Where’s that, Sailor?

You can name your boat almost anything except Mayday and Vessel In Distress. As long as it will make sense when hailing the Coast Guard on marine radio, they don’t care. Amusement arise when one tries to hail Tow Boat US three times, because it sounds very much like Toy Boat, which is hard to say three times. It’s harder for charter sailboats because they’re often unfamiliar with the name of the boat.

The hailing port below the name is another matter. People think: Where’s that, Sailor? Some think it has to be where the boat is physically, but it’s okay to list the home venue of the owner. Thus a boat can be from Palm Springs, California, when in fact the nearest water is, well, way far away. In this case, the boat is at a marina on the York River.
USCG regulations stipulate: “The hailing port must be a place in the United States included in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 55DC.”

This motorboat at right is probably owned by a urologist.

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