Who is Lacuna?

Lacuna is the name of our boat! (When I say our I am referring to my friend Max who I met whilst studying in Berkeley and with whom I'm doing the entire trip.) Our Westsail 32 was originally called Panacea.

Although the name painted on the boat hasn't changed yet (we bought new letters today from "Sign Diego"), the registration papers now read Lacuna hailing from Berkeley, CA rather than Panacea hailing from Chiloquin, OR. Panacea might seem a fine name but there are a few reasons for the change:

- It's a pun. Punny boat names are all over the place and in my opinion belong on children's sailing dinghys, not an ocean crossing sailing machine! Today "Passing Wind" sailed past us in the anchorage and I cringed on their behalf. Some will argue that sailing is a fun lighthearted pursuit and that a pun reflects this but sailing is also an ancient and serious affair which deserves respect. Besides how can you take yourself seriously on the radio? We heard this gem over ch 16: "San Diego coast guard this is sailing vessel License to Keel, License to Keel, License to Keel, over." Granted Panacea is a subtle pun as boat puns go, but still, someone has to make a stand!

- It feels unlucky. We felt it was bad luck to have a boat named after a medicinal cure all when the previous  owner sold it to us for health reasons! Not that I'm superstitious. It's bad luck to be superstitious. 

- The hailing port. Chiloquin is a landlocked town in Oregon which already doesn't make sense for a sailboat. The hailing port is basically the boat's last name and is used to distinguish all the "Unsinkable II"s or "Wet Dream"s (yes people call their boats Wet Dream all the time). However, as a sailor your hailing port is also your look-how-far-we've-sailed badge. So we wanted ours to be the beginning of our journey. That way when people ask, "Did you come all the way across from Berkeley?" we can reply with a non challant "Yup".

So why Lacuna? The credit goes to Max and his mum for coming up with the name. It sounds good for one. But it is also a synonym for break, hiatus or gap which we feel is a pretty accurate description of our year out before adult life. It can often refer to a gap in knowledge specifically, which is a bit of a tounge in cheek acknowledgement of how woefully unprepared and ignorant we were/are of so many aspects of this trip. We're learning though! 

In any case I like the name and changing it has helped us appropriate the boat and make it feel more like a home. We need to change the paint before we get to Mexico though or we'll face all kinds of trouble when our papers don't match the boat!