Tom Cunliffe

A boat name can be anything the first owner wants it to be. It might be a made-up word, perhaps from family members; it could be a person’s name, an emotion, a place, a headland, a piece of pure romance or somebody’s idea of a joke. The possibilities are literally endless and offer creative opportunities in abundance, but one or two pitfalls exist which the inexperienced would be well advised to avoid.

I remember two big Yankee schooners coming out around the same time. They sailed into my life back in the early 1980s when they were ten years old. One was the Bill of Rights. The other, named traditionally for her builder, was the Harvey Gamage. Both were, and for all I know still are, thrilling vessels, but my feelings for them were always at variance. The Bill of Rights was magnificently named because nothing,