Insignia on Sail

[neilm]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_oVZqV2SAiRY/SHkS3SJ_b_I/AAAAAAAAACc/7O6K7iyI6bE/s400/jeanie2.jpg

This is Iain's boat. What is the significance of his insignia or other insignias in general? Can I use a similar one or would that be offensive? I think Europeans are into family shields and whatnot.

Neil

[Yeadon]

I'm going to need to see more photos of Iain's boat before I can really decide. Where'd you find that one?

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

.
Celtic boat. Celtic insignia, and Celtic owner's name, methinks.

But why not?

Mike

[Todd Bradshaw]

Insignias make white sails less boring to build :). They generally denote the class, size or type of the boat for racing and are usually required by the class associations (along with sail measuring if needed) to make certain that someone isn't sailing with an unfair advantage. If you're not racing, you are pretty much free to put any insignia you wish on your sails. These days, it's mostly done with thin, peel-and-stick colored Dacron fabric (called Insignia Dacron). The better grades can even be peeled off later and changed without leaving goo on the sails (a serious problem with the original variety). Installation of big pieces is rather tricky as it's really sticky stuff and there are no do-overs. A piece either goes on properly or you peel it off, toss it and cut a new one. The biggest I've done were 6' tall letters on a set of trimaran sails and they were quite tedious to apply. The most tricky were a pair of cartoon portraits of my bosses, back when I was flying a balloon. They were about 4' tall, almost all insignia cloth and eventually installed on their balloon's skirt (at the bottom of the big round part, right above the basket). Here they are hanging on the wall while being finished and before the panels were sewn to the skirt. Find somebody who can draw and you can even put your face on your sails!

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/r&j-002.jpg

[neilm]

More Oughtred photos:
http://70point8percent.blogspot.com/2009/05/iain-oughtred-and-nic-comptons.html

Neil

[bucheron]

Interesting that Neilm mentions Europeans being into family shields . . . the system is called heraldry I believe. The idea was that the design which identified a family used a combination of readily identifiable standard symbols, which when described in a standard way, would be recognisable to anyone who was familiar with the system, even if they had not actually seen the design before.

So my family design was (in modern english) . . . .

A blue shield, with a silver chevron between three gold lozenges.

I have thought of creating a set of descriptions of sail insignia, to help identify boats, when the observer does not have a picture, only a remembered mind picture, which they may be able to describe in whole or in part.

[earlethomas]

Triple Spiral: As a Celtic symbol for mother and her many aspects, the triple spiral represents the various phases of womanhood, the passing of time, and the unity of these diverse dimensions. This symbol also represents the three phases of woman-ness: Mother in her compassion and nurturing state, Maiden in her innocence and pure state and Crone in her wise and experienced state.

This particular boat is named for Iain Oughtred's mother, the Jeane ll. Now known as the Arctic Tern. The symbol on the sail is a modified version of this symbol:

http://www.listphile.com/Celtic_Symbol_Database/Triple_Spiral/image/celtic_triplesymbol.jpg

Thanks for the link to 70.8% and I hope this clears things up a bit. The symbol and it's application I think show both Iains scholarliness and a bit of...humor? A close sister of this boat, Iains (personal) Ness Yawl is for sale at the Jordan (http://www.jordanboats.co.uk/JB/iain_oughtred.htm)site.

[bucheron]

A blue shield, with a silver chevron between three gold lozenges.
A crude pic here . . . .
.
http://buche.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Krest.JPG

[bucheron]

A blue shield, with a silver chevron between three gold lozenges.
A crude pic here . . . .

http://buche.wikispaces.com/file/detail/Krest.JPG

cheers buchie

[Midwest Mutt]

bucheron -

That's a great coat of arms! Do you happen to know the symbolism of the various aspects of the blazon? I'm curious since heraldry - at least for people/families - is about non-existent in these parts. Arms with a family tradition attached is really cool. I made my own arms up out of thin air.

There's a tradition (fallen by the wayside, I'm sure) of a captain flying his arms from his ship, but that would have identified the man, not the hull. I don't think I've ever heard of insignia of that type for an individual boat, although of course class markings are somewhