Kirrikie is born

At the beginning of March, we sandgropers of Western Australia get to celebrate a long weekend. There is some rumour that this is for an official day of note, but the real reason is that it is my birthday, so the whole state gets a holiday.  As we seem to be on a permanent long weekend, we had to come up with something equally important to mark my birthday this year.

In reality, the boat is more important than me. So tossing out birthday plans we decided that having picked up our new boat decals (vinyl lettering) while in England visiting Mike's mum and family, it was decided to re-christen the boat, and give her her new name, Kirrikie. In addition, we wanted to say thank you in some way to all the wonderful people in Finike who had made our lives so much easier, be it help with the boat, advice on living on board in a new country, or through support and hospitality. These include

Dean and Linda -  SV Thesee

Ian and Janine Ann - SV Deejay

Lane and Kay - SV Mai Tai

Bill and Laurie - SV Toodle-oo

Ian and Malia - SV Longo Mai

Phil - SV Southern Star IV

Mark - SV Thinking of Dave

Sarah - SV Wandering Star

Sadly for us, Craig and Janine -  SV Inelsamo - had already left, heading towards Marmaris.

This ceremony must contain some very important elements - alcohol - some for us and some for the gods in equal measure, a loud dramatic voice, words of wisdom and great solemnity, metal ingot with the old name on it, friendly witnesses and celebration. 

In anticipation of this ceremony, we picked up some duty free bottles of prosecco on the way back from the UK. The trick is to be able to obtain something of quality, because the gods will know if you are miserly and bad fortune will befall you, and yet feel ok throwing this elixir 4 ways into the wind. You might have to sacrifice a virgin, or at the least ask her to pee on the boat, but that might be a trifle difficult. An option is to use red wine which symbolises the blood of a virgin, but red wine was out because it bloody stains and it was a windy day. And I prefer prosecco..

Pre-ceremony rehearsal (Mike telling me how it's gonna happen)

Luckily for us, a fellow boatie from Oz, Phil, has renamed a few boats in his time. So much so that he had laminated the format and words, which he kindly lent us. Mike reasoned that Phil has never sunk, and that was good enough for us. 

Before the ceremony it is important to remove all traces of the old name - the easy ones were the old decals. Harder was to throw out old paperwork and documents. We may, or may not, have had to keep possibly one sheet that may, or may not, still have the previous words on it, as they may be needed to prove ownership/legality in the future. We also needed a metal object with the old name on it; Mike located an old padlock and scratched the old name onto it. So that's taken care of.

Generally there are 5 parts in a renaming ceremony: Invocation, Expression of Gratitude, Supplication, Re-dedication, and Libation.

Firstly you invoke the God of the Sea Poseidon, also known as Neptune, and in the case of sailing vessels, the God of Wind, Aeolus. They must be thanked for their patronage and protection of the vessel with its previous name and owners. 

All vessels names are recorded by Poseidon in his Ledger of the Deep. Poseidon - bureacrat of the sea. In the next part of the ceremony, you request Poseidon to expunge from all records the name of the vessel as previously recorded, which has 'ceased to be an entity' in his kingdom. As proof of this, a metal ingot bearing the old name must be flung into the sea - at this stage Mike threw the old padlock overboard. Further supplication is made, asking for the Gods' blessing on the vessel with the new name - Kirrikie - and all the protection for safe passages that was previously bestowed on her. 

At this stage the Libation officially begins. In reality our guests had already started to make headway on this, as it should be done, to show the Gods we are all generous beings..  The Gods hate mean, stingy sailors.

Thank you Janine for providing the video footage

As instructed I liberally poured prosecco from east to west, then west to east as a nod to the Gods. Thankfully Phil reminded me of the dire necessity of taking a swig myself at the same time....

Next we appease the 4 OTHER gods of the wind, North, South, East and West. At this stage I wondered if this was some sort of alcholic nautical version of Mah Jong. As the ceremony progressed, Mike's recitations got faster and faster. The god responsible for clouds and rains was threatening to drop in as well, and we just managed to complete it and squeeze all 14 people into the cockpit, and pull over the tarpaulin filling in for our bimini before it rained. 

The Libation and feasting continued well and unabated for some hours, thanks to what seemed like a never ending cellar.  For some of us, it was 8 hours... At times people decided to leave the boat to visit the well appointed facilities, but returned to ensure Kirrikie had the blessings of the Gods. One person, who shall remain nameless, didn't realise she couldn't walk until she tackled the passerelle and jetty. I'm sorry, but well, it was very entertaining watching her smile like an angel while her husband put her shoes for her and carry her home... such a sacrifice she made for our safety, what a gal.

Kirrikie's birthday cake - we love our Turkish French Patisserie

And thank you Dean for providing photos of some of the bottles piling up

Servants of the Gods - Phil, Mark, Ian, Janine Ann, Mike, Me, Dean, Linda, Kay, Sarah, Laurie and Bill. Lane took the photo, Malia and Ian rushed off to return later (I think to close their hatches as it was starting to rain)

Finally, a piece of silver has been placed in the bilge, as a good luck talisman for Kirrikie.

So there it is, believe it or not, some traditions are worth it, even if just for the pleasure of the company of like-minded souls. And Kirrikie now has the same birthday as me.

PS we are not auditioning for Avatar 3 - this is our normal hue, while we continue to wait for our new, paler bimini, and have to rely on the blue tarpaulin.