We have a boat name!

Thanks to everyone who voted!

We’ve got a winner!

RIPARIANNE is the new name of Sound Rivers’ new 2025 KenCraft Bay Rider Skiff 2060!

And the winning boat-name suggestion came from Perry Coltrane! Not only does Perry get bragging rights, but he’ll also receive Sound Rivers T-shirt (new design!), a copper-insulated water bottle, a Sound Rivers hat and a cruise on the new (and newly named) boat, piloted by our Neuse or Tar-Pamlico Riverkeepers!

A little more about RIPARIANNE

The name beat out four other finalists: Sound Hound, River Creeper, Al G. Bloom and The Tide Turner.

The name RIPARIANNE is a play on words: riparian, meaning “relating to or situated on the banks of a river” or “relating to wetlands adjacent to rivers and streams.” RIPARIANNE also looks and sounds like a woman’s name, which is a historical and cultural reference to the personification of ships as nurturing and protective entities and their association with goddesses and female figures in mythology.

A heartfelt ‘Thank you!’

Thank you, to everyone who sent in boat-name suggestions (all 124 of them)! Sound Rivers staff had a great time selecting the Top 5 finalists and rooting for our favorites!

We raised more than $800 during the voting phase of the contest, which will go a long way to supply RIPARIANNE.

Sign up for our weekly eNews today to keep up with RIPARIANNE’s future investigative adventures on the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico!

We’d like to thank the Smith Family Foundation, Park Boat Company in Washington, Bay Rider and some friends of Sound Rivers and YOU for making this possible! Because of you, your Riverkeepers will be out monitoring the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico in a new 2025 KenCraft Bay Rider Skiff 2060!