Do you dread seeing a boat with a particular national ensign come towards you?

Roberto said:
laika!
Glad you liked Braquo, have you seen "Tunnel" ? (not sure of the English title)
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With apologies for thread drift....

Yes: got Braquo partly on your recommendation from last(?) year. Slight initial "cultural adaptation" to get into that french existential mindset to warm to the characters. Oh dear: Could it be that I'm acknowledging a French tendency to glorify crime so long as the perpetrators are being true to themselves? Lots of back-pedalling on previous posts required :-). Big fan of the Swedish/Danish "The Bridge" but not yet seen "The Tunnel" as I believe it is called in english
 
laika said:
With apologies for thread drift....
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Yes sorry I apologize too for thread drift.


Well I felt the need to do so, especially as it's the third thread where one poster repeatedly challenges Goebbels as to "let me enlighten you all and unveil you the truth about The Evil Stealing People". At anchor, of course.
 
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Yesterday we were anchored in a large bay with plenty of room when a French boat came in and anchored a cats cock hair between two other boats when there was so much space. The wind got up and he dragged. He re anchored elsewhere and dragged back into the main buoyed channel to the marina but dug in. The next thing he did was to turn his anchor light on and go to bed leaving his boat there... amazing.. not where he is anchored but that he turned his anchor light on.
 
Nostrodamus said:
Yesterday we were anchored in a large bay with plenty of room when a French boat came in and anchored a cats cock hair between two other boats when there was so much space. The wind got up and he dragged. He re anchored elsewhere and dragged back into the main buoyed channel to the marina but dug in. The next thing he did was to turn his anchor light on and go to bed leaving his boat there... amazing.. not where he is anchored but that he turned his anchor light on.
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Pass his bed time maybe ?
 
I hate to have to admit this, but I've become very wary of - the red ensign. Before everyone starts shouting things like 'traitor' and 'miserable sod', let me explain.

We've spent much of the last nine months leisurely motoring the canals of France to the med. All the french we've met have been marvelous. Now there are a lot of Brits living on the canals, many in steel barges or ex hire-boats. Unfortunately, the first Brit I spoke to was one of these. I had just moved the boat to give room to a hotel boat, and mentioned my disappointment about having to move away from the nice french couple who had been helping with our rather poor french

He replied: "Well if you've found a nice frenchman, you better hang on to 'im then, 'cos there ain't many around. I been here 5 years and ain't found a nice one yet."

Unfortunately, this attitude seems to prevail a lot, mainly amongst a particular type, and the above statement I've heard repeated more than once. Not by all of course, but many. I became so concerned by these peoples' attitude towards the people whose country they had chosen to live in, I have on occasion been known to roll up my ensign so only the red bit shows, out of embarrassment! (appears like a flag from many countries)

I have to say the attitude on the coast ('proper' boaters ?) seems entirely different.

I'd also add that many of these Brits don't fly the ensign much, often not even a courtesy flag. They seem to have adopted a new ensign though. They are easily spotted flying a ridiculously large satelite dish!

Apologies to all the nice people we've met, of all nationalities.
 
This thread reminds me of the old folk tale

'A traveler came upon an old farmer hoeing in his field beside the road. Eager to rest his feet, the wanderer hailed the countryman, who seemed happy enough to straighten his back and talk for a moment.
"What sort of people live in the next town?" asked the stranger.
"What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer, answering the question with another question.
"They were a bad lot. Troublemakers all, and lazy too. The most selfish people in the world, and not a one of them to be trusted. I'm happy to be leaving the scoundrels."
"Is that so?" replied the old farmer. "Well, I'm afraid that you'll find the same sort in the next town.
Disappointed, the traveler trudged on his way, and the farmer returned to his work.
Some time later another stranger, coming from the same direction, hailed the farmer, and they stopped to talk. "What sort of people live in the next town?" he asked.
"What were the people like where you've come from?" replied the farmer once again.
"They were the best people in the world. Hard working, honest, and friendly. I'm sorry to be leaving them."
"Fear not," said the farmer. "You'll find the same sort in the next town."

