Officious jobsworthy from the MCA - our ensign

[jellyellie]

Hello all

I was just having a little lie-in when my partner James, who works at the marina we live in, came down to wake me up and inform me that a man from the MCA, who is coding a small passenger ferry in the berth next to us, walked all the way up to the marina office to ask him who the owners of Milestone were. Expecting a compliment, as usually happens in such situations, James said it was us. The officious jobsworthy told him that we must take our ensign down immediately as we are flying it incorrectly; it should only be flown at 'half-mast' if there is a royal death or some other thing of equal importance.

Our ensign is a fair chunk of the way up the backstay, with a little halyard cleat attached to the backstay so we can take it down at night. This is a very similar setup to a lot of small yachts. We chose to move it there, as opposed to the flag pole on the transom, so it doesn't attack the helm's face when sailing. We put it at this height as it is a vaguely similar height to where a gaff would be on a gaff rigged boat, and you're supposed to fly an ensign from your gaff.

James took our ensign down in the MCA man's presence, but I am going to go and put it back where we want it.

I don't even care if he's technically correct; I wouldn't have minded so much had the officious man come and suggest we fly it somewhere else, and explained why, or asked why we fly it where we do. But to walk up to the marina office and specifically ask who the owners are, then demand that it is removed immediately - err, I think not.

Does he have nothing better to do?

Has he ever actually been out in the Solent on a summer's day? That would certainly keep him busy.

Rant over, I'm off to raise our ensign. And I think we have an inflatable banana somewhere, I might put that up too.

jelly

 

[photodog]

Excellent Post!

As I understand it, you are under no obligation to fly the ensign as a UK flagged vessel in UK waters anyways... so I would have to assume that there is no obligation then to fly it in an particular manner.....

(Puts slippers on, makes cup of tea, sits back.)

 

[dylanwinter]

brilliant

one of the reasons why I fly nothing at all

that way no-one can accuse me of flying things wrong

anyway all that windage on my topnotch racing machine would slow m,e down to below six knots

d

 

[FullCircle]

Excellent Post!

As I understand it, you are under no obligation to fly the ensign as a UK flagged vessel in UK waters anyways... so I would have to assume that there is no obligation then to fly it in an particular manner.....

(Puts slippers on, makes cup of tea, sits back.)

I nicked your slippers while you were making the tea. Red & white with some sort of leaf on them? Ewwww.
And you've got tinky feet.


Is Jellyeliie declaring a banana republic?

 

[rogerthebodger]

"it should only be flown at 'half-mast' if there is a royal death or some other thing of equal importance. "

So who in the Royals has died or what other equally important event has happened?

 

[activesail]

Great Rant..

Loved reading about your crossing of swords with the MCA.

I always thought that an ensign should not be flown when moored or when at anchor in a harbour but have never heard of it having to be flown at half mast. I would have thought, that would be optional.

I also took the liberty to go to your blog. Laughed out loud at the account of your maiden voyage in Miley.

 

[jellyellie]

OK, next instalment:

The ferry had left its berth for a while to do some tests related to her coding, so I put the ensign back up the backstay and walked up to the marina facilities to brush my teeth.

After brushing my teeth, I walked out of the facilities through the car park and saw the MCA guy driving off in his old BMW - they had obviously come back in on the ferry. Bummer! I really wanted to 'talk' to him.

Walked back down to the boat, and the guys from the ferry were already walking towards James and I. I asked them what the MCA guy had said to them.

Apparently he was a complete jobsworth throughout their coding - I felt very sorry for them. Upon coming alongside the pontoon the MCA man became more interested in our ensign than he was in coding the ferry. He had seen that we'd put our ensign back up and said that he had "to go and have a word with these yachties" and slap a fine on us. So as soon as they berthed, he jumped off to come and have a closer look at our ensign (whilst the ferry guys were still paying £100 an hour for his time). He came and had a look at it, then noticed that there is a block at the top - we've attached it with a small block on the backstay at the top, and the small halyard cleat at the bottom. Because we had the block at the top, and the ensign was right up against the block, thus not at half-mast, he decided to "let us off".

So, it's official: the MCA will fine you for flying your ensign up your backstay unless you have a little block up there with it.

I'm going to ask the ferry guys for the name of the MCA man and make a formal complaint about him, because that's not on.

