Why the name Full Monty? That is a question that’s being asked time & time again. We knew it would be a conversation piece, but we never knew it would be such a big issue.I’d love to know if choosing a boat name always causes a ruckus among family or friends!
Last time, we had the name Udder Delight for our Downeaster 38. Our family members disliked the name so much that they spoke of taking up a collection, so we could pay to have the name changed. They wanted us to keep the original name, Deliverance. Deliverance! All we could think of was the movie & “squeal like a pig!”
When we were buying the Downeaster, we only had hours to come up with a name. I remember walking around the Dana Point area with Wil, as we racked our brains for a name. We came up with Udder Delight because the boat was fat (like a cow) and was going to milk us dry of our money, but at the same time she was going to be a delight. However, once we started cruising, we can’t count how many times people asked us if we were dairy farmers. I guess that would be expected!
Now we have Full Monty!
The first thing most people think of is the movie “The Full Monty” or naked men. Someone I know is terrified that our name will bring swingers & party animals our way . . . and send the family boats sailing away from us. Others decided to see the movie and weren’t impressed at all. To be funny, Wil says we’re going to mount a stripper pole on the foredeck! Maybe we made a mistake in choosing the name, but to us it has a special meaning.
It was in 2000 when we set our goal to go cruising again. We laid out the plan, and for almost 10 years, we stayed on that path. We lived in Raleigh where Wil could earn the most money. We looked for ways to invest what money we had. We lived in a modest house and constantly pinched our pennies. We still managed to travel & have fun, but every thought & every thing we did was directed toward our cruising plans and buying a boat. Then, due to an excellent stock market trend, we had the opportunity to buy a beach house. This was going to be our boat & cruising money!
As time moved closer to our present day, and the latter part of the 10 year path, we started realizing there were small changes we were going to have to make. The beach house needed to become a permanent residence for 2 years before selling it, so we could avoid paying a significant amount in capital gains tax. We sold the Raleigh house, Wil moved into a rented trailer, and the kids & I moved to the beach. This allowed Wil to earn the most money, and at the same time, establish the beach house as our permanent residence. Once we bought the boat, we realized that Wil would have to keep working until the beach house sold. Therefore, our exact departure date became a little fuzzy, but we were going to do everything in our power to make sure that the 2010 departure still happened. Little did we know, the entire world’s economy would collapse! That little hiccup delayed our departure by 2 years. The boat sat on the hard in Beaufort, while we worked really hard to pay it off. June 2012 became our new departure date . . . something that was going to happen, even if it meant emptying all of our life’s savings.
So, what does this have to do with our boat name? Well, here are some of the “Full Monty” definitions I stumbled across while I was looking for a name that symbolized what we’ve done and are getting ready to do.
- “the whole thing; everything; the whole lot”.
- if something is the Full Monty, it is the real thing, not reduced in any way.
- a reference to bales full of wool imported from Montevideo;
- from a TV commercial for Del Monte fruit juice, in which one of the characters insisted on the full Del Monte;
- gamblers’ jargon meaning the kitty or pot, deriving from the old US card game called monte;
- the casino at Monte Carlo, in which the full monty would equate with breaking the bank;
- from Field Marshal Montgomery’s liking for a good breakfast in the morning;
- being supplied by the British tailors Montague Burton with a three-piece suit; or being provided with a complete wedding outfit from the same firm.”
The meaning of Full Monty that captured my attention the most was from this description of a musical production of “The Full Monty” by Musical Theatre International (MTI):
“As the guys work through their fears, self-consciousness, feelings of worthlessness and anxieties (over everything from being overweight to child custody, bigotry to being gay), they come to discover that not only are they stronger as a group, but that the strength they find in each other gives them the individual courage to face their demons and overcome them.”
“There is great heart to THE FULL MONTY, and the ultimate themes expressed in the show, about taking charge of one’s life and following one’s dreams are great lessons for all of us. And truth be told, through creative directing and staging, the final impact of “The Full Monty” can be achieved without ever losing your jockey shorts!”
“Taking charge of one’s life and following one’s dreams” . . . THAT, says it all for us right there! We’re doing what we set out to do, no matter what anyone else says or thinks. We’re doing the whole thing, and nothing less. We’re going to sail the world, and while we are out there, we will become stronger within ourselves, and as a family. In the meantime, we may break the bank, but we will cherish this experience for a lifetime!
Now who can’t be proud of a name like that?