:)
 
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Davegriff said:
I hate to have to admit this, but I've become very wary of - the red ensign. Before everyone starts shouting things like 'traitor' and 'miserable sod', let me explain.

We've spent much of the last nine months leisurely motoring the canals of France to the med. All the french we've met have been marvelous. Now there are a lot of Brits living on the canals, many in steel barges or ex hire-boats. Unfortunately, the first Brit I spoke to was one of these. I had just moved the boat to give room to a hotel boat, and mentioned my disappointment about having to move away from the nice french couple who had been helping with our rather poor french

He replied: "Well if you've found a nice frenchman, you better hang on to 'im then, 'cos there ain't many around. I been here 5 years and ain't found a nice one yet."

Unfortunately, this attitude seems to prevail a lot, mainly amongst a particular type, and the above statement I've heard repeated more than once. Not by all of course, but many. I became so concerned by these peoples' attitude towards the people whose country they had chosen to live in, I have on occasion been known to roll up my ensign so only the red bit shows, out of embarrassment! (appears like a flag from many countries)

I have to say the attitude on the coast ('proper' boaters ?) seems entirely different.

I'd also add that many of these Brits don't fly the ensign much, often not even a courtesy flag. They seem to have adopted a new ensign though. They are easily spotted flying a ridiculously large satelite dish!

Apologies to all the nice people we've met, of all nationalities.
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Well said :) we have met much more friendly and nice and helpful french and just an hand full of the oppsit .
 
Davegriff said:
He replied: "Well if you've found a nice frenchman, you better hang on to 'im then, 'cos there ain't many around. I been here 5 years and ain't found a nice one yet."
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There do seem to be an unfortunately number of loud, arrogant and xenophobic English people (I have never noticed a Welsh, Scottish or Norn Ayrish issue) in France.

I went to Cherbourg to see the total eclipse in 1999 and, with many hundreds of others, climbed to the top of the fortress hill for a good view. Loud conversation between English couple who arrived at the last moment:

He: "I told these people (who had been there for at least an hour) to move so I could take photographs, but they wouldn't."

She: "Well, what can you expect? They are French, you know."​

Luckily the eclipse happened. The Englishman filmed the moon at totality with his camcorder (remember then) but obviously didn't consider what would happened when the sun came out again ... I was rather pleased to see him gazing at the device in a bemused way, turning it off and on again repeatedly, when I left.
 
I should have said in my earlier post, that first fellow, and indeed several of the type met later, actually seemed proud that had lived in France for several or even many years without learning a word of the language. Astonishing.
 
Davegriff said:
. . . We've spent much of the last nine months leisurely motoring the canals of France to the med. All the french we've met have been marvelous. Now there are a lot of Brits living on the canals, many in steel barges or ex hire-boats. Unfortunately, the first Brit I spoke to was one of these. I had just moved the boat to give room to a hotel boat, and mentioned my disappointment about having to move away from the nice french couple who had been helping with our rather poor french
He replied: "Well if you've found a nice frenchman, you better hang on to 'im then, 'cos there ain't many around. I been here 5 years and ain't found a nice one yet."
Unfortunately, this attitude seems to prevail a lot, mainly amongst a particular type, and the above statement I've heard repeated more than once. Not by all of course, but many. I became so concerned by these peoples' attitude towards the people whose country they had chosen to live in, I have on occasion been known to roll up my ensign so only the red bit shows, out of embarrassment! (appears like a flag from many countries) . . . .
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Without denigrating your personal experience, our own over the course of the last ten years and thousands of kilometres of mooching around inland France has been almost entirely positive with very few stereotypical nationalities including jingoistic Brits. Well, perhaps not quite true. The French are, French, and good for them and that's what we like. The Brits cannot seem to escape from their bloody satellite dishes and Eastenders, but that's ok we are just very happy to have left all that **** behind. The Dutch fly gigantic flags and mince no words, like continental Yorkshire folk. Germans seem abrupt but I think that's the sound of the language, they act friendly enough in the main. As for the Danes, Yanks, Kiwis, Ozzies and all the rest of the motley crew . . . fine. A bit different, and interesting with it.
Inland France is wonderful !

