Royal Yacht Squadron

Cardo

Cardo

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Here we are, anchored up in some remote bay in an unassuming island in Greece, and a 40 something foot saily boat has just dropped the hook sporting a rather fancy white ensign.
Seeing as I can't see any big guns on the foredeck, I'm assuming the master and commander is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and she's not a RN destroyer. Having had a look at the top of his mast with the bins, I can confirm he is sporting the appropriate mast head pennant for the RYS.

I did have to do a quick Google search to work out what was going on, to learn the above.

According to Google, the Royal Yacht Squadron is one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the UK.

So, what kind of person would be a member of said club?

The boat, whilst a nice looking deck saloon, is pretty unassuming.
 
Cardo said:
Here we are, anchored up in some remote bay in an unassuming island in Greece, and a 40 something foot saily boat has just dropped the hook sporting a rather fancy white ensign. ...
The boat, whilst a nice looking deck saloon, is pretty unassuming.
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Fitting for the island, at least!

(Which bit of Greece? Will be there shortly!)

Mike.
 
Make sure you follow his flag etteket.......sticklers bye jove.....as senior yacht in th anchourage he will mark the time for raising and lowering ensign,better pull your socks up and get smartened up!
 
Wansworth said:
Make sure you follow his flag etteket.......sticklers bye jove.....as senior yacht in th anchourage he will mark the time for raising and lowering ensign,better pull your socks up and get smartened up!
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And this will possibly give you the ideal opportunity to get one over on him!

Stand up and tut loudly if he's more than a few seconds late.
 
Cardo said:
So, what kind of person would be a member of said club?
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In my admittedly very limited experience, ones who are absolutely abysmal at using an anchor!

The only time I've been near a yacht flying the white ensign was when one appeared alongside us off Yarmouth (we were on the middle row of buoys, he was just outside the outer row) and made to anchor. He kept lowering the anchor on the windlass and then, the moment it touched bottom, motoring vigorously backwards. Since the tide was running quite strongly anyway, even drifting back would have been faster than the windlass could motor out chain - adding three-quarter-astern speed just made the whole thing doubly farcical.

I was out with my parents (hence being on the buoys rather than anchored somewhere free :) ) and my dad was very worried that if this clown ever did anchor, he would drift into us at the turn of the tide in the middle of the night. Personally I reckoned he'd get tangled up in the other moorings first. But in any event, after about the eighth try he gave up and buggered off elsewhere, to great relief all round.

I normally hesitate to mock the mistakes of others - I've made a few of my own and no doubt have plenty left to come. But I reckon if you're parading around with a Royal Naval ensign large enough for a small warship (oh yes, he didn't just have a small one) then some basic sailing ability should not be too much to ask. Bringing his club into disrepute, I reckon, or he has with me anyway.

Pete
 
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Cardo said:
I dipped my cocktail glass, does that count?
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The RYS was doing a bit of a tour of the West Coast of Scotland a couple of years ago and we seemed to be stalking them. We dipped ensigns at a variety of tricky entrances and exists causing a degree of mild panic mixed with hilarity. When I met up with a couple of them in Tobermory one of them said to me, in a rather POSH accent, 'are you the dipper?' and then explained that he thought it was all a bit of good fun but that we were one of the few that did it. The problem with dipping the cocktail glass is it is very difficult to discern one dip from another and to identify the dip of import from the frequent dips of refreshment. I think a RYSer would be well impressed to be dipped at while in Greece, presuming you fly the red duster you need to keep your end up, or down as the occasion suggests. :)
 
prv said:
In my admittedly very limited experience, ones who are absolutely abysmal at using an anchor!

The only time I've been near a yacht flying the white ensign was when a large Hallberg-Rassy appeared alongside us off Yarmouth (we were on the middle row of buoys, he was just outside the outer row) and made to anchor. He kept lowering the anchor on the windlass and then, the moment it touched bottom, motoring vigorously backwards. Since the tide was running quite strongly anyway, even drifting back would have been faster than the windlass could motor out chain - adding a 45-footer's three-quarter-astern speed just made the whole thing doubly farcical.

I was out with my parents (hence being on the buoys rather than anchored somewhere free :) ) and my dad was very worried that if this clown ever did anchor, he would drift into us at the turn of the tide in the middle of the night. Personally I reckoned he'd get tangled up in the other moorings first. But in any event, after about the eighth try he gave up and buggered off elsewhere, to great relief all round.

