Red Ensign on Backstay

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SteveIOW

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I've always flown my Red Ensign from the backstay but it's never flown that well because (probably) the backstay is not vertical and leans in the opposite direction to most flag staffs . I have thought of adding a triangle of cloth(apex at bottom), or something more rigid, to the hoist of the ensign but this would not help when the wind is from astern or abeam. Hardly a major problem but if there is a simple solution out there I will give it a try. PS Please don't suggest fitting a flag staff as I have no intention of doing that.
 
Flying a red duster may avoid being hassled by Customs, I do the same and fly it from the backstay - it needs to be high enough not to flap in one's face in a following wind, and I've always supposed a red flag makes the boat a bit more visible.

Other than that I wouldn't bother much, I was carved up by a complete tosser with a blue ensign last season - the nautical equivalent of an Audi driver...:rolleyes:
 
It depends on the size but try an aft stanchion instead.

The national flags of both NZ and Oz are blue ensigns, with stars, not that many of us drive Audis but many, in Oz at least, fly the national flag (blue) instead of the marine red ensign (with stars). This preference for blue may be ignorance or the simply fact the blue ones are cheaper and easier to buy than the red ones (which tend to be only sold in chandlers with their need for pension funds). This popularity for blue could also be a desire to be assumed to be an Audi owner :) Maybe here Audi drivers invoke different connotations.

Jonathan
 
It depends who you're trying to impress. Customs/Douanes it doesn't matter - you have the flag legally deployed. For any-one else you could attach wires from the backstay to the upper and lower edges of your ensign to spread it out in all its glory ... ...
 
Seajet said:
(...)

.., I was carved up by a complete tosser with a blue ensign last season - the nautical equivalent of an Audi driver...:rolleyes:
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Are you seriously suggesting there is a correlation between the way people sail and the colour of their ensign? Seriously?

Equally bizarre, are you seriously suggesting there is a correlation between the way people drive and the make of car they own? Seriously?
 
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Twisterowner said:
Equally bizarre, are you seriously suggesting there is a correlation between the way people drive and the make of car they own? Seriously?
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I didn't think anyone doubted that. BMW drivers is to be the worst, but BMWs are so common now that the mantel has shifted to Audi drivers. Off course some Audi drivers are not aggressive prats on the road, but the good ones are let down by the other 97%.
 
SteveIOW said:
I've always flown my Red Ensign from the backstay but it's never flown that well because (probably) the backstay is not vertical and leans in the opposite direction to most flag staffs . I have thought of adding a triangle of cloth(apex at bottom), or something more rigid, to the hoist of the ensign but this would not help when the wind is from astern or abeam. Hardly a major problem but if there is a simple solution out there I will give it a try. PS Please don't suggest fitting a flag staff as I have no intention of doing that.
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The preferred place to wear the ensign( you wear an ensign, you don't "fly" it) is from a staff on the taff rail

Part II of the online RYA booklet, C4/01 (q.v.), details alternative positions for those vessels where this is not possible.

There is a simple solution........... but for reasons undeclared you are refusing to do it!
 
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JumbleDuck said:
I didn't think anyone doubted that. BMW drivers is to be the worst, but BMWs are so common now that the mantel has shifted to Audi drivers. Off course some Audi drivers are not aggressive prats on the road, but the good ones are let down by the other 97%.
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Your second sentence gives the game away. Anyone who has something out of the ordinary is to be condemned. Once it becomes ordinary, he's accepted.

Reminds me of the story about a foreign tourist walking along the quay at a British fishing port. She looks at the boxes of crabs and asks a fisherman if he isn't worried they might escape.

"No, they're British crabs." he replies "If one tries to climb out the others will drag it back"
 
Twisterowner said:
Reminds me of the story about a foreign tourist walking along the quay at a British fishing port. She looks at the boxes of crabs and asks a fisherman if he isn't worried they might escape.

"No, they're British crabs." he replies "If one tries to climb out the others will drag it back"
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Best laugh I've had in a while. ;):encouragement:
 
I had a small boat which flew an appropriately dainty little red[Seajet please note;)] ensign from the backstay. The previous owner had trimmed a triangle off the bottom attached corner of the ensign, so that it 'set' better on the sloping stay.

