Boats may be just a mass of inanimate materials assembled in a way that it all floats — or should. Indeed, boats bring great pleasure to those who own them — or should.
Hogwash to those critics who claim the best two days of boat ownership are the day it was purchased and the day it was sold.
How sad that one must have such a negative view of the ever popular boating lifestyle.
Reflection of you. Boats can display somewhat of a personality but more often it can display the personality of its owner.
Like reading vehicle license plates and playing the game of guessing what the letters might mean, boaters can check out the name of the boats they see and de-code the name for a look at who owns the craft. Understand that naming a boat involves careful consideration because a name sticks and so does the reflection of the owners personality.
A boat name might reflect a light mood, a career, a favorite hobby or interest, found money, and the list goes on.
Each spring, the Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatUS) digs deep to learn which are the most popular names for the year.
Boat names
In addition to publishing the top twenty names, BoatUS offers a list of over 9,000 names collected over the last 20 years to help boaters select the right name. Here’s some additional hints that might help new boat owners get it right.
An avid angler or fishing guide might go with Reel Therapy while a singer would prefer In Harmony.
A family with kids heading to college would certainly choose What College Fund and an accountant would give his or her career field away by naming the sailboat Liquid Assets.
So here are the top 10 boat names from one through 10 as gleaned from the BoatUS files:
- Happy Ours
- Freedom
- Grace
- Serendipity
- Island Time
- No Regrets
- Liberty
- At Last
- Blue Moon
- Aqua Holic
Trout stocking
Lake Erie’s lake trout are getting a boost from recent stockings hoped to increase the number of these deep water predators. Lake trout numbers are shrinking as declining natural reproduction and parasitic sea lamprey take a toll.
Ohio’s Division of Wildlife started stocking lake trout in Erie’s western basin in 2012 and add more fish each year. Thousands of young lake trout are now stocked far off shore to minimize the affect feeding gulls and other feeding birds. This year DOW fishery workers released 40,000 fish off shore and another 36,000 near shore.
Biologists from Lake Erie’s bordering states and Ontario will study the success of stocking efforts in hopes that the increase in numbers might point to more natural reproduction again.
