sailorman
Well-Known Member
Try walking your dog "On the Terrace" @ AYC. Tut Tut
The curious case of RHYC and the pirate flag.
- Thread starter MoodySabre
- Start date
Saguday
Well-Known Member
Being an ex-Commode of a sailing club where everyone could go everywhere and we didn't bother with all this stuff I remember being quite taken aback when entering the clubhouse of a certain south coast yacht club after coming ashore between races, and with a very short time to grab food and drink, to be told "Oilies are not allowed in the bar". Oilies FFS, we were all each wearing hundreds of quids worth of Henri Lloyd/Dougie Gill's finest and weren't even wet. Heaven forfend the people in their blazers and suits in the yacht club restaurant should have their eyes injured by the sight of actual sailors using the club facilities. Not for me all that b*ll*x.
michael_w
Well-Known Member
Shame the RHYC built such a horrible looking building. That timber cladding is going to weather badly and the flat roof with its valley gutter leak sooner or later. Probably commisioned the design from a first year architectural student.
Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
You needn't have traveled that far - HPYC has the same policy.
Couple of years ago, after a particularly bouncy Channel crossing, we secured alongside at 20H55.
Knowing that they stop taking food orders at 21H00, we made our way straight to the restaurant.
As the girl got ready to take our order, one of the blue blazers at the bar told her not to serve us because of our attire.
pteron
Well-Known Member
I'm sure I read that a member of the public can arrest any ship displaying the skull and crossbones.
Can't find the reference though.
Can't find the reference though.
Athene V30
Well-Known Member
I wouldnt be surprised and generally I find the 'Jolly Roger' flows all the time as offensive to my Naval background and would not fly one on my own boat.
When I attended the 'Pirates' ECF my skull and crossbones was home made with incomplete skull and crossbones on a Blue background!
Have stated before in these fora Geoff at RHYC is very helpful.
Maybe I am one of the blazer brigade, I keep one onboard just in case
Saguday
Well-Known Member
Mores, culture, language and customs change with time. Whilst I have no romantic love of pirates and hold RN in great respect for it's role in eradicating it, within the confines of private leisure sailing today a pirate flag is universally acknowledged as indicating that young children are aboard. For any sailing family it is an incredibly helpful thing to see in a new marina or anchorage and I have no problem with it's use in this context.
Must admit I do not possess a blazer, although I do have a good stock of 'oilies'. And two pirate flags...
Must admit I do not possess a blazer, although I do have a good stock of 'oilies'. And two pirate flags...
Firefly
Well-Known Member
Slightly confused by the RNs apparent abhorrence of the skull and crossbones as submarines traditionally fly one when returning from a patrol having sunk an enemy ship. Last done by Conqueror having sunk the General Belgrano.
Tomahawk
Well-Known Member
One of Arthur Ramsomes books was set on the Orwell.. well it started on the orwell but the silly chaps got lost and ended up in Oostend. I think it was "We didn't mean to go to sea" or something similar.
Perhaps that is the origin of the association?
Perhaps that is the origin of the association?
Koeketiene
Well-Known Member
Bru
Well-Known Member
You've got the book right but the plot wrong. They didn't get lost, they dragged their anchor at Shotley and were swept out to sea in the dark. They were far from silly and survived a series of potential disasters to arrive safe and sound, against all odds, in Flushing
Clearly you haven't read the book, I really do recommend it even if you read no other book in the series
nigelm
Well-Known Member
This is a great thread , we have had a "pirate flag" on board since I had my first cruiser in '92 , it has been with us since all be it a tad frayed now , it gets hoisted at the start of a cruise and lowered at the end , it's just a bit of fun , I admire MS for having a polite attitude to the RHYC request , not sure I would of been quite so restrained .
We have also fallen foul of a "blazer" in HPYC for drinking our lager from the bottle rathe than a glass no less ! , don't go in there now .
Gave a few choice words once to the skipper of the trot boat at the Medway YC for coming along side with little respect for my topsides .
Maybe it's just me ...........
We have also fallen foul of a "blazer" in HPYC for drinking our lager from the bottle rathe than a glass no less ! , don't go in there now .
Gave a few choice words once to the skipper of the trot boat at the Medway YC for coming along side with little respect for my topsides .
Maybe it's just me ...........
xyachtdave
Well-Known Member
Drinking lager from a bottle?? Lucky he didn't call the police!
Sounds like you may have had an encounter with 'full throttle Bob' (name changed to protect etc!), I've leant over and knocked the trot boat out of gear before to slow his final approach to our boat down a bit!
Tomahawk
Well-Known Member
..
Clearly you haven't read the book, I really do recommend it even if you read no other book in the series
Correct you are.. Read the book not have I. Does that mean I am wrong about any possible link between the RH and Arthur Ransome.
Carduelis
Well-Known Member
Perhaps I can clarify a few points:
The RHYC don't have any direct association with 'Swallows and Amazons'. These days that would mean The Arthur Ransome Society or the Nancy Blackett Trust. However the NBT often does use RHYC facilities for which it is very grateful. I can see no legitimate reason why the OP was asked to remove his flag, unless there was some slight possibility of his yacht being confused with Nancy Blackett which was operating from there at the Trust's AGM on 5th July.
Ransome himself may have been a member. There is a photograph of him sailing under a blue ensign. He lived near Levington for some years and kept Nancy on a mooring at Pin Mill. However I think the RHYC would have been located in Harwich at that time.
Nancy Blackett frequently flies a jolly roger especially when she has children aboard. It is a long-standing part of the Ransome tradition. She is normally based next door at Woolverstone Marina.
The RHYC don't have any direct association with 'Swallows and Amazons'. These days that would mean The Arthur Ransome Society or the Nancy Blackett Trust. However the NBT often does use RHYC facilities for which it is very grateful. I can see no legitimate reason why the OP was asked to remove his flag, unless there was some slight possibility of his yacht being confused with Nancy Blackett which was operating from there at the Trust's AGM on 5th July.
Ransome himself may have been a member. There is a photograph of him sailing under a blue ensign. He lived near Levington for some years and kept Nancy on a mooring at Pin Mill. However I think the RHYC would have been located in Harwich at that time.
Nancy Blackett frequently flies a jolly roger especially when she has children aboard. It is a long-standing part of the Ransome tradition. She is normally based next door at Woolverstone Marina.
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Athene V30
Well-Known Member
Not read the books but isn't the link with the 'Cat House' - the house between the RHYC and Woolverstone?
theoldsalt
Well-Known Member
Are you well travelled?
Shame on you as a visitor for not respecting the rules of the host club. It's not as if this rule is rare.
I suppose if you were playing cricket you would wear your studs in the clubhouse!
Carduelis
Well-Known Member
I don't think so. Ransome lived in several houses on both sides of the river, and of course his family came from the area (an ancestor built Ipswich wet dock swing bridge) but he didn't live in the Cat House. It might get a mention in the opening chapters of We didn't mean to go to sea but I don't have a copy with me to check.
WDMTGTS is incidentally a superb read - even for adults. A good story, and crammed full of local knowledge and seamanship. It got me hooked on sailing as a twelve year old and I'm still at it over forty years later.
Otter
Well-Known Member
Occasionally I think about joining a yacht club. Grateful for the above post, another year's subs saved. I really admire what RHYC achieved in their clubhouse rebuild but a marina is a place without a membership committee and I like that.