What's In a Name, May Swimming, and the Anchor Stealer

We finally got out for our first raft-up this past weekend. We ventured out early Saturday morning, anchored in Sue Creek, and waited for two other boats to arrive.

Grand Passion, Luv'n Life IV, and unnamed boat.

The first to arrive was a boat without a name. Our friends acquired the boat last summer and have been deliberating a name ever since. Naming a boat is no easy feat. Most people consider many different options. Just consider the market for baby name books and how expectant parents spend hours looking at the lists of names.

One must also consider unexpected consequences of a particular name. To make another baby name comparison, think about the initials for a girl named Ashley Sarah Smith. Also, please never ever use any form of "Mayday" or "SOS" in your boat name.

The Boat Galley site has a great post with tips on choosing a name. I especially like their tips on considering how the name is said and spelled. Luv'n Life is often misspelled as "Loving Life" or "Lovin' Life" but it doesn't affect our ability to check in to marinas or the intended meaning of our boat's name. Check out the Boat Galley blog post for the unforeseen consequences of owning a boat named "Que Tal" in a Spanish speaking country.

However, while a boat is still unnamed it can be a lot of fun to sit around with friends tossing out ideas (both insane ones and legitimate ones). Here are just a few of our fun ideas:

• The Juicy Pirate (a combination of the owners' favorite Jimmy Buffett songs)
• Rum
• Sue Creek's Finest
• All Wet
• There are tons more that I can't remember. Plus a few they are seriously considering but I refuse to post because there is so much superstition about boat names.

Saturday also involved swimming -- at least for two of us. I've been wanting to get in the water since we canceled a raft-up back in April. When one of our friends challenged me saying he would get in if I did, I jumped at the chance. The wonderful thing about living on board is having a bathing suit available at all times. The water was 68 degrees -- not exactly warm but also not gaspingly cold. I'm calling the day a "May Plunge."

After two days of fun it was time to go home but not without a quick snag in the plans. The mud in Sue Creek must be extra mucky because it never wants to release our stern anchor. Doug took the dinghy out to pull it up and was getting nowhere. Luckily, Grand Passion had just left the raft-up and the strength of their Ocean pulled the anchor free:

It only took minutes, unlike the 45-minute debacle after the derecho in 2012 (original post and pictures).

Back to the boat name -- I'd love to hear your crazy ideas. What's the name of your boat? Or what would you name a boat if you had one? Want inspiration -- look at the rotating photos of boat names on the right hand column of this blog.