When is it time to retire the ensign

My old ensign was similarly tatty and knackered, i replaced it eventually, i knew roughly the year i had bought it so wrote the dates on the ensign and wrote a message on it , then gave it to my son as a a keep sake, he has it pinned on his wall at home .

Seems more fitting then binning it ?
 
chinita said:
Fret not. I have seen at least half a dozen Oz and NZ yachts in Portugal over the past year - all with blues. Next one I see I shall ask them.

I knew a kiwi once who wore a red. He told me that this was their 'privileged'' ensign.
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Cheers Chinita :). Red Aussie and blue Kiwi in the bay!

They do have variants not yacht club related (as far as my very limited knowledge goes, the Australian Air Force ensign being one example). The defaced blue we fly does make for more visits by police at anchor than other British yachts nearby, dog always jumps in their rib..
 
Nostrodamus said:
Just making the point we fly a ensign and most other countries don't even know what it is... Then again I have recently seen numerous ensigns, some red, some blue, all with union jacks. They are from various different countries, not the UK, but the ensigns look similar to the UK's. The Australian boat in front has a blue ensign by the way.
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I may be wrong on this (and I know how flag topics go on for ever here) but I think it all goes back to empire days where the colony's national flag was of course the Union Jack. The flags ultimately adopted where in fact the naval ensigns that followed the same etiquette of colour and defacement as in the UK. I think, even in recent history, there was still a requirement to have an admiralty warrant to fly the defaced ensigns. For example, the Australian flag is a defaced blue ensign and would historically have been used in the same way as the UK defaced ones, same with the red.

In the same way as the red ensign in the UK is the standard ensign for a vessel in the UK, the defaced red is the correct one for a Australian vessel, and at one time they would have needed a warrant to fly it.

Of course, none of this is valid now, but I think that is the origination of all of the old empire flags.
 
MASH said:
It isn't very respectful to display a tatty flag...Few nations (except the `brits, who once used to be proud of their nationality) will do so.
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. What nationality are you MASH? Your making a sweeping statement about the British.The North Germans in the know for example fly there flags with pride, the southern German pockets out of the know (most) could not give a toss (according to a southern German i spoke with recently). I have been told the flag to fly if your wishing for a bit of a hoot at sea if your German is the Bavarian Ensign.

http://www.flagsonline.it/asp/flag.asp/flag_bavaria-ensign/bavaria-ensign.html

You have to have a special warrant/permit to fly it (right connections) a bit like a blue Ensign, in my view nothing on the sea is quite as nice as flying the Battle flag of the British. So it is good to keep it looking worthy so replace each year
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
Why people get so het up about them.
Why people even bother with them.
Why they are not treated with respect.
Why the rules change from country to country.
Why some countries have more than one.
Why some countries have multiple colours.
Why some countries get annoyed if yours is faded and others don't give a s**t.

and..... Why some anorak is about to give answers to all the above questions, irrespective of whether we know them or not.
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I think you spend more time and energy on voicing anti-flag etiquette than most flag fans do on actually maintaining flag etiquette.
 
Joker said:
In the eastern Baltic (Sweden Finland Estonia), the Red Ensign is thought to be Australian.

I had to educate some people from Tallinn this evening.
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According to some (landlubber) lads on a stag do in Southampton's Ocean Village marina my defaced blue ensign meant I must be a New Zealander. They were well impressed that I had sailed all that way. They asked how long it had taken me, to which I replied "not as long as you would imagine". I didn't want to disappoint by owning up to the fact that Angele's home berth is on the River Hamble and that I had sailed all of 5 or 6 miles to get there.
 
Wait until the result of the Scottish referendum is known. No point in buying a new ensign now if you have to throw it away because the Union Flag has to be changed.
 
We still fly then Dutch flag that came with our yacht when we bought her over in the Netherlands early in 2011. No noticeable deterioration as we never leave it flying when we leave the boat.

We have considered buying a red ensign, but so far haven't seen any that are made well enough to last even one season. The printed ones are awful (like cheap novelty dish towels) and the sewn ones are shonky approximations (of the Union Jack) ...in comparison to the quality of our inherited Dutch flag.

So far we've had some curious enquiries about the flag (often in Dutch), but no flag police have broken down the hatches yet.
 
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''The flag was used on October the 13th in 1775. The Navy flag has been restored from September 11th 2002 since when the flag is flown by the United States Navy for the duration of the Global War on Terrorism.''

News to me. Ive not seen it being flown/worn by any septic warship.
 
At Less Than £5 On Line - New One Every Year

DJE said:
Well SWMBO has this sewing machine you see and every winter the frayed bits get trimmed off and the end neatly hemmed. Until last winter I gently suggested that it was nearer square than rectangular. So this year it has sprouted a new bit of red cloth of almost the same colour restoring the original shape.

So it would appear that the answer to your original question is "never". It looks like ours will last as long as Trigger's broom.
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At less than £5 on line, repair is not worth the effort so get a new one every year. Yes it's a print not sewn - so wot!

Problem - can make the rest of the boat look tatty!

Disposal of last year's - give it to another yottie with a v scuffy one. Preferably to one with a smarter boat than ours - not difficult to find.

Chinita - want one for you new boat in Sopromar?

Oh! should you decide to head this way, courtesy of one of the Lagos Chinese shops, I have a spare Portuguese ensign on board.
 
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