alant
Active member
I didn't say it was correct.
Which British flag as guest flag or courtesy flag?
- Thread starter davidaprice
- Start date
I didn't say it was correct.
prv
Well-known member
No question the red ensign is the correct thing for a formal courtesy flag. Yes, the Union Jack is occasionally seen even on visiting merchant ships, but it’s a mistake, made presumably by those from countries which don’t make a distinction between national flag and maritime ensign.
For an informal “British person on board” flag? This custom is recent enough not to have any hard and fast rules, but to me either is acceptable and a small Union Jack actually feels more appropriate. The purpose of the flag is not essentially maritime, rather it just signifies the country - and it also distinguishes it nicely from a courtesy flag that someone’s run up on the wrong side.
Pete
For an informal “British person on board” flag? This custom is recent enough not to have any hard and fast rules, but to me either is acceptable and a small Union Jack actually feels more appropriate. The purpose of the flag is not essentially maritime, rather it just signifies the country - and it also distinguishes it nicely from a courtesy flag that someone’s run up on the wrong side.
Pete
Kukri
Well-known member
Some years ago my wife and I copped a very severe bollocking from the late and redoubtable Lorna for locking into Limehouse Basin flying the old HK ensign; it happened to be our wedding anniversary and we had married in HK (and held the reception at the RHKYC). I was told to lower it at once in case anyone saw it and was issued with (and charged for!) a CA defaced ensign and the warrant to go with it on the spot!
ctva
Well-known member
We try whenever possible when we have had foreign guests onboard, to get their national flag for the port spreader. It’s good fun, they love it and appreciate it along with making a conversation point in an anchorage or port.
Adiep
New member
Normalised behaviour becomes tradition. It’s not illegal. Some might consider the flying of several burgees a little unsavoury. I fly two, one for the special ensign and one for my club.
I might be wrong but in my club I don’t fly the burgee, this is where my yacht lives. I only fly it when leaving the marina. Some say I should fly it all the time. Just like the RN introduced times for raising and lowering ensigns, I’m saving money by them not wearing out.
I might be wrong but in my club I don’t fly the burgee, this is where my yacht lives. I only fly it when leaving the marina. Some say I should fly it all the time. Just like the RN introduced times for raising and lowering ensigns, I’m saving money by them not wearing out.
Kukri
Well-known member
My boat “wears” my club burgee with the club ensign in “home waters”, the CA burgee and ensign when not, but in Brest-Elbe limits, and as and when we ever get far enough she will wear the OCC burgee and a red ensign.
If wearing the Club burgee she also flies the membership flags of the CA and the OCC
oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
Some debate as to which spreader RYA says burgee on port and courtesy flag or Q flag on starboard.
On visiting Brittany I fly the Breton black and white, and within UK waters I may fly regional flags such as Scilly, and when we get our craft to Scotland I will fly the Saltire.
Do you mean that in Finland foreign guests on the boat fly their own countries flag on port spreader?
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Kukri
Well-known member
My boat has a nice big Red Ensign which I used to keep in the car with my “ship jumper’s kit” (high vis jacket, hard hat, safety boots, flashing amber light) because in the days when I was running non-UK flag ships calling here there was a very good chance that one of them would be flying the Union flag as a courtesy ensign…
oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
The obsession with the itself very bizare red ensign seens positively Ruritanian. After I am not an admiral of the red, or under their command, and that fellow with Royal in his club name is not under the command of the admiral of the blue.
I dread to think what will happen if/when the UK separates, but excessive attention to flags rather than other stuff may hasten such an unfortunate decline
I dread to think what will happen if/when the UK separates, but excessive attention to flags rather than other stuff may hasten such an unfortunate decline
Kukri
Well-known member
Flag etiquette in Britain is a pale shadow of flag etiquette in the USA, and as for Finland…!
penfold
Well-known member
Wasn't there a YBW burgee at one point? A mouse swigging a martini or something along those lines?
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
That's the Scuttlebutt burgee; I have one.
ctva
Well-known member
Yes, often seen flying on our boat.
Minerva
Well-known member
I often chuckle at the yanks - taking deadly serious pride in their flag, but not seeing the irony with wearing Stars and Stripes swim wear and (probably skid marked) underwear.
Frogmogman
Well-known member
Post deleted. I misread the post I was replying to
dunedin
Well-known member
Yes. Perhaps as our esteemed Government has replaced car GB stickers with UK ones, they might also replace old ensigns with a Union jack as our maritime ensign?
Cue lots of spluttering G&Ts over blazers
lustyd
Well-known member
Thanks I wasn't aware of this nonsense but was planning a trip to France in December so you may have saved me from being scuppered by our own rules.
Frogmogman
Well-known member
Even if you don’t, I reckon those of us on this side of the channel will manage to work out where you’re from
SaltIre
Well-known member
lustyd
Well-known member
I'd be afraid to fly mine these days in case someone from the forum turned up!