Ensign etiquette

Does it really matter what colour ensign someone fly's?
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Please tell me this is intended "ironically"????? Please tell me it's a wry comment on my wry comment about apostrophes?????

Fly's?????? Please tell me you meant to write "flies"! Pretty please.........I thought apostrophes for plurals were bad enough, but...apostrophes for the third person singular of a verb???? No! You can't possibly mean it! You can NOT be serious!

Colregs and ensigns be damned. I'm going to start an apostrophe abuse thread.

Apostrophe Abuse MUST STOP! Save the Apostrophes!
 
Have you noticed that its' always the same people who dont' know how to use apostraphe's, who use Rocna anchors, when putting people about whilst on port tack flying a blue ensign without a qualifying burgee who argue about global warming.

Lets all go to the bar and and have a large one - before going sailing...........

Hang one - on second thought's as Ive' already had several large ones I think Il'l just go to bed.
 
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downthecreek said:
Please tell me this is intended "ironically"????? Please tell me it's a wry comment on my wry comment about apostrophes?????

Fly's?????? Please tell me you meant to write "flies"! Pretty please.........I thought apostrophes for plurals were bad enough, but...apostrophes for the third person singular of a verb???? No! You can't possibly mean it! You can NOT be serious!

Colregs and ensigns be damned. I'm going to start an apostrophe abuse thread.

Apostrophe Abuse MUST STOP! Save the Apostrophes!
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:D
 
john_morris_uk said:
I have a permit to to fly an undefaced Blue Ensign on our boat. A very good sailing friend of mine is also eligible, and in a recent discussion we both agreed that we would probably stop flying the blue because it seems to bring down a pile of bigotted views about us and our boat handling/seamanship/birth/parentage, regardless of what we actually do on the water.

No idea why this is - but having been proud to wear the blue for many years, it looks as though from now on I will carry on flying a burgee that those in the know will recognise, and a red ensign in the hope that people will be more friendly...
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John,

You wear whatever colour ensign you wish; you're always welcome alongside Crazy Diamond for a glass of cool Chablis. R&D
 
john_morris_uk said:
I have a permit to to fly an undefaced Blue Ensign on our boat. A very good sailing friend of mine is also eligible, and in a recent discussion we both agreed that we would probably stop flying the blue because it seems to bring down a pile of bigotted views about us and our boat handling/seamanship/birth/parentage, regardless of what we actually do on the water.

No idea why this is - but having been proud to wear the blue for many years, it looks as though from now on I will carry on flying a burgee that those in the know will recognise, and a red ensign in the hope that people will be more friendly...
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Good old fashioned British inverted snobbery. Like it or not, the blue ensign is often viewed as as a piece of one upmanship and in these socialist days there is no sin worse than someone "getting above himself" as it's sometimes put.

The irony is that the British class consciousness is maintained these days more by the view from below than any reality. Those who most object to it are those who do most to maintain it.
 
orbister said:
Could you give a few examples, please, of traditions or rules which are not followed enough with a consequent loss of safety?
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Well here are a few.

First, of course, collision regulations. Not just steering and lights but making alterations (when the give way vessel) early and obvious, so the other person knows you have seen him/her and all the other rules about "how" as well as "what".

Making sure you have the ability to keep a proper watch. How often do you see non racers sailing in crowded waters with deck sweeping genoas? Looking ASTERN.

Speed appropriate to circumstances. Example - 70 foot Sunseeker roaring through the upper reaches of the River Crouch at top planing speed, making a wash and forcing everyone else to scuttle for the bank.

Making fast properly in such a way as to allow others to use cleats and bollards to make fast or release their own lines easily and swiftly. Not leaving piles of your own lines lying on the dock to trip others or fall in and get round props. Using your own shorelines when rafting.

Tying up dinghies on long lines so that others can also use the pontoon or dinghy dock when they need to.

Coiling and stowing lines so that they are always ready for quick release

Backup systems and well rehearsed contingency plans. Practicing with all your safety gear so that you don't have to use it for the first time in an emergency.

Side boarding ladders where a boat can lie alongside as well as "swim platforms". Ever tried boarding over the stern in a decent chop?

Taking time to secure everything down below before setting out, so that things don't start crashing about as soon as the boat heels or pitches.

Knowing exactly where everything important is stowed and making sure you can lay your hands on exactly what you need exactly when you need it. Always returning it to its own place.

Working your tides.

Knowing, and practising until they are second nature, a small range of the most important knots and using them correctly.

Knowing how to "pass a stopper". You may need it badly some day.

Knowing and working on your own boat's systems rather than relying on others to maintain them - so that you know how they work when someone else isn't around (Ever heard the story of the loss of the Karen E in Long Island Sound? Maybe I'll look for a link)

Learning about the way others on the water operate, observing and adjusting your own actions to accommodate them.

Valuing and promoting the safety of everyone on the water and not just yourself and your crew.

Foresight, preparation, prudence, courtesy. These are some of the foundations of decent seamanship.

I could probably go on much longer. I expect we all say "but I do that! I do that!" Fine. But not everybody does.
 
snowleopard said:
But none of the items you list are traditions which was the original point.
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The question asked was about "rules". As far as I am concerned these are rules or conventions, some formal, some informal, that have become the habits of mind of decent small boat seamen - things that are done automatically, every time, rather than being subject to how I happen to feel at the time, whether I think they are strictly necessary in a specific circumstance or whether I "can be bothered" (a term I prefer to the depressingly laddish "arsed" that seems to be favoured here) Nine times out of ten, you will get away with it. The tenth, you might not. I believe seamanship has a lot to do with habits of mind as well as with good "one-off" decision making.

If you want an example of a "tradition" you might consider the tradition of placing the galley to port. That one has a lot to do with safety, of course, as I expect you know. Still a lot of boats about to which it may apply.
 
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