It is probably a specific hanging offence, under some ancient code, to do so, but it did the trick in practice, and no-one ever complained. (You couldn't really see that it was not quite the 'right' shape in anything under a F7, anyway.)
 
I do not know much about Audis but ensigns do convey something about the boat & those aboard. The Dutch always seem proud to display the largest cleanest ensign they can fly & any thing less than 1metre drop seems unacceptable, especially on any boat less than 20 feet. The French always have a small flag being of small insignificant lot & have to have it the other way up from the Dutch to avoid upsetting them & getting a bloody nose. The Belgians ( being a bit ... well you know !!!) always seem to forget theirs & the Germans have a flag very similar to the Belgians so that they can sneak up on the unwary unannounced. They then shout orders to the nearest to take their lines & demand the best berth.

My ensign is old & tatty & I have strongly resisted my wife's requests to buy a new one, preferring to look like the bullet riddled conqueror returning from the wars of old, in true British tradition.
The blue flaggers are Ok, unless one puts them in a Westerly, in which case they seem to loose all ability to handle a craft anywhere near a pontoon or lockside; preferring instead, to give a comedy display worthy of a "Michael Macintyre's evening at the Apollo", to anyone daring to stay near enough to watch.
The white flaggers are just irritating, boring farts, firing guns at sunup loud enough to wake the entire marina so all and sundry know that it is time to hoist the ensign. Then they retire to their bunks until 11-00 hours whilst the rest of us get no sleep whatsoever, having been kept awake by the clack clack of high heels & giggly tarts & the hoots of drunken lords down the pontoons at -02-00 hours the night (morning!!)before.
 
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Twisterowner said:
Equally bizarre, are you seriously suggesting there is a correlation between the way people drive and the make of car they own? Seriously?
Click to expand...

I thought it a well established fact.
If you buy a BMW they send you lessons to top up your inconsiderate driving skills. The indicators are fitted but connecting up the wires is an optional extra that not many buyers take up. The extra loud horn is standard. Occasionally reasonable and considerate people buy BMW's but they are in the minority.
 
And there was me thinking Audi owners were just another branch of those who wanted to thumb their noses at environmentalists and seahorse lovers.

Oldgit is obviously an exception and I'm sure there are other (exceptions).
 
Daydream believer said:
I do not know much about Audis but ensigns do convey something about the boat & those aboard. The Dutch always seem proud to display the largest cleanest ensign they can fly & any thing less than 1metre drop seems unacceptable, especially on any boat less than 20 feet. The French always have a small flag being of small insignificant lot & have to have it the other way up from the Dutch to avoid upsetting them & getting a bloody nose. The Belgians ( being a bit ... well you know !!!) always seem to forget theirs & the Germans have a flag very similar to the Belgians so that they can sneak up on the unwary unannounced. They then shout orders to the nearest to take their lines & demand the best berth.

My ensign is old & tatty & I have strongly resisted my wife's requests to buy a new one, preferring to look like the bullet riddled conqueror returning from the wars of old, in true British tradition.
The blue flaggers are Ok, unless one puts them in a Westerly, in which case they seem to loose all ability to handle a craft anywhere near a pontoon or lockside; preferring instead, to give a comedy display worthy of a "Michael Macintyre's evening at the Apollo", to anyone daring to stay near enough to watch.
The white flaggers are just irritating, boring farts, firing guns at sunup loud enough to wake the entire marina so all and sundry know that it is time to hoist the ensign. Then they retire to their bunks until 11-00 hours whilst the rest of us get no sleep whatsoever, having been kept awake by the clack clack of high heels & giggly tarts & the hoots of drunken lords down the pontoons at -02-00 hours the night (morning!!)before.
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:D
 
LittleSister said:
I had a small boat which flew an appropriately dainty little red[Seajet please note;)] ensign from the backstay. The previous owner had trimmed a triangle off the bottom attached corner of the ensign, so that it 'set' better on the sloping stay.

It is probably a specific hanging offence, under some ancient code, to do so, but it did the trick in practice, and no-one ever complained. (You couldn't really see that it was not quite the 'right' shape in anything under a F7, anyway.)
Click to expand...

You have illegally defaced a national ensign. Guilty-Off with his head!
 
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