A Secular Launching Ceremony?

[David Bewick]

OK folks, I might be getting ahead of myself here, but I have starting to think about the launch of my Aber.  My problem is that every "official" boat launch I have ever been to has involved someone (usually one of the fairer sex) mumble "God bless her and all who sail in her" whilst splashing something intoxicating over her (the boat, that is).  Now, I can cope with the intoxicating liquor part, especially if too much does not go onto the boat, but not being of the God bothering persuasion, I feel the "God bless her" bit is just a bit too hypocritical for me.  The problem is that I have never heard of a secular/humanist alternative.  I suppose our Roman and Norse ancestors might have had something (or perhaps they were not that sentimental about their boats) but I have never heard of them.  Any ideas?  

Best regards,

David.

[Port-Na-Storm]

An Excellent thought provoking idea.

I suspect the ancient Norse and the Romans had their own gods and spirits they would invoke to protect those aboard, so what do you do if you are trying to avoid the supernatural, and not make it sound all twee and Elven.

Something about the long line of history leading to the skills of the designer, and builder, the natural materials, including carbon based epoxy, and the natural elements in which will come to life.

Those aboard will be protected by the skills of the skipper, and the RNLI.

That'll do for starters, we need poet.

[Paul H (admin)]

This launch is about as secular as you can get - with Graham doing his 'I'm Scottish and I cannae watch good whisky dribble into the water' act.



-Paul

[Chris Waite]

Wasn't Grum seen to be licking the stem?

And that was nothing to the weeping and renting his garments when I accidentally spilt rather more of the amber liquid over the bow of 'Octavia' than I had intended, at Lechlade in 2009.

It's all lies of course

I suspish that I am by far the boozier of the twozier and we're not having a competiton - not when anyone's looking anyway.

How about:   "I name this boat '******'; may her gunwales never dip!"

What's she going to be called?

CW

[Jeremy]

I always rather enjoyed Dave Allen's take on religion, with his quip at the end of his show about "may your God go with you".  

As a fellow non-God botherer, but as someone who once remarked to my Buddhist mother-in-law that "one can never have too many blessings", I'd suggest that it'd be wise to not accidentally upset any deitys, so a fairly inclusive, if still secular, blessing might be in order, perhaps along the lines of the late Dave Allen's parting shot.

[David Bewick]

Jeremy,

I think you are right, Dave Allen might just have given me a way forward that keeps all the bases covered whilst offending no-one.

CW,

The name ...  Well, I toyed with a number of possibilities for a while but none of them really seemed to fit the bill.  One day, though, I was absent-mindedly thinking about the name of the design, itself,  (Aber) and I began to wonder whether a derivative of this would work as a boat name.  I knew that in the Celtic languages, aber refers to a ria or flooded river valley (as in Aberystwyth) but the only English word I knew of with “aber” in it was aberration (i.e. a deviation from what is normal, expected, or usual) and this did not seem quitre right as the name for a boat.  However, I did a bit more research and discovered that the Latin root of aberration, aberrare, has a less judgemental connotation: it means “to wander away”.  Just the job!

Even though I have not finished the boat, I do have the name on a bit of sticky backed plastic ready to go on her.

Best regards,

David.

[Chris Partridge]

When I stopped believing I got rather puritanical about joining in religious ceremonies, but then I matured a bit and came to the conclusion that the human need for shared ritual at moments like birth, marriage, death and boat launching requires some sort of wording, and if the traditional wording that has formed our culture over 2,000 years is religious, well so be it? We are particularly blessed with the Prayer Book, and I love belting out a good hymn. The fact that it's not true is immaterial, I feel - we aren't going to knock down all our churches are we, so why discard the ceremonies?

[Chris Waite]

OK David, how about -


I name you 'Aberrare'
The Latin for "Go walkabout"

[Take a moment for liberal application of Tizer, or such]

Have a life of grand adventuring
That we may reminisce and talk about

        ---.,.---

Who did put the 'rare' in Aberrare?

CW

[Port-Na-Storm]

It is my intention to bring along a bottle of Launching Fluid  to Lechlade on Sunday.

I will also bring along my  Quaich A gift given to me many years ago by my cousin and which until now has served no purpose other than to collect foreign coins and sundry miscellanea  in my sock drawer.
It is suitably Celtic in nature with slight religious undertones and should be fairly inoffensive to even the most zealous bigot.  
There should be a few boats there which require naming so if anyone wants to come up with a  few words and join in the ceremony please feel free.  I will try not to lower the tone of the occasion by licking said launching fluid off the various prows, as may have happened previously.

[tony waller]

I really like this idea of a Celtic ceremony.

 

From: Port-Na-Storm [via UK HBBR Forum] [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: 27 May 2012 21:46
To: tony waller
Subject: Re: A Secular Launching Ceremony?

 

It is my intention to bring along a bottle of Launching Fluid  to Lechlade on Sunday.

I will also bring along my  Quaich A gift given to me many years ago by my cousin and which until now has served no purpose other than to collect foreign coins and sundry miscellanea  in my sock drawer.
It is suitably Celtic in nature with slight religious undertones and should be fairly inoffensive to even the most zealous bigot.  
There should be a few boats there which require naming so if anyone wants to come up with a  few words and join in the ceremony please feel free.  I will try not to lower the tone of the occasion by licking said launching fluid off the various prows, as may have happened previously.

Port-Na-Storm

http://port-na-storm.blogspot.com/

 

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NAML

[Port-Na-Storm]

Better bring your robes then.