When we finally knew we were going to actually bring our trawler home, Randy and I decided then to start thinking of what to name her. Being my usual organized self, I started a list of boat names on my iPad. When ever Randy and I felt creative (or had a few drinks) and thought of any cool boat names, I would jot them down. Somehow this was the hardest part of buying a boat…I mean, once you name a boat, or rename it in our case, somehow I felt more pressure since it was a final thing.

The name of our boat when we bought it and what it is currently is “Down Time”. I like the name “Down Time”, but it evokes a sense of rest (and retirement) which doesn’t really describe the working-while-cruising lifestyle we plan to live. We really wanted a name that was unique to us and our situation.

So we started brainstorming. Of course, one of the first names to come up was Blue Turtle. Blue Turtle Graphics is the name of my graphic design and web design business which both Randy and I came up with together. If you want to know why and how we came up with the name Blue Turtle, you can read about it here. The name Blue Turtle is near and dear to me because of my business and for some reason, I was reluctant to settle for the name for our trawler. Randy really liked it immediately, but I resisted and brainstormed other names. Some of the names (as silly as they may be) that were on our list were:

• Sea Dog / Cee Dog (a nickname for Randy’s son, Corey)
• Salty Sophie (Sophie is my wiener dog so this was my favorite name)
• Turtle ‘Fever
• On Our Own

Seems like, no matter how hard we tried to come up with a name, we always circled back to Blue Turtle. I guess I was reluctant to use the same name for my boat as my business, but Randy spun it another way…He said, “Blue Turtle is the perfect name for this boat. Yeah, it’s the name of your business, but it also perfectly describes the boat. The boat IS blue and it IS also very slow (topping out at 7 knots) just like a turtle.” How could I argue with that? He was right. And no matter how hard I tried to come up with the cool, different name, somehow I knew this boat was destined to become the “Blue Turtle”. Randy also pointed out that the boat graphics have already been designed since I already have my turtle emblem and logo.

So, it was decided then that the name would be Blue Turtle. We had to have the name in order to close on the boat since we had to pay for the title transfer anyway. We were already paying a fee to register the boat with us with the Coast Guard, and if we decided to change the name later, we would have to pay an additional fee. It made sense to just go ahead and change the name at the closing than to rename it later. So now, we are registered as “Blue Turtle” even though everything on our boat says “Down Time”. In the next couple of weeks, we will be required to change the name on the stern as remove the side plaques with the old name. I plan to do the lettering/graphics for the boat and just send the necessary files to our sign shop, who will then cut the letters out of vinyl and install on our trawler.

My parents, who are also live a boards and also just bought a new-to-them trawler, have also recently renamed their boat. Their previous boat was called “Island Time” and they wanted to rename the new boat to “Island Time” as well. They’ve already had their lettering done on the boat, and once we do ours, we’ll both have a christening ceremony to make it official. A christening ceremony is sort of like an old wives’ tale. Supposedly, if you don’t christen the boat with the new name and break a bottle of champagne (a waste of good alcohol in my opinion) over the bow, you are destined to have bad luck with the boat as long as you own it. So I’m sure, for superstition’s sake, we will both have this little shindig and of course use it as an excuse to eat, drink and be merry!