A common point of conversation among sailors begins like this..."I see your boat is named 'X'. What an interesting name. How did you decide upon the name 'X' for your boat?"

Naming a boat takes on special significance when you are a cruiser. It is like selecting your own name. We often refer to the other cruisers we meet by boat name rather than by their given names. When I ask Sheryl, "Did you see Chapaquitic in town today?" I certainly don't mean, 'was there a boat parked in the middle of main street'. Instead, I am inquiring after John & Mary.

When we purchased our sailboat, it had another name: Queste. We considered keeping it for the sake of simplicity and to avoid any superstitious ramifications, but it just didn't have any real significance for us. We wanted the name which represented our cruising identity to be something of our own choosing.

There were three important criteria a boat name had to have for our consideration:

First, the name had to evoke a persona and, call me old fashion, but I thought it should be a feminine persona. Therefore, a name like Miss Patricia could be considered, but a moniker such as Escape from the Ordinary was ruled out.

Second, we wanted a one-word name which was easy to pronounce. We loved the name Ashiya for our first boat, but many had trouble understanding and pronouncing it on the radio. That is the last thing one needs when trying to negotiate an opening with a bridge tender or to communicate one's position to the captain of a supertanker.

Third, we wanted a name which said something about us. A single-word statement of who we are. How's that for a challenge?

Sheryl was the first to suggest the name Prudence. As soon as she said it, a smile came to my face. I mentally checked off the first two items on the criteria list, then rolled the notion evoked by the word Prudence around in my mind for a bit.

The dictionary defines prudence as follows:

pru�dence (prood'ns) -noun
1. provident care in the management of resources; economy; frugality.
2. caution with regard to practical matters; regard for one's own interests.
3. a female given name.

Any of the three definitions work for what we are trying to engender. The way we nurture frugality is the key to achieving and maintaining our freedom from regular employment. Our focus on safety and security leads us to be practical and cautious in our sailing endeavors. And, the boat would have a name which denotes a personality, the all important third member of our crew.

As serendipity would have it, we found an additional reason that Prudence is the ideal name for our boat. Research revealed that there is a tie between Prudence and the Southern Cross in classic literature. In Dante's Divine Comedy, he ascribed moral virtues to each of the four main stars of the Southern Cross constellation: Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Fortitude. (Note for those counting stars: it is believed that Dante was unable to see the fifth and faintest star in the constellation) If I had to choose, I think we picked the right virtue for our name.

And, finally, for the answer to the most frequently asked question about our boat name ... No, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Beatles song of a similar title.