I normally hesitate to mock the mistakes of others - I've made a few of my own and no doubt have plenty left to come. But I reckon if you're parading around with a Royal Naval ensign large enough for a small warship (oh yes, he didn't just have a small one) then some basic sailing ability should not be too much to ask. Bringing his club into disrepute, I reckon.

Pete
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My grandfather had to help someone anchor once, a long time ago. They kept seeing this man motoring about with a lovely polished anchor in various bays that they went to on their cruise. They chatted about anyone having a polished anchor and how odd it was (back in the days when bright SS was not used). Eventually the boat came past and shouted to my grandfather, 'I can't stop'. It turned out he was a Sea Scouts master and he had been supposed to be taking a bunch of scouts out sailing but their parents had all refused so he was out with his wife. He didn't know how to anchor and had been sailing for 3 days solid without stoping. He had polished the anchor by putting it down until it just touched t he bottom and then towing it around. My grandfather had to row over, get on board the moving boat and then show them how to do it properly. They were both on the verge of collapse and were very grateful.
 
Cardo said:
Here we are, anchored up in some remote bay in an unassuming island in Greece, and a 40 something foot saily boat has just dropped the hook sporting a rather fancy white ensign.
Seeing as I can't see any big guns on the foredeck, I'm assuming the master and commander is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and she's not a RN destroyer. Having had a look at the top of his mast with the bins, I can confirm he is sporting the appropriate mast head pennant for the RYS.

I did have to do a quick Google search to work out what was going on, to learn the above.

According to Google, the Royal Yacht Squadron is one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the UK.

So, what kind of person would be a member of said club?

The boat, whilst a nice looking deck saloon, is pretty unassuming.
Click to expand...

Rather a lot of RYS members sail very unremarkable boats. Certainly there are some that have massive superyachts and carbon fiber speed machines but from what I've seen of the club most seem happy with a remarkable range of 40 to 50 footers built at any time over the last 100 years.
 
Woodlouse said:
Rather a lot of RYS members sail very unremarkable boats. Certainly there are some that have massive superyachts and carbon fiber speed machines but from what I've seen of the club most seem happy with a remarkable range of 40 to 50 footers built at any time over the last 100 years.
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Many Commodores of the Squadron sail far less than 40 - 50 footers, one of the wealthiest had a very modest 30 footer and even HRH Prince Phillip (another ex-Commodore) sails the odd dingy! (Coweslip / Dragons).
 
You do not dip your red ensign to a Royal Yacht Squadron vessel flying a white ensign. You only dip your ensign to a Royal Navy warship with a white ensign when it is underway and, in theory, outside of the Solent. So now you know!
 
Many of the RYS sail/motor very unpretentious boats extremely well. The current commodore keeps his boat a few berths up from me. There is a lot of reverse snobbery, a bit like the attitude that anyone with a blue ensign couldn't possibly know anything about sailing.
 
There was at least one in Portavadie during (part of)the Fife Regatta .... so being me :D .... I just had to go over for a chat .... when asked who had the entitlement the elderly chap explained that his father was an ex-Admiral ..... although he himself did speak like a 70's BBC presenter ... & he wasn't to hospitable concerning an RPC or the issue of any 'Pussers' .... :( ..... we / I did ask .... ;)
 
As every it is impossible to generalise (not that that will stop anybody here). On a couple of occasions I have seen a very ordinary looking 35 foot Westerley anchored in Keyhaven wearing a white ensign and flying the RYS burgee. I have also raced on a RYS boat in Hong Kong several times - a standard J109 owned by a hard-working engineer and crewed by a typically mixed bunch of HK expats.

"Aristocracy, Super wealthy, senior and ex senior armed forces officers." - I bet there are a few of those in there too though!
 
DJE said:
As every it is impossible to generalise (not that that will stop anybody here). On a couple of occasions I have seen a very ordinary looking 35 foot Westerley anchored in Keyhaven wearing a white ensign and flying the RYS burgee. I have also raced on a RYS boat in Hong Kong several times - a standard J109 owned by a hard-working engineer and crewed by a typically mixed bunch of HK expats.

"Aristocracy, Super wealthy, senior and ex senior armed forces officers." - I bet there are a few of those in there too though!
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I had to laugh when I found some paperwork relating to the RYS among my father's documents after he died. It appeared he had at least looked into how he could become a member. I had to chuckle, he would have been lucky if they'd let him walk past their door.
 
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