The Cape Royale Boating Association Burgee
When CRBA was formed there was great interest in establishing our identity on the Lake. One obvious way to help with this was to create a Club Burgee and give one to all new Members. The design we chose not only spoke to our connection with Cape Royale, but it also would be useful to identify our Members while cruising on the Lake. This follows a tradition of hundreds of years among Boating Associations and Yacht Clubs around the world. While some Members recognize the significance of the Burgee, many have never been exposed to one before. What follows below is meant to inform and motivate Members with regard to the proper use of the Burgee. You should have gotten a burgee with your new member packet when you first joined CRBA. If yours has become lost, torn, or tattered, please contact treasurer@crba-livingston.com to request a new one (There is a charge to recover the cost of replacement burgees). What is a Burgee?A burgee is a pennant (nautical flag), usually triangular or swallow-tailed in shape, and of unique design. It's express purpose is to identify recreational boating organizations - that is, Yacht Clubs and Boating Associations. It can be used for this purpose either while at anchor or while underway. HistoryCurrent use of Burgees evolved from the days of sailing ships. Navies had their own distinguishing pennants and flags, and owners of commercial vessels developed their own unique pennants, often quite elaborate. (Examine the next picture you see of a full-rigged ship and you may see a billowing pennant streaming from the main or mizzen mast.) As shipping companies became owners of many vessels, they too designed unique pennants to identify their ships all over the world. The idea of a special flag to distinguish your group from others was adopted by the world's great yacht clubs, and now is ubiquitous among knowledgeable clubs and boating associations. When one is visiting in other locales, your burgee can be your ticket to the amenities of other clubs and associations. Flag Protocol for BurgeesA Club Burgee should be displayed with pride whenever a Member Boat is underway. It can also be displayed when at anchor, especially when a Member is away from the home harbor (e.g. anchored at Pine Island or docked at restaurants we visit). It SHOULD NOT be flown while a boat is in a RACE. If any pennant is flown while racing it would be the Race Pennant. It is appropriate, however, for a Race Committee Boat to show the Club Burgee so that the race sponsor is identified. A larger version of our Burgee should fly from the top of our flagpole at the marina entrance (See Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling for protocol). Where to Fly the BurgeeFor power boats the traditional location for the Burgee is on a small pole at the bow of the boat. Lacking such a pole, the Burgee can be attached to part of the superstructure on the starboard side, in a position as high as possible. For sailboats, in early days, the Burgee was flown from the head of either a mainmast or the aftmost mast (for boats with more than one mast). Many paintings of square-rigged ships show a large, billowing pennant at a masthead. Most of our sailboats lack the rigging to display a Burgee from the masthead. The preferred, and accepted place, therefore, is just below the starboard spreader, attached to a light flag halyard suspended from the spreader. If attached to a shroud, it should be placed as near the spreader as possible. Protocol dictates that the stern of the boat be reserved only for the national Ensign (Stars and Stripes) as the Place of Honor. The stern is the Place of Honor because it is there that the boat is controlled with a rudder. Traditionally, it is also the area where Officers were housed.
Dick Hoffman Copyright 2011 Cape Royale Boating Association
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By flying our Burgees on the Lake we not only identify ourselves as real boaters, but we advertise our activities to other boaters on the Lake, and encourage them to join us.