PS Sorry, yes, even the French say (personal experience) that French yachts steal stuff . . .
PPS Hmmm . . . maybe we do keep an eye on Italian flagged boats, they do tend to progress just a little quicker than is desirable.
 
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BurnitBlue said:
Good question. With me it was the reverse.

On my return to the MED My boat wore the Swedish Ensign. In my ignorance, I blamed all those boats that anchored virtually in my cockpit on the fact that the crew wanted to ogle a Swedish Beauty. Not my boat, not me I must add. I did not appreciate that this new (to me) close quarters anchoring was the now accepted method of cramming fifty boats into an anchorage that would comfortably hold a dozen.

I switched ensigns to British (red) because of dual registration. Naughty but so what?

.
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In certain jurisdictions it might mean the confiscation of your vessel.

Under UNCLOS provisions a ship is only allowed one nationality. A ship which is known to have flown two flags will be considered stateless.

http://www.pomorci.com/Skole/Pomorsko pravo/Flag state - Prvi dio.pdf

PS certain states may tolerate dual registration for a bareboat charter but only for the duration of the charter.
 
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In South Africa we didn't like Cuban flags much. They were on Cuban fishing vessels and there due to some historical privilege given to them by the ANC majority government because Castro helped them out in the apartheid era. They basically were a law unto themselves and very dangerous
 
Nostrodamus said:
Having spent a long time in various anchorages I have come to dread seeing the French ensign on a boat coming towards us.
I don't know why but the French will either anchor too close, not put enough scope down or not dig their anchor in.
Of course some French are excellent sailors but personal space does not exist in their language.
Is it just me?
Does the view of a particular ensign on a boat cause you to utter a few expletives as it heads towards your anchoring position?
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What a remarkably chauvinistic remark.
My concerns are all to do with charterers - usually Greek flagged!!
 
charles_reed said:
What a remarkably chauvinistic remark.
My concerns are all to do with charterers - usually Greek flagged!!
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Totally chauvinistic Charles although my thoughts did change a little yesterday.
An American flagged boat came in to Med moor. 6 people aboard yet the skipper was steering all over, letting the anchor chain down and using the bow thruster whilst the others just looked at the views. He also forgot to remove his dingy from the side of the boat and got it trapped around the next boats anchor chain.
He dropped his anchor the length of Sweden away and 4 times run out of chain before getting anywhere near the wall.
Eventually he did get back and me and another were there to take his stern lines. Trouble was he did not have any attached. We told him we needed lines to attach the boat but he looked puzzled. Eventually he produced two lines and threw them at us. Really it would have been better if he had actually attached them to the boat first.
Anyway the long and the short is we did get him it and tied up. No thank you's or anything which was strange from an American flagged boat.
Then we found out they were Russian.
 
Nostrodamus said:
Totally chauvinistic Charles although my thoughts did change a little yesterday.
An American flagged boat came in to Med moor. 6 people aboard yet the skipper was steering all over, letting the anchor chain down and using the bow thruster whilst the others just looked at the views. He also forgot to remove his dingy from the side of the boat and got it trapped around the next boats anchor chain.
He dropped his anchor the length of Sweden away and 4 times run out of chain before getting anywhere near the wall.
Eventually he did get back and me and another were there to take his stern lines. Trouble was he did not have any attached. We told him we needed lines to attach the boat but he looked puzzled. Eventually he produced two lines and threw them at us. Really it would have been better if he had actually attached them to the boat first.
Anyway the long and the short is we did get him it and tied up. No thank you's or anything which was strange from an American flagged boat.
Then we found out they were Russian.
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Yes, Russians have definitely taken over as the incorrigible miscreants of the sailing scene. Not only do they not have the slightest idea about how to sail (or anchor) but they're noisy, drunken and have successfully stolen the palm for boorishness from the Brits.
It was a Frenchman who rushed to help with my lines on Wednesday evening when the marinero was missing and the Brits and Germans were cowering in their cockpits. Bulgarians are pretty bad, as well.
Always get to windward of the pack...
 
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