NaCzarter Team
What don't you do on board?
On board you don't whistle, you don't wish anyone "good luck", you don't set sail on a Friday, and you don't turn back for a hat that fell in the water. Every sailor who has spent at least one season on the water knows the superstitions, and almost everyone follows them, though nobody will admit to believing. I've been running charters in Giżycko for 25 years, and in that time I've heard everything on the jetty. People who "don't believe in it" but knock on wood. Skippers who laugh at Neptune but would never change a yacht's name without a ceremony. Nobody believes, everybody complies. Well, until the first dead calm.
No whistling on board
The classic of classics. Whistling summons the wind, and at sea, wind summoned by whistling supposedly always arrived too strong and always from the wrong direction. Another school says that on naval ships the whistle was reserved for the bosun's pipe, so the ban had a purely practical side too. Either way: no whistling. In Masuria this rule holds exactly until the first dead calm. There's a yacht sitting in the middle of Lake Niegocin, sails hanging like laundry, heat everywhere, and suddenly the whole crew starts whistling. In a dead calm, nobody believes in whistling. But everyone whistles, because hey, it might just work. Sometimes it even does, though I suspect the wind would have come anyway.
"A foot of water under the keel", never "good luck"
You never tell a sailor "good luck" before a cruise. It brings bad luck, just like with actors before a premiere. Instead, you wish them "a foot of water under the keel". At sea it's a symbol. In Masuria it can be literal: on some approaches, that foot of water under the keel really is all you've got. Anyone who has ever "felt" the bottom with the centreboard while nosing into the reeds knows it's the most practical wish in the world.
You don't set sail on a Friday
An old maritime tradition: Friday is a bad day to start a voyage. The roots are religious — Friday, as the day of the crucifixion, was considered a bad day to begin anything, and at sea the memory lasted longest. Supposedly sailors would refuse to leave port, and shipowners preferred to shift the date rather than start on a Friday. In Masuria the matter solved itself, because charters are handed over on Saturdays. Neptune has nothing to complain about. If you're sailing for the first time and want to know what such a Saturday handover looks like step by step, we described it in our guide to your first charter.
Renaming a yacht requires a ceremony
Neptune keeps a register and doesn't like people fiddling with it unannounced. Changing a yacht's name without a ceremony is asking for trouble — at least that's what tradition says. So it gets turned into a little celebration: you bid farewell to the old name, christen the new one, something gets poured over the bow, someone gives a speech. I once saw a ceremony in our harbour with a bell and the bow being doused with water straight from Lake Kisajno. Purists will say Neptune was owed champagne, but apparently he accepted it, because the yacht still sails to this day and nothing bad has happened. The paperwork at the office took longer than the whole ceremony anyway.
A hat overboard stays in the water
A hat that falls into the water belongs to the lake now. That's the rule, and it's better not to break it. The discussion starts when it was the favourite hat. A few years ago, a crew on Lake Kisajno turned back for the skipper's hat. Their "man overboard" manoeuvre came off beautifully, and they fished the hat out with the boathook on the second pass. The problem is that with that same swing, the boathook slipped out of the hand, took on water and went to the bottom before anyone could grab it. The lake gave back the hat but took the boathook. The balance came out even, and the superstition held its ground.
Right foot first on deck, and knocking on wood
You step on deck with the right foot; the left brings bad luck. And if someone says out loud that "the weather will hold", they immediately knock on wood. On a charter yacht that's a problem, because the mast is aluminium, so you knock on the saloon table or your own head. Supposedly it works just the same. I had a regular client who for years kept saying superstitions were fairy tales for children. A great rationalist. Except in all those years I never once saw him step aboard with his left foot. Not once. When I asked him, he said it was simply more comfortable that way. Sure it was.
