Common Boating Superstitions

Because boats have been used by humans since before recorded history, there is a great deal of lore around their use. Many cultures have various superstitions about boating, particularly when it comes to sea-going ships and vessels that may not come back.

While boating is much safer and easier to do these days than it ever was in the past, thanks to modern technology, there are still some strange customs that stick, and there are also some that are just fascinating to learn about if you’re interested in boats.

Don’t Eat Bananas

This sounds peculiar, but you may encounter a serious sport fisher who refuses to let you snack on a banana on board their boat. Why? There are a few possible reasons for this peculiar quirk. Because cargo ships used to transport a great many different types of produce in their holds, the ethylene produced by bananas could cause some of the other fruits to rot before they made landfall. People didn’t know about ethylene in the past, so they just thought the banana was cursed.

Also, if a ship went down in the middle of the ocean, one of the few pieces of cargo that might still float on the surface of the water for other ships to view would be bunches of bananas. This resulted in a perception that the yellow fruit itself had caused the ship to go down.

Choose an Auspicious Launch Day

Traditionally, no one would embark on a boating expedition on a Thursday or a Friday. Thursdays were bad because the day is named for the Norse god of thunder, Thor, whose violent storms could put ships in peril. Friday is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, so Christian sailors opted to avoid it as a date of departure. Sunday is a great day, due to it being the Lord’s day in Christianity.

Paint Your Boat Any Color — Except Green

A green boat might seem pretty, but you probably won’t see many of them. Because green is the color of trees and grass, it was thought that a boat painted green would “seek land” and potentially crash into the shore. So other colors became more popular instead.

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