Mangas is born!

Issac arrived safe and sound and we were anxious to take the boat back to the islands. But, before we could, there was something we needed to take care of - naming Mangas officially. We had received our new paperwork for Mangas from the US Coast Guard and we arranged for all of our Temporary Import Permit paperwork to be completed and, most importantly, the stickers for the boat had finally arrived.

Renaming a boat is not seen as a good thing to do. It really has to be considered, because you do not want to jinx your boat or insult any of the water and wind powers with your decision. We knew that we needed to rename her in order to officially make her our home. So we wanted to do it right.

The legend is that all christened water craft are registered on Poseidon's Ledger of the Deep. Our first step was to request from Poseidon that the boat's old name be wiped from the ledger before we could register her under her new name.

The Denaming ceremony involves finding every instance of the boat's former name and collecting them up, in the case of paper, or removing altogether in the case of any etchings on the boat or engravings with her name. The papers are gathered up and they will be burnt and the ashes returned back to Poseidon during the ceremony. As with the Naming Ceremony, an offering of champaign is provided to Poseidon. Isaac is at the ready with the bottle while I speak the ceremonial words. Basically thanking the boat for her service up to that time and asking that her name be struck from the record.

The burnt offering of the old boat name - in wind... :) 

After the Denaming, comes the Naming Ceremony. The name has not been placed on the boat yet as this is seen as extremely bad luck. The thinking is that by doing so, you are assuming that Poseidon will accept the new name, before you have asked him.

The Naming Ceremony requests the name be registered on the Ledger of the Deep (I love saying that) and requests the protection of Poseidon and the four winds. This requires another sacrifice of champagne to be made to Poseidon and then the four brothers who are rulers of the winds. The first, Great Boreas, ruler of the North Wind. Then, Great Zephyrus, ruler of the West Wind, followed by Great Eurus,  ruler of the East Wind and finally the Great Notus, ruler of the South Wind. The champagne is poured into the water from East to West as the names are invoked. And  finally, the captain and the first mate take the final drink and the ceremony is complete.

Captain Migz taking the first drink - not a champagne lover, but he muscles through

Tilly Family on Mangas

Adding the stickers for the new name and hailing port (which is actually a land-locked town between Phoenix and Prescott)

Yeah! She looks fantastic and we are anxious to head out for our first sailing trip on the new Mangas.