Swoose to be Renamed as Narwhal

Swoose has a rich history of sailing in Pacific Northwest waters, captained by a storied sailor who is well known within the Nonsuch Navy.

Swoose was his name for the vessel. The Swoose was a World War II bomber. It also describes a hybrid of a half swan, half goose. He had personal history in the aerospace industry so Swoose was a good fit for him.

While Swoose resonated with him, it doesn’t speak to us as strongly. She seems something other than a Swoose to us, and in fact, she wasn’t always named Swoose:

• Before 1987 to 1991: Floating Prime, San Diego, CA
• 1991 to 1996: Swoose, Friday Harbor, WA
• 1996 to 2022: Swoose, Port Townsend, WA

We have been seeking a name that we felt reflected the character of the boat while she is under our stewardship. We brainstormed in the evening, we talked about it during car trips, and occasionally one of us would wake up in the night with a name emerging from the depths of a dream. I won’t bore you with all of the silly names or the ones that were so obtuse that few people would have found meaning in them.

A name that did settle into place for us is Narwhal. A narwhal is sometimes called the unicorn of the sea. The single tusk is a tooth that extends far in front of the animal’s body, lending it a quixotic, almost mythological appearance.

I found a vector drawing of a narwhal that I downloaded, rotated, and recolored to serve as the icon for this website.

The Nonsuch 26, with it’s surprisingly tall unstayed mast, has that same iconic-but-ironic look to it. She became the Narwhal in our conversations, with nicknames like the Nar and the Gnarly Nar.

We’ll have to go through a renaming ceremony once Narwhal settles into her new home. In my mind, though, she’ll always be Narwhal née Swoose.