Every hobby or profession has its superstitions. Do you have a lucky shirt you wear when you watch your favorite sports team, and do you believe they won’t win if you aren’t wearing it? That’s a superstition.
Boaters are no different, and there are some common superstitions with strange origins. So if you’re looking for boats for sale in Palm Beach county, get ready to encounter a few of these:
There’s no word on whether the luck gets canceled out by bringing a traditionally unlucky black cat.
This superstition stems from cats being excellent at eliminating vermin, which in centuries past, constantly infested boats. Rats and mice ate ships’ food, chewed through wood, and carried disease — yes, even the bubonic plague.
While it’s true that fleas carried the Black Death, and the fleas actually preferred humans, it’s not like the rats were helping, either.
Now, this might sound like sailors were being particularly unfair, but remember, there was a time when everyone thought redheads were unlucky.
According to this superstition, the only way sailors could avoid bad juju if they ran across a redhead was to speak first. If the redhead spoke to the sailor first, too bad — the sailor was riddled with bad luck. They also wouldn’t allow redheads on board the ship.
No, sailors didn’t have a fear that they would slip on the peel in a comical fashion. Just like the lucky cat phenomenon, this one’s also based on fact.
Bananas release ethylene gas that can ripen other fruits faster than they would ripen otherwise, meaning entire shipments could spoil before reaching their destination. Also, the bananas could harbor venomous spiders — and they still can.
Let’s say you’re shopping for boats in Palm Beach. You find one you like, but the boat’s name is “An Angel Named Linda,” you know a Linda, and you hate her guts. Well, you’re stuck with the name if you want to survive on the water.
Once upon a time, sailors thought boats only took on a life of their own once they were named and christened. Changing the name was bad luck, or worse, an attempt to fool the gods of the sea — or it could be that changing the name of a reputable ship made it more difficult when trading at ports of call.
Yes, this one is real, and yes, they thought women would distract the sailors, make them all jealous, and cause the ship to wreck.
Remember, these are just superstitions. Unless you are a redheaded banana trader worried about rats spreading the plague on your renamed ship, you should be fine picking out the perfect boat.
