Could I have a blue flag

[iangrant]

I took a friend out sailing at the weekend and he said why have some other boats got blue flags and we only have a red one?
I wondered where I could get one, I've not seen them in the chandlers especially with the nice gold sewing.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jimi]

Och, just 'borrow' one. You'll have to be a bit sharpish as the chappies that fly them seem to like to take them in at night to stop people nicking them.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Missed opportunity

You should have rambled on endlessly about the proud heritage of the brave red duster, seen on all seven seas of the world; about brave British seaman bringing home the bacon with smoke salted cake stacks; about torpedoes and shipwrecks and boys standing on burning decks.

And then ranted about the blue ensign being the last vestige of a dying class system; artistos with backs to walls protecting ntheir right to eat brown windsor soup in dreary yacht clubs; honourable vice commodores (catering) flying their particular burgee; and toffee-nosed dowagers in ball gowns with diamante anchor brooches swiving the paid hands (honoured to have been of service your Ladyship, and don't forget the little ones at Christmas).

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Twister_Ken on 03/06/2003 09:34 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Robin]

Posts about blue ensigns are getting to be very tedious. Are you guys really so sadly lacking in self esteem that such things matter? Yes we do fly a defaced blue ensign, it has nothing to do with 'class' or 'snobbery' it has to do with being members of Parkstone Yacht Club in just the same way as we have PYC on the transom and a PYC burgee. All three major yacht clubs in Poole have the right to fly blue ensigns, Royal Motor Yacht Club, Poole Yacht Club and Parkstone Yacht Club, that's a whole lotta boats just in Poole alone. There are many many others all round the country plus the Cruising Association which hardly makes it exclusive. The white ensign of the Royal Yacht Squadron does maybe have an exclusive whiff about it but so what. Come on guys, get a life, go sailing wave at everyone and SMILE, even at stinkies.





<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[iangrant]

I only asked if I could have one! I still don't know where to get one. I've seen lots around Lymington but not not in the shops.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jamesjermain]

If you need to ask you're not entitled!

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[Robin]

They are sold by the clubs, your boat needs to be Part 1 registered and the club issue a 'warrant' (scrap of paper) giving permission to fly it only when the club burgee is also flown. They are also pricey because they are made in limited numbers and the 'defaced' bit is fiddly to do. In our case the defaced bit is a dolphin sewn in on both sides, which makes it so heavy the thing never flys properly anyway unless it is very windy. Because of the cost some meanies take them down at night (nothing to do with flag etiquette you see) to save wear and tear and even switch to pretty red ones when out of sight of the chairman of the club flag police committee. There was a rumour that we could claim a discount on our berth or mooring fee if we fly the blue, sadly not the case.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AndrewB]

LMAO! The real downer for the blue flag brigade ..

... is that every Ozzie is entitled to one. Maybe Iangrant should emigate!

Thanks for the laugh, Ken.

 

[iangrant]

Now I really do have a very low self esteem

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Robin]

Sorry for that phrase, SWMBO is American you see and they have a thing about it.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[iangrant]

Re: LMAO! The real downer for the blue flag brigade ..

do you have red ones there then?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[bedouin]

Yes of course you can Ian - a number of chandleries sell these by mail order.

However, these days dark blue ensigns are getting frightfully common - have you considered one in light blue. They are much more exclusive and would add a certain cachet.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jamesjermain]

Ah! But you see...

It was because the Admiralty were such meanies that the custom arose in the first place. HM shipsin the 17th century were ordered to take down ensigns at all times when they wouldn't normally be visible - ie at night and at sea - to save wear and tear. All the rest is merely navy flummery to make a ceremony out of a necessity

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[iangrant]

Ooooohh I'd never thought of that - it would match the blue stripes on the boat nicely..Have you got one?

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Sybarite]

Re: Could I have a green flag

As I'm both Irish and British could I not be original - as well as bridge building - have a green one?

John

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Gunfleet]

Re: Missed opportunity

Ken you expressed it all so well.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[bedouin]

No - I was really looking for a pretty green one that would go well with boat scheme, but I couldn't find one anywhere. I didn't think either blue would go very well with the green sprayhood and dodgers, so eventually I went for the red one instead.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[summerwind]

Re: LMAO! The real downer for the blue flag brigade ..

Yes, every Aussie is entitled to fly a blue flag, but only if it has been spattered with blobs of flying rat poo - in the appropriate shape and places of course.

The blobs signify, as all Aussies will tell you, that they are members of a nation that has been sh*t on.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Could I have a light blue flag

Light blue is available from the RAFYC. Unfortunately, it has got a target painted on it, and so is more collision prone

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[Aeolus_IV]

To miss-quote some well known instructions...

.. light blue flag and stand well clear..

/forums/images/icons/smile.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>