My son Piers saved hard and bought his first boat last year, a lovely little Topper. He decided to call her "Poppy" and as a Christmas present I bought him a boat name from Funky Monkey Boat Names.

I won't bore you with the details, but we had a variety of difficulties with the delivery of the package, largely related to the fact that my wife had suggested that we have it sent to a friend of hers in Arundel to avoid the possibility that son might intercept the mail before Christmas and get wind of his present.... Great idea, except she gave me the wrong house number, and the house it was sent to was unoccupied!

Anyway, the details - while fascinating - are unimportant. What I really wanted to say was that I had cause to communicate on several occasions with Funky Monkey while the package was "Lost In Space", and they were fantastic and went out of their way to be helpful. Now that we (finally) have the boat name, the product is superb and I can't recommend them highly enough.

Graham Ellison

Tiptoe Too

Super Seal 26/6

Checked out Funky Monkey Boat Names the site looks good, and a reasonable price. We were very tempted to put in an order as we are undecided whether or not to change the name of Juicy Blue, as we can not find a link with the name to Parker at all, even after searching google. We have thought of a great name but to change or not...that is the question. Still under discussion.

Gary/Ruth/& Skipper the Working Cocker Spaniel

Crew of Juicy Blue P235

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Some say it's supposed to be very unlucky, don't they? Equally it's been done lots of times before without any problem! Anyway, lots of things are supposed to be unlucky... putting to sea on a Friday, putting to sea after seeing a pig first thing in the morning, putting to sea after finding your earthenware basin turned upside down in the morning, carrying your seaboots on the shoulder, sailing after seeing a woman in a white apron, all sorts...

I always thought it might be fun to call a boat "Cock-eyed Optimist" (thinks... which musical was that song from?) or possibly "A l'eau c'est l'heure"

[:D]

My boat was originally called Micro and when the second owner bought her he swapped the name with his old boat ie renamed her Beeline and renamed his old boat Micro. I wonder which boat got the bad luck?

Kate

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We changed our boat's name when we bought her (she was Green Ranger). We used Funky Monkey for it. I second the recommendation; a good company to deal with.

As for it being considered unlucky, there are plenty of historical examples of ships' names being changed. We chose a name related to our boat's new home - at least, her winter berth and trailer-sailing base. Anyone familiar with Malvern will know the word Wyche, which was Old English for salt, or place associated with salt. So, as well as being a play on 'sea witch', our boat's name really means 'sea salt' - which is just what I need a dose of after being land-locked in Malvern for too long!

The name on the transom reads 'Sea Wyche of Malvern', which has amused several people we've met while sailing, who obviously knew that Malvern is about as far from the sea as possible. Her 'berth' is also more than 500 feet above sea level!

Anthony Russell

235/02 Sea Wyche

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