a great movie!

Then we thought of memorable boat names we’ve seen in anchorages over the years. Puff was a small steel blue-water cruiser we met in Antigua. I like the song Puff the Magic Dragon, but when I looked up the lyrics and its meaning, I learned there might be an implication of smoking pot – not us!

Another boat name we noticed in an anchorage was Pivot. That’s a great way to describe how our retirement years are going thus far: pivot, pivot, pivot!

Name Indecision

We kept adding possible names hoping that one would stand out as a winner in both of our minds. Why was it so hard for us to choose a name? There were many names that we liked and reflected different aspects of our personalities, values, and sailing lifestyle, but yet indecision reigned!

In between getting inspiration for our boat name from friends and family, I kept searching and brainstorming for ideas by noticing signs and quotes everywhere we went and through research.

A restaurant sign for “Sparky’s Grill” gave me the idea of Spark or Sparky. I was thinking of Sparky the seal at Como Zoo. And I thought about how the cruising lifestyle serves to spark our curiosity and helps us learn and grow.

That reminds me of another name suggestion by our granddaughter Tiana. She loves things that glitter and sparkle and suggested the name Sparkle. When the sunshine reflects off the water, it does have a nice sparkle to it!

Are you getting the idea that finding the right name was no easy task for us?

How about Sea Glass? We sometimes find beautiful pieces of sea glass that have been polished from tumbling around in the sea and sand. It’s amazing how a scrap of glass with sharp edges can become a smooth, gem-like-looking piece of glass.

For further research on name ideas, I looked at lists of boats on different rallies and read through the roster of the Great Lakes Cruising Club (which we joined since we’re on the Great Lakes).

I even checked out a book from the library called An Atlas of Fictional Islands thinking it might prompt a name for our boat. It was an interesting book, but I didn’t find a suitable name.

We waited to make our decision until we were down to the wire! Over the winter, we’ve been prepping for boat projects and ordering all kinds of equipment. As spring approached, we knew it was time to order our electronics. To order our AIS and VHF radio, those electronics needed our MMSI #. To get a MMSI#, we needed to know our boat name to apply with the FCC. Whew! A domino effect that needed to start with a name!

During one of my brainstorming and researching efforts, I stumbled upon an article of hard-to-translate words. It was there that I read about the word Meraki. It is a modern Greek word that means to do something with love, soul, passion, and creativity. I printed the article to see what Tony thought.

Yes, we finally have a name!

Meraki

We find the word Meraki to be a motivating concept that reminds us to blend love, passion, heart, and creativity in the things we do and the relationships we have. The meaning of meraki can be applied to different areas of someone’s life. For example, when a musician composes with meraki the lyrics come straight from the heart. Or, when a dancer performs with meraki you can see and feel the emotion in their movements. Meraki can also show up in everyday routines such as preparing a meal with meraki or decorating our homes (or boats) with our unique personal touches. In relationships, meraki is often seen in acts of kindness, thoughtfulness, loving gestures, and heartfelt connections.

Our boat name Meraki will be a helpful prompt for ongoing reflection and motivation for a positive and authentic way to approach all areas of our lives.

How does that apply now as we face a mountain of boat projects to get Meraki ready for cruising? Good question! Our previous boat name Terrapin reminded us of the importance of perseverance. We will persevere with meraki (passion, creativity, love, effort) in this phase of working on projects, projects, projects. Tony is a rock star in the creativity and effort departments to find solutions to one boat project after another. I’m his able assistant providing research, organization of details, a second pair of hands, occasional cheerleading (you can do it!), and food (how does he forget to eat!). We’re a good team!

Dr Seuss says “Oh, the places you’ll go”. Right now, it’s more like “Oh, the boat projects you’ll do…before the places you’ll go”.

Details on our boat projects and photos coming soon!

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