£500 fine for flying Cornish etc ensign

[matelot]

Lack of awareness of what? If you mean most Scots dislike / resentment of their fellow Britons, then we're well aware of it. What we are not aware of is why you stay in the Union feeling the way you do. It certainly isnt us keeping you here. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[richardabeattie]

I fly the blue ensign defaced because it shows I am posh enough to belong to a posh club that I never go to because the last time I did they ran me on to a rock in broad daylight with me standing on the cockpit seat saying "Look out for the rocks" and it took them 7 hours to get me to hospital in Inverness.

The question you may now be asking is "Why don't I cancel my subscription!" The obvious answer is because the skipper subsequently asked me to contribute my share of the lost deposit so I remain a member because I admire chutzpah.

 

[webcraft]

[ QUOTE ]
Lack of awareness of what? If you mean most Scots dislike / resentment of their fellow Britons, then we're well aware of it. What we are not aware of is why you stay in the Union feeling the way you do. It certainly isnt us keeping you here.

[/ QUOTE ] What an unnecessary post in a thread like this. Ocklepoint was simply pointing out that many Scots sailors are happy with both their national identity and their membership of the EU. The 'ensign' that OP flies represents this. It does not make him - or anyone else who flies that flag - anti-English.

I thought it was the Scots who were supposed to have a chip on their shoulder?

- W

 

[mikemonty]

[ QUOTE ]
Lack of awareness of what? If you mean most Scots dislike / resentment of their fellow Britons, then we're well aware of it. What we are not aware of is why you stay in the Union feeling the way you do. It certainly isnt us keeping you here. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

DO listen to yourself! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

THIS game, my friend, is not worth the candle.

 

[Fascadale]

Thank you Mr Webcraft

I am not aware of saying anything anti-English:indeed many of my best friends are English, I lived very happily for many years in England, most of my family live in England its just....well I'm not English, and I don't really feel very British.

If I were English I suspect I might wish to fly the proud flag of that country, St George's Cross.

As it is as a Scot I feel I should fly St Andrew's Cross

 

[VicS]

No mention yet of the Gay Ensign /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Tranona]

As ever, the real purpose of the ensign gets lost. It is not to do with national pride, showing where you live or anything like that for a yacht. It is simply to indicate that when you enter the territorial waters of another state it signifies that your yacht is British Registered and can therefore claim "innocent passage" and not be required to meet local registration requirements. The only ensign that achieves this for a British Merchant Ship is the Red Ensign. It is therefore logical that you don't have to wear it in UK territorial waters if you don't want to.

 

[LadyJessie]

[ QUOTE ]
many Scots sailors are happy with both their national identity and their membership of the EU. The 'ensign' that OP flies represents this.

[/ QUOTE ]This is very typical of the trend developing across the EU presently. You will see very many 'defaced' EU ensigns on yachts in the Med. These are sailors who are very comfortable with being European at the same time as they have a very strong national identity. It is not a contradiction. I am sure this insight will eventually lead to British sailors flying the EU flag with their Cornish/English/Wales/Scotland etcetera defacing flag. It is a natural development and the proliferation of regional ensigns show that we are already going down that path.

 

[mikemonty]

Sanity!
So wearing anything other than a recognised ensign in another nations waters is a bit like trying to get into another country with a passport you drew in crayon...
Yes ossifer, the yellow face IS me. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Believe me - that crayon trick rarely works!

 

[Robin]

[ QUOTE ]
If I were English I suspect I might wish to fly the proud flag of that country, St George's Cross.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most of us English don't parade our flag as do others and if we do the PC brigade object as it has become a symbol in some minds of BNP nationalism.

I fly a Red ensign most of the time and always when in foreign waters but I have a defaced blue ensign too from my YC which is kept for local use and especially in club company. However both of these are legal British ensigns.

Personally I do not like to see illegal Cornish or Scottish or EU+UK ensigns worn in foreign waters, it is incorrect and even rude. If people feel that strongly about having a separate local ensign then campaign to change the law to allow it.

I'm also proud to be British from the United Kingdom, if others like the Scots feel differently then again go for independence but be properly independent without sponging off UK taxes and especially not mine in England. At the same time take all the Scottish MPs in Westminster that vote on purely English matters, pay their salaries and expenses and move the buggers back over the border.

The Cornish 'ensign' is a real saddo in my book. Why don't we all have one, like say for Dorset or Hertfordshire or go really nuts and have one for Chipping Sodbury or Claggy Bottom.

 

[timbartlett]

[ QUOTE ]
I note that you exclude England from your list of non-nations. Do you have a reason?

[/ QUOTE ]
No. Should I have?

[ QUOTE ]
Also please note that the Scottish Saltire is a white cross on a sky blue background, and as such would only be mistaken for code flag M, by the colour blind, or the ignorant.

[/ QUOTE ]

The possibility that a white saltire on a blue ground might be mistaken for a white saltire on a slightly different blue background is not dependent on eyesight or education, nor was it intended to be any kind of political statement.

[ QUOTE ]
I am very happy to wear my country's flag

[/ QUOTE ] Good. Being happy is what boating is all about. Personally, I see no reason to be "proud" of having been born in a particular place (after all, it required no particular skill or judgement on my part!) so I prefer not to wag a flag except when it is required by law to do so.

Bon voyages

 

[grumpy_o_g]

Actually I don't believe Matelot mentioned England or the English either - from what I can see he only wrote "Briton". I interpreted your comments to mean "I want people to think I'm NOT part of the United Kingdom" and, as a United Kingdom subject myself, I can understand Matelot's response. It is indeed an achievement to Matelot and I in our thinking but the manner you have achieved it is rather saddening.

 

[john_morris_uk]

[ QUOTE ]
The Cornish 'ensign' is a real saddo in my book. Why don't we all have one, like say for Dorset or Hertfordshire or go really nuts and have one for Chipping Sodbury or Claggy Bottom.


[/ QUOTE ] Oy - some of us were born in Chipping Sodbury!!!

Having said that, I agree entirely with your sentiments...

 

[Twister_Ken]

Makes me sad that so many British yachts appear not to want to fly the red ensign. Plenty of seamen from all over Britain died beneath the red duster in the two world wars.

A visit to the merchant marine memorial by Trinity House and the Tower of London is very humbling.

 

[Fascadale]

Mr Robin

I agree, it does seem sad that the once proud Union flag now seems the property of the BNP, the Ulster loyalists and Glasgow Rangers. (none of them company in which I feel I would be comfortable)

I'm pleased you have a defaced blue ensign: I have an undefaced one which I wear at the occasional club event, it seems good manners to do so.

I quite agree, it does seem ridiculous having Scots MPs interfering in the business of another country but then we in Scotland remember the UK parliament with no Scots Tory MPs yet we suffered Tory rule. Still two wrongs don't make a right. Be brave England could survive without us Scots.

And as for the acccusation of "SPONGING " Mr Robin, I find that exceedingly uncalled for. I try to restrict my sponging to the dinghy: this is a sailing forum after all.

 

[webcraft]

Notwithstanding my sympathy for those who choose to fly a Scottish or EU 'ensign' we do in fact fly the red ensign and I expect we will continue to do so as we hope to 'go foreign' again in the next year or so. (We usually fly a saltire on the port spreader though and Mrs W sez that come the glorious day we will fly the Scottish ensign . . . )

Our current red duster is so tatty and threadbare that it is probably treasonable to fly it. Where is the best place to get a smallish one of reasonable quality at a sensible price?

- W

 

[Guest]

I once entered Dutch waters on a boat built in Britain, skipped by a South African and yet to be registered (delivery trip - not yet fitted-out). We radioed ahead to ask which flag we should fly. The reply we received was that we could fly a pair of ladies knickers at the masthead for all they cared.
I really like the Dutch.

 

[Fascadale]

Mr Twister_Ken

Regarding those who served and made great sacrifices in the past, please refer to my first post on this thread.

Yes it is very important that we remember their service and sacrifice but equallly it is important to remember that we now live in a new and changing world.

I'm not sure that we should allow the now fading but always valued memories of the past stand in the way of progress and change

 

[Twister_Ken]

Like the banks progressed and changed from being boring custodians of our money to exciting financial engineers, you mean?

I'd respectfully suggest that if you wish to fly something you regard as change and progress, rather than the national ensign, you lobby government to change the rules.

 

[Fascadale]

I know

Had they been synonymous I would have hoped not to have used both in the same sentence: an error perhaps graver than that of wearing an incorrect ensign