Ensign etiquette

Karouise said:
I tried wikipedia and found nothing!

Glad I did know how to 'pass a stopper' already even if I didn't know it by this name! Did it at least anually when hoisting the furling genoa freeing up the winch for the kite!
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I sailed recently with friends in a biggish, newish Dehler. They got a tight riding turn on a genoa sheet winch and seemed baffled - there was even talk of cutting the sheet. Nobody on board knew how to tie a rolling hitch.

Downthecreek to the rescue! ;)
 
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jason -and the arguenauts said:
Good old fashioned British inverted snobbery. Like it or not, the blue ensign is often viewed as as a piece of one upmanship .
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A few blue ensigns are worn by people who have done something to deserve them. Most - and all defaced blue ensigns - are worn by people who have done nothing more strenuous, arduous or heroic than write a cheque to a socially exclusive yacht club. "Look at me" they say "I am a member of a yacht club some members of which did something useful half a century ago. Am I not a splendid fellow?".

I don;t see any need to get cross about these people. Laughing and pointing, on the other hand, seems like a perfectly reasonable response.

Me? Scottish Red Ensign, and I don't give a stuff what anyone else thinks!
 
Red and Proud

A few years back the kids bought us a red ensign, more in hope than expectation that we'd ever be able to afford a boat of our own, so it was flown occasionally on chartered boats. Now at last we have our own modest sailboat, and at last we can fly our own red ensign from our own staff. What more would you wish for? Anyway it matches all that red in the bank statement.
 
Knots

downthecreek said:
I sailed recently with friends in a biggish, newish Dehler. They got a tight riding turn on a genoa sheet winch and seemed baffled - there was even talk of cutting the sheet. Nobody on board knew how to tie a rolling hitch.

Downthecreek to the rescue! ;)
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Now you're opening a real can of worms. And some of the 'knots' I've seen look just like that. But I reckon that thread drift should have a limit, so I've started a new one: "Knots or not knots". All contributions welcome.
 
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orbister said:
A few blue ensigns are worn by people who have done something to deserve them.
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May we know what you did to "deserve" your red ensign? Sail on the Murmansk convoys, perhaps?

All these flags have traditions behind them and some people enjoy preserving those traditions. The idea of "deserving" any of them is nonsense.
 
orbister said:
I don;t see any need to get cross about these people. Laughing and pointing, on the other hand, seems like a perfectly reasonable response.
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Of course blue flags and defaced ensigns are (for most) a way of seeking oneupmanship, no matter what the original purpose of the ensign was.

Same on land as on water - some folks like to seperate themselves from the herd, but not always with the result sought :rolleyes:

IMO the nautical equivalent of personalised number plates :rolleyes: - doesn't personally bother me one way or another, but I am genuinely puzzled why someone feels the need.

Having said all that, I can't say I am in the camp of a Red Ensign being a tribute to dead merchant seamen from times passed. When flown aboard my boat it is simply a symbol that my boat is registered in Britain.

BTW my club allows me to fly a defaced red ensign (WWII battle honour :cool: rather than a past Club President's wife shagged the King / his Cousin / his Goat ;) - yer get a Blue Flag for that :D) but £150?, that's nearly a whole tin of antifouling :p so I have never bothered.
 
peter radclyffe said:
considering the reason for taking it in at night , it may be time with durable modern materials to leave it up, then we could find something else to whinge about,-d-tunbridge wells
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I tried that last season, but the weather was so wet the flagstaff swelled tight in its mounting and I did not get it out all winter! So now the thing goes off every evening again.
 
David_Jersey said:
Having said all that, I can't say I am in the camp of a Red Ensign being a tribute to dead merchant seamen from times passed. When flown aboard my boat it is simply a symbol that my boat is registered in Britain.
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That is precisely the purpose of mine too.

As for the rest - it must be wonderful to have such insight into the minds of hordes of strangers. Is it based on significant evidence, or is it just an amazing gift?
 
There is some interesting stuff here:


http://www.fotw.net/flags/gb-use.html#red


concerning the historical use of the red ensign as the UK national flag in preference to the union flag.
It seems in the early 1900's, triggered by the celebrations of Edward VII's coronation, officialdom frowned on the use by private citizens ashore of the union flag, and briefly the red ensign was designated instead.

It was formerly the national flag of Canada, and is still the state flag of two of the Canadian states.
 
David_Jersey said:
IMO the nautical equivalent of personalised number plates - doesn't personally bother me one way or another, but I am genuinely puzzled why someone feels the need.
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Damn your eyes. That comparison occurred to me just before I saw your post.

BTW my club allows me to fly a defaced red ensign (WWII battle honour rather than a past Club President's wife shagged the King / his Cousin / his Goat - yer get a Blue Flag for that but £150?, that's nearly a whole tin of antifouling so I have never bothered.
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There wouldn't be any point in honouring the service of 1930's yachtsmen if any pauper could do it, old boy.
 
voicilesrosbifs said:
A few years back the kids bought us a red ensign, more in hope than expectation that we'd ever be able to afford a boat of our own, so it was flown occasionally on chartered boats. Now at last we have our own modest sailboat, and at last we can fly our own red ensign from our own staff. What more would you wish for? Anyway it matches all that red in the bank statement.
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We bought the red ensign before we bought the boat and when redundancy forced her sale we kept the ensign. I think it is now being worn on the yacht heading for the Scillies complete with that chart.
 
downthecreek said:
May we know what you did to "deserve" your red ensign? Sail on the Murmansk convoys, perhaps?

All these flags have traditions behind them and some people enjoy preserving those traditions. The idea of "deserving" any of them is nonsense.
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So you'd have no problem, then, if I swapped my Scottish Red Ensign for a UK Blue Ensign?
 
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