What's in a name?

To the superstitious sailor -everything. Poseidon, Greek god of the seas, does not take kindly to boats and ships without names or those that have been renamed without ceremony.  Even disregarding the ancient Greeks and the Romans that usurped their lands and gods, every boat needs a name, even if just for safety's sake. To make a call to the United States Coast Guard from "art's boat" simply does not take the same consideration as a call from the "Sailing Vessel Spark".

With that in mind, Spark's transom is coming along nicely with the mahogany taking on a nice reddish glow below 5 layers of varnish. You can still see the marks and scars, but it is still a pretty stern. Having gotten to the point, consideration was made to affixing her proper name to that lovely wood. In this regard, computers and printers make it so much easier than before!

After choosing a font, one that was neither too serious nor too frivolous, it was time to choose a size. I printed up three different variations and casually taped them to the transom to see how they look. Remember that Spark has an outboard rudder that bisects the stern, so the name has to be both offset and small enough to fit half the size yet still be large enough to be read.

Starting with the small.

It is just a little too small. It does not fit the space properly and would leave too much to be desired in reading from a distance.

Next: Medium.

Medium is the one I think I prefer, now I am not too sure. It leaves just the perfect bit of blank space between the side of the transom and the rudder and is easier to read from a distance without overpowering the stern.

And now for Large:

Much easier to read and still gives a nice bit of wood showing between the letters and the defined edges of the space. I am caught between the Medium and the Large. Originally I preferred the medium while I was working on Spark, but in the pictures I think the Large looks better. I need to think about this for a set before I finally decide. Still, is progress!