and I christen thee, Lady Iris
July 28, 2009 the sailing vessel formerly with no name was christened according to legend with a short speech and the striking of a bottle of champagne across the the bow.
I knew nothing about christening a boat when I got up this morning so I went to the Internet of course! After reading a couple articles I decided to add this centuries old tradition to the experience of owning this sailboat.
I have to tell this story, it’s a hoot! After all my research I was sharing with my brother-in-law some of the history of christening where in the viking days an animal was sacrificed and the blood spread across the bow of the boat. At that instant their cat jumped up from the middle of the living room floor and high-tailed it out of the room! Maybe you had to be there, or know that this cat desn’t run anywhere that fast … it was absolutely hilarious!!!
Needless to say, I used a more modern rendition of christening with a short speech (without the sacrificial animal), to the boat (not the audience) that tells the reasoning for the name chosen and any other vessel specific information you want to get off your chest. Here is mine:
“In memory of my mother, Nancy Iris Leach, I christen thee Lady Iris” then SLAM with the bottle of champagne across the bow … glass flew everywhere, including across my face scraping my nose, But all is ok.
I should probably share that it took two rounds of champagne since the video missed the first one . But that wasn’t the only setback in this portion of the adventure … the shipyard normally locks it’s gates at 4pm and it was already after 5, so we were going to take the boat and come in through the harbor. The winds were already a good 20+ mph, but we were determined! When we got to the boat ramp just across the harbor from the shipyard my sister and I saw boats still being pulled and people working on projects … the gates had to be open.
We jumped back in the truck and hurried over to the shipyard, and sure enough the gates were open (remember we are still hauling a boat behind us). We get a ladder in place, it’s too short and unstable. Find another and get everything set and make my little speech, slam the bottle and nothing (which I read was NOT bad luck), I slam it again – nothing! One last time and it shattered – YEAH!!
I went to check the video … but it wasn’t pointed at the boat. I have to have the video – right? So we take the truck, boat in tow, up to the store and buy another bottle of champagne to reinact the entire event for the video. All is done, video looks great on my flip, but it won’t play on a computer for some reason! UUGGHHHHH! So you got a picture on this entry instead
