A bottle of bubbly?

[JanetH]

We are due to launch our narrowboat onto the water for the first time this week. It is not fitted out yet an will not be 'officially' named as yet but I want to know what the protocol is. Do we break a bottle over the stem post? I heard somewhere that this should be beer! Should this only happen when the boat is named or launched for real on the maiden voyage?

 

Is there an orthodox way to do things?

[alvicchas1]

Hi,

 

Not totally sure but think that a boat should be named at time of launching into the water. When a boat is re-named it should be out of the water and then re-launched with the new name.

 

Enjoy

[Ray T]

When we re named Frogmoore III to Croxton Flash we had a bottle of bubbly and a bottle of Newcastle Brown.

 

One school of thought says NB's were launched with Newcastle Brown.

 

Anyway the Newcastle went over the bow of the boat and the bubbly went inside us!!!

 

I think "protocol" has been lost in the mists of time however.

 

Others will probably have a different view.

 

If you have ever watched big ships being launched on telly they are named and launched not fully fitted out.

 

"I name this ship ******* may God bless her and all who sail in her" etc etc.

 

My thoughts are do what ever you are happy with, its your boat and your day!!!

Edited November 15, 2010 by Ray T

[Keeping Up]

Same here; we drank the bubbly and our young son poured a bottle of Newcastle Brown over the bows just before the launching; our daughter officially named the boat "Oh Dad I can't I'm too shy".

[casper ghost]

We've launched quite a few new boats and have never done any sort of ceremony..

Casp'

[Dominic M]

Another tradition is to swiftly down 8 Tequila slammers and then do a Huey Green over the bow, making sure the locker hatch is firmly shut first. This is great example of recycling, as the alcohol is put to two uses instead of being thrown away in one. And you get to "go green" in more than one way. The downside is when you wake up the following day to find you've named the boat, "Old Bastard", or more embarrassingly, " Man Utd" . Still, this can be rectified by making a wooden model of Wayne Rooney and setting fire to it as it floats away down the canal.

 

I hope this helps