What’s in a name?
When we bought this boat her name was the Linda Ann after the previous owners wife. Linda Ann is a lovely name but we weren’t sure whether or not to keep the name or come up with something new.
Gosh… the pressure! So many rules in naming a boat so you don’t upset Poseidon the God of the Sea. It’s literally almost harder than naming a kid.
The Linda Ann is a classic trawler built in 1981 who has been to Alaska, sailed through the Panama Canal, done the great loop twice… so going in we wanted a name that honored her legacy.
Mike and I sat and brainstormed and drank wine and came up with a list we thought was decent. We even both went to bed one night thinking we were going to name her Mary Lou after my grandmother.
But something just didn’t feel right.
It just so happened….during the process of buying the Linda Ann we were reconnected with one of the original families who owned the boat. We are the 4th owners and the family we have since connected to were the 2nd owners. We asked them about the obscure name the boat had when they owned her… ‘Bacaruda’.
The story goes like this….
The 1st owners of the boat originally wanted to name the boat ‘Barracuda’. In 1981 they hired a boat print shop to come out and measure the boat and create the graphics to attach to her. When the owners came back to inspect the newly adhered lettering they realized the print shop had misspelled Barracuda and the brand new graphic job proudly said ‘BACARUDA’. LOL!
Instead of being mad about it they thought it was hilarious and that somehow the boat wanted to be named Bacaruda so they kept it.
The second owners also thought the name was hilarious so they kept it too!
How funny is that?!?!?!
During this time we were also contact by the Ocean Alexander Mark 1 historian Carol Lee. Carol Lee worked with Ed Monk the designer of this particular boat and she keeps records of each Mark 1 owner and boat name. Carol Lee reached out to welcome us to the Mark 1 Family and also sent us a beautiful picture book titled ‘Ocean Alexander the first 15 years’. In it there is a picture of the Bacaruda going through the Erie Canal!
We then got added to the Mark 1 Family Facebook Group and the Ocean Alexander Owners Facebook Group. We also got invited to the annual Mark 1 reunion which happens in Washington State in September.
It’s a pretty cool thing to be part of this amazing group of boat owners and to own a boat with this much history attached to her.
After all this…. Mike and I went back to the drawing table and we both felt we had an obligation to restore her original name… Bacaruda… I mean she picked it!
Stay tuned for her official re-naming ceremony. We even have a master of ceremonies who will be performing the correct ritual!
~Christy & Crew