There’s something special about the moment you christen a boat with a name. It’s a blend of tradition, superstition and plain old fun. From clever puns to heartfelt tributes, a boat name tells the world a little about the owner.
I’m better acquainted with reader David Avedesian, now that he’s shared how he named his boats. The Rhode Island native with a 100-ton license has owned three vessels in his lifetime. “They’ve meant a lot to me,” he says. “In fact, I’ve named two children in less time than it took me to christen my boats.”
His first boat was an Evinrude Sweet 16, built by Outboard Marine Corporation in 1964 with a 115-hp outboard on the transom. After much thought, Avedesian landed on a playful moniker that felt just right: Never Been Kissed. “Everyone loved that,” he says.
Boat No. 2 was a Thunderbird Formula 233 built in 1977 and powered by a 375-hp sterndrive. One of the runabout’s most appealing features was the sleek black hull. “I named her Black Beauty,” Avedesian says. “And after a full restoration, I found her to be the nicest-running and best-looking Formula 233 in the world. Her name reflects how I feel about her.”
Avedesian’s third and current boat is a custom Outback 40 sportfisherman built in 2003 and powered by triple 350-hp outboards. This time, he wanted to name not only the boat, but the motors too. “My brother had named his twin engines after our parents, Alice and Avie. I thought I would adopt the same concept, only I wanted the name of the boat and the engines to tie together and make a great story,” he says.
He found inspiration in the children’s bedtime poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. It tells the story of young ones who go up into the sky in a wooden shoe that serves as their boat. The midnight stars then change to herring, and the kids fish all night, until they tire and fall asleep.
The Outback 40, with its black hull, was named Midnight Star. I’ll give you one guess what he called that trio of outboards.
“It took me over a year to make that decision,” he says. “Today, I have a framed copy of the poem in the salon. To me, a boat name is everything.”
Jeanne Craig
jeanne.craig@firecrown.com