"A woman on board brings bad luck": nonsense as old as sails
This myth needs debunking once and for all. It comes from the era of months-long voyages and all-male crews: a woman on board was supposed to distract the sailors, sow jealousy and quarrels, and anger the sea while she was at it. The best part is that the same folklore claimed a naked woman calms the sea — hence the undressed figureheads on the bows of old sailing ships. A superstition with a built-in loophole, evidently written by the sailors themselves. The reality on our jetties looks like this: half of the best skippers I see are women. More than once I've watched a helmsman shouting, waving his arms and hitting the mooring piles sideways, while his wife calmly takes the helm — two moves and the yacht sits still. If a woman on board brings bad luck, it's only to whoever races against her at a regatta.
Where did sailing superstitions and customs come from?
Most of these sailing superstitions and customs sailed into Masuria from the sea. Some, like knocking on wood, are older than seafaring itself, but it was the sea that gave them their rigour. Generations of sailors carried shanties, customs and superstitions to the lakes that were centuries old on the oceans. The sea was dangerous and unpredictable, so sailors built themselves rituals, because when a man is afraid, he needs something to do with his hands. The lake is kinder, but the rituals stayed, because they're simply beautiful. Anyone who wants to feel how long this tradition has lived here should look into the memories of the old days in Masuria or see what Masuria looked like a hundred years ago. Whole generations learned to sail on the Omega, the legend of Polish sailing, and along with sailing they inherited all this folklore.
Sailing superstitions in a nutshell
Everything above in one table, to memorise before your cruise.
| Superstition | Where it came from | Does anyone actually care |
|---|---|---|
| No whistling on board | Whistling summons a storm, the sailors said | Until the first dead calm. Then the whole crew whistles |
| "A foot of water under the keel" instead of "good luck" | "Good luck" tempts fate, just like with actors | Yes, and rightly so. In Masuria the wish can be literal |
| You don't set sail on a Friday | Friday is the day of the crucifixion, unlucky on land too | In Masuria, Saturday charter handovers solve it on their own |
| Renaming a yacht requires a ceremony | Neptune keeps a register and doesn't like changes to it | Yacht owners do. Government offices even more so |
| A hat overboard stays in the water | An offering to the lake, so it doesn't take more | Until it's the favourite hat |
| Right foot first on deck | The left side has always been "unlucky" | Officially nobody. Unofficially everyone steps right foot first |
| A woman on board brings bad luck | Male crews, long voyages and a superstition with a loophole (naked figureheads) | Nobody sensible. Half of the best skippers are women |
What do we need all this for?
You can laugh at these customs, and we do — loudest at ourselves. But there's something more in them than folklore. When someone on the jetty says "a foot of water under the keel", what they're really saying is: take care of yourself, come back in one piece. Sailing superstitions aren't superstition in the bad sense. They're the way people of the water tell each other that they care. And that's why, even though 25 years have passed, I still won't say "good luck" to anyone before a cruise. So what superstition rules on your boat? Because every crew has its own, even if nobody admits it.
Frequently asked questions
What does the wish "a foot of water under the keel" mean? It's the sailor's version of "good luck": you wish someone that they always have enough water under the hull and never run aground. On the shallow Masurian trails, where the centreboard can brush the bottom near the reeds, it can be surprisingly literal.
Do sailors really believe in superstitions? Officially, nobody. In practice, hardly anyone will step aboard with their left foot, and you won't hear "good luck" before a cruise from anyone who has spent more than one season on the water. It's more tradition and good manners than belief.
What shouldn't you say to a sailor before a cruise? "Good luck". Instead, you wish them "a foot of water under the keel". It means exactly the same thing, only in sailor's language, and nobody will take offence.
Can you change a yacht's name? You can — formally it's a matter of paperwork. Tradition says, however, that without a ceremony of bidding farewell to the old name and christening the new one, Neptune will be angry. Most yacht owners turn it into a small celebration, because it's a good excuse to gather at the jetty.
Is Friday a bad day to start a charter? According to maritime tradition, yes — you didn't set sail on Fridays. In Masuria the problem solves itself, because charters are handed over on Saturdays. Neptune and the harbour schedule are remarkably in agreement here.
Cover photo: NaCzarter.pl