 

[tel1]

Maybe the ********* should go back to the office and sort out my new ships registry certificate, countless emails sent, all i got was a certificate with the wrong lenghth on it, wouldent of minded if it was a small amount, but its a 4m difference! you pay for something like that and you expect it to be right.

 

[photodog]

I nicked your slippers while you were making the tea. Red & white with some sort of leaf on them? Ewwww.
And you've got tinky feet.

Those arent my slippers...

 

[jellyellie]

"it should only be flown at 'half-mast' if there is a royal death or some other thing of equal importance. "

So who in the Royals has died or what other equally important event has happened?

Nobody, nothing - it's official, MCA man says it's not at half-mast, because there is a little block and the ensign is up against the block.

 

[MoodySabre]

When I bought my boat it had been coded. There where harnesses with permanent lifelines and bolt rings round the cockpit. The first time I tried them I discovered that the rings were too small to get the lifeline clips through. Another fine job by a box-ticker!

 

[jimi]

Well, I'm a bit surprised by the tone of some of the replies, the MCA man was only doing his job so you should be grateful for some free advice. Why don't you contact the MCA and say you were very impressed with his thoroughness and ask if he can inspect your boat for you for nothing. If they agree, arrange with the local TV station to get it filmed .. sounds as if it might make compulsive viewing.

 

[stormeagle]

Ensigns

My book says that on a bermudan rigged vessel, the ensign may be correctly worn two thirds of the way up the leech.
It does not explain what happens when the sail is reefed.
In any event, since when did the Mr. Broons snotty little grey men have the right to fine yachtsmen for their ensign habits? If he was a consular officer or holds Her Majesties Commission he may confiscate and report the wearing Of a Union Flag, or an un-warranted Blue or White.
I doubt that any of these things were so, and it is also customary to wear the ensign at half staff at the day of the owners funeral. A little man might contemplate the difference between "must" and "may".

 

[FullCircle]

.. sounds as if it might make compulsive viewing.

or should that be Obsessive-Compulsive viewing?











and they must be your slippers PD.... they've got 35mm heels.

 

[Pye_End]

Has he nothing better to do?

It does beg the question 'what are our legal responsibilites concerning wearing a red duster'. I wonder if anyone has ever been fined over such matters. Can a skipper be fined, for example, for not taking their red duster down at dusk?

I agree with Jimi - get to the bottom of this - find out all the details.

 

[bbg]

I would be interested to know on what basis he would "fine" you. I have found nothing in the Merchant Shipping Act about flag etiquette, or flying flags or ensigns at half mast.

 

[jellyellie]

Has he nothing better to do?

It does beg the question 'what are our legal responsibilites concerning wearing a red duster'. I wonder if anyone has ever been fined over such matters. Can a skipper be fined, for example, for not taking their red duster down at dusk?

I agree with Jimi - get to the bottom of this - find out all the details.

Yes, exactly - he was rather hypocritical, because after asking us to take our ensign down, he forgot to fine us for not flying one at all during the hours of daylight!

I rather like the sound of inviting him onboard. Perhaps a YM feature...?

But yes, I now have said MCA man's name, and shall be contacting the MCA. Question is, do I complain or do I set him up with an invite onboard??

 

[MrCramp]

I would complain about his attitude and ask why he had nothing better to do with his time. There was nothing wrong with the way you had the flag and was it their policy to inspect all the boats in a marina everytime they paid a visit. I would ask for complete details of the regulations he was referring to, and the legal authority that allowed him to levy fines. I would also ask how long he had been employed by them, whether he had some qualification and had they had complaints about his attitude before.

I am sure a regular guy would do the very important job of inspecting vessels properly. Being diverted onto flag etiquette strike me this chap was not focused on the very important job he should have being doing.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

He sounds a bit like the now famous "P C Shiny Buttons" but I would still be disinclined to take matters any further. Its always a good rule not to ask a question unless you are prepared to acceot the answer, and this bureaucrat may yet come up with some obscure act of parliament which requires you to drop the ensign and f*rt three times in the general direction of the French on that particular day every year. MInd you as a patriotic Brit you may be happy to comply.

Got to be said that there are just as many Shiny Buttons on here as anywhere else when it comes down to it. Read a colregs post and you'll see what I mean.

 

[Pye_End]

I think I would be tempted to ask for a full copy of the regs concerning flag etiquette, together with the mechanism for enforcing them. Also tell them why, and see what the response is. Would be surprised if the hierarchy didn't have the same view as you on this matter.