Blue Ensigns

[chrisb]

perhaps this is progress

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[Shakey]

Wales is part of the UK so a defaced red ensign is not an option.

It is possible to have a defaced blue ensign, perhaps some Taffys need to set up a Royal Welsh Yacht Club or summat like that, then they can have a blue ensign with a dragon or daffodil or leek or sheep in the fly.

<hr width=100% size=1>It could have been worse - it could have been me.

 

[alant]

There already is a Royal Welsh Yacht Club!
'Southern Division' is based at Lymington Yacht Haven.
PS - Wales is not represented on the Union Flag or Red Duster-because it is a Principality not a 'country' recognised by the Union.

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[trouville]

I used to fly the blue from a club Tony Blairs trying to abolish!But in the med its mostly Italians with their British registerd boats that fly the Blue and in one port thers a comander Healy who sell charts etc when he sees a Blue he comes rushing down the key to see the warent!!the Italians hate him and the rest of us fly the red!!

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[adarcy]

Not surprised

I think one has to be a British citizen (or of dependencies etc) on a registered boat to fly the blue. Italians certainly can't do it legally methinks

One hurrah for the Commander Healy ??

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[TrueBlue]

That's my understanding also; MrFlag was selling off some Scottish Reds this summer and they had the same explanation.

Flags of the world (FOTW.com) who publish a lot of info for flag anoraks say the same.

It's obsolete, so not "correct" to wear it but I do so just to upset the red / blue / busybody brigade. Trouble is nobody has spotted it yet; just looks like a Red with a dark blue bit...


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Stop what you're doing and wait my signal

 

[trouville]

I fly my blue but only in my adopted home port where during summer there are more blues flown and its understood. Otherwise for the last 10 years or more i dont always want to invite someone onboard while they look at my warent--Other wise you have officials in many ports that just wanted to know the difference between the red and blue--naturaly with a drink!
The red is well known i think it looks good and costs a quater of the replacement price!!
Flags are very importent and courtsy flages must be kept up as well.I wont agree with a "european flag" but as we are to get "european "numbers when will the Brussels lot want to standardise the flag?
Why cant the now independant(almost) contry of Scotland have its own flag as well--as an option to the red??
As theres a Scot hear --hoe can you get a boat to the Isel of Skye in winter??? do you have canals??

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[mikewilkes]

European Numbers be bu**ered !!!!!!

< "european flag" but as we are to get "european "numbers when will the Brussels lot want to standardise the flag? >

What's this cr*p about ?? Are these morons in Brussels now suggesting that we do away with small ssr numbers and go onto the obsene looking numbers they have on the bows of some vessels ???



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[catmandoo]

To Skye now you can take your boat over the bridge from the mainland if you can afford the toll

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[AndrewB]

If a red ensign it MUST be FADED if you wish to be recognised as British. A bright new red ensign is the international tax-dodgers insignia (generally American).

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[mikewilkes]

Does that mean when the old one finally wears out I need to wash the new one a few times until it fades a bit. Perhaps there is a market for faded reds like the jeans thing a few years ago. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

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[AndrewB]

The optional alternative is a very small ensign. Americans like them BIG.

Incidentally its the other way around for the French. A faded ensign is (or used to be) the international insignia of the charter yacht - a brand new ensign is required to denote Frenchness. But the French are at least the most sensibly unsnobbish people when it come to ensigns. France is one of the few major yachting countries not to have a modified version of their ensign to denote the supposedly superior yachtie.

 

[trouville]

reply to your post: I have my sail boat in the med.France. And in my home port i fly my "blue" unfortunatly the meds quite full and most of the year imposiable . I would like to change my boat (having owned my present one for 12years and more) Ive found one in skye which would wonderfully suit my ideas to once again enjoy the med and region. The problem being how to and what cost to retern to the med albeit very slowly(within at least two months to London-south- Then to France after that no time scale from north to south this time via the French canals-all the other time were--twice--via spain portugal gib-wonderful but quite hard work)
That i hope explains all??

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[macd]

...and before that, possibly Sicily. Basically it's a form of swastika (forget the Reich: it was originally a sun symbol, although Lord knows how that relates to the IoM) which arrived in Egypt about 500BC, possibly from India. I'll be taking mine back to the Lord of the Isles' patch next summer. If the Lords could manage it, a spot of sun wouldn't go amiss.

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[mdrifter]

Yes it's true and quite a few of us up here continue to fly the Scottish Maritime Ensign both at home and abroad! Provokes communication as to what it is and where it comes from - after all we have our own Parliament and Saltire so why not fly our own ensign - oh, yes, I suppose it really ought not be done but it's a bit of fun and so far hasn't caused us any problems way down south...We understand that it has never been revoked, just fallen out of use but no doubt someone out there may know more and better?

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[catmandoo]

As a patriotic Scot with border Reiver ancestry and one of the Dark Stranger clan where can I get a Scottish navy flag ?

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[RichardPerou]

Member of Bordeaux Yacht Club (?) once told me that his club could use a defaced tricolor.

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[charles_reed]

If I might make a minor

correction or 2.

My experience, in France, that a number of large motor boats wore a red ensign (and presumably had a CI registration). They were usually French avoiding the heavy annual tax on their boats.

In all my 10 years around the Atlantic coasts of France, Spain and Portugal and in the Western Med, I've not yet come across an American flying anything but the Stars and Stripes.

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[charles_reed]

Blue Ensigns: Advantages and Disadvantages

Though advised against by the UK authorities I've always flown a blue ensign.
This, I assure all rabidly PC posters, has nothing to do with élitism or to cause raised blood-pressure.

On a few occasions it has proved quite useful - the French Douanes recognise it as being a "Pavillon militaire" and are less likely to subject you to the indignities other Brits seem to encounter - in fact in la Rochelle they were most amiable.
In Alghero I overheard the berthing master explain to the port police that "Only milords fly that flag...", which accounted for the exaggerated courtesy with which I was treated.

The one downside might be considered being mistaken for an Antipodean - however there is less general antipathy to Kiwis and Aussies than to Brits and my family hail from Ashburton on S Island....

The greatest disadvantage is having to continue paying the MCA radio-licence and finding almost complete silence on Ch 16 - in complete contrast to the more overcrowded parts of the UK.

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[AndrewB]

Re: If I might make a minor

Not come across this one?

Or the USPS Ensign? Technically I believe the Yacht Ensign did lose its privileged status a few years ago, and cannot be substituted for the US Ensign outside US waters. Still seems to be a mark of the snottie yottie in home waters though.