A Boat by Any Other Name

From the materials and photos that have been passed down with the boat, I know that one of her former names was 'Rum Tum Tugger', from the second owner, Mary Rose Shaughnessy.  She sharec a lovely album and personal narrative about the 15 years she owned and sailed her. I also found the name 'Jupiter' stenciled on a sail bag.  She came to me without any name signs, so I believe she deserves a new name befitting her new cruising grounds.

A Florida native, I'm quite enamored with the long and vibrant history of this wonderful state.  And while I would like to think of myself as a Florida Cracker, I and my own family are but relative new comers. My admiration lies with the indigenous peoples, Timucuan and Seminoles and the first European settlers who came and fished, hunted, and cultivated the land here long before. I've lived a substantial portion of my life in close proximity to the St. Johns River and have enjoyed many hours of sailing, fishing, and exploring on her. When we finish the boat, one of our first multi-night cruises will be from Sanford to Jacksonville going 'down river' - North, and then returning 'up river' - South. It promises to be a beautiful and picturesque trip plying the same route of commerce as the paddle-wheelers and coastal sharpies of the 18th and 19th centuries to my own family origins in central Florida.

A wonderful book that explores not only the early history of Florida's residents, but also the geologic and natural history of the St. Johns River is "A River of Lakes: A Journey Down Florida's St. Johns River" by Bill Belleville.  In the book Bill shares an earlier name for the river - "From the Seminoles came a version of a word first used to describe the St. Johns, Welaka, —a corruption of Ylacco. It was said to mean "river of lakes." Ylacco is a graphic description of a water system that seems to be a series of broad inland bays linked together by a channel. Then, there is another, lesser known interpretation of Ylacco. For me, it fits just as well, for it wanders into poetry: It hath its own way, is alone contrary to every other." (1)

As a hopeless romantic, I can think of no better name for this boat for the time in which I'll sail her than Ylacco. For it is by the whim of the wind and tides, and for the less popular and more natural destinations that we will sail - 'contrary to every other' in our own time.

(1) Belleville, Bill. River of Lakes: A Journey on Florida's St. Johns River. Athens: U of Georgia, 2000. Print.