Coastguard bans Champagne boat smash

An Australian coastguard has banned the christening of new vessels by smashing a bottle of Champagne against their hull because it is “dangerous and bad for the environment”.

A long standing naval tradition, it is considered good luck to smash a bottle of fizz on the bow of a new vessel. However the Queensland Coast Guard has now banned the practice.

It means that the Mooloolaba coast guard will not be able to break in its new vessel, the Rotary 3, with a celebratory smash this weekend, Instead, it will have to pour a pre-opened bottle over its bow at an official blessing ceremony.

“I realise times move on”, said deputy commander, Rod Ashlin, who is also the chairman of the vessel committee, told the Sunshine Coast Daily. “It used to regarded as bad luck if the bottle didn’t break. People of the sea tend to be a bit superstitious about these things! It is now environmentally unfriendly to break the glass. I have launched plenty of vessels by breaking Champagne over the bow. It is a politically correct world.”

The tradition has long been observed by royalty and politicians, with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt breaking a bottle of Champagne over the bow of the S.S America in 1939.

Princess Grace of Monaco has previously taken part in the tradition, hurling a champagne bottle at a vessel in New York. In 2013, the Duchess of Cambridge marked the naming of the new Royal Princess cruise ship by smashing a bottle of Moët & Chandon Impérial on the 3,600-passenger ocean liner.