British Columbia鈥檚 ferry system is a vital part of the soul of coastal sa国际传媒, but you鈥檇 never know that by looking at the rules for naming new ships. sa国际传媒 Ferries seems determined to take what should be an exciting exercise and suck all the life and character out of it.
On Tuesday, Ferries invited staff and customers to suggest names for the three intermediate-class ferries under construction in Poland. If you thought of entering an idea as evocative as Spirit of the Salish Sea, think again.
Ferries named its newest addition, the cable ferry linking Denman Island to Vancouver Island, the Baynes Sound sa国际传媒or, which sounds like the name of a highway bypass or a cable for your audio system. The ferry鈥檚 utilitarian name makes it clear where it sails, and what it does. Yawn.
As dull as it is, the Baynes Sound name seems to quiver with excitement compared to what is to come with the intermediates.
Blame the rules.
For a start, the contest will not accept names that are 鈥済eography specific.鈥� No references to the communities served, even though the rules call for a name that will 鈥渞eflect sa国际传媒 Ferries and the coastal communities it serves.鈥�
We could name a ferry after a famous person or a uniquely British Columbia event 鈥� but no, people and events are unacceptable.
The name must be gender-neutral, must not contain symbols or accent marks, and must not include words that are already used on ferries or classes of ferries.
In spite of those rules, the names are supposed to meet another criterion: 鈥淎ppeal to both residents and visitors.鈥� Good luck with that.
The more rules, the more generic the names will have to be. We learned that a few years ago with the Coastal class. The names Coastal Renaissance, Coastal Inspiration and Coastal Celebration don鈥檛 say 鈥淏ritish Columbia.鈥�
The word 鈥淐oastal鈥� could refer to Alaska, Oregon, Newfoundland, England, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Falkland Islands or any other region of the English-speaking world that borders the ocean.
Compare those names to Queen of New Westminster, Spirit of British Columbia and Queen of Chilliwack. Residents and visitors can be in no doubt they are sailing the waters of sa国际传媒 on one of those vessels. The smaller Klitsa, Kwuna and Nimpkish are also charmingly unique to sa国际传媒鈥檚 West Coast.
sa国际传媒 Ferries folk groan at comparisons with Washington State Ferries, but our American neighbours have no trouble picking vessel names that are distinctive: Cathlamet, Elwha, Kittitas, Yakima. When you are travelling on the Klahowya, you know you are in Washington.
If you take away the names of people and places of the coast, you eliminate many of the things that make it uniquely British Columbian.
Washington avoids naming ships after people unless they are long dead and historically significant, but it looks for names that sa国际传媒 Ferries won鈥檛 consider. Washington鈥檚 rules specify: 鈥淣ames should represent such things as: state adopted symbols, tribal names, names of bodies of water, geographic locations, cities, counties, relate to nautical heritage, etc.鈥� Its policy is that 鈥淣ames for ferries should carry statewide significance and represent our state鈥檚 image and culture.鈥�
Celebration, Inspiration and Renaissance are uplifting words, but they are generic ones that don鈥檛 have obvious connection to the image and culture of sa国际传媒
Perhaps we could look to First Nations for names, as long as they don鈥檛 refer to people or places.
Better yet, sa国际传媒 Ferries could expand its naming policy to include suggestions that say, distinctively and unmistakably, 鈥淏ritish Columbia.鈥�
Failing that, we could just call the new ships Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2 and Intermediate 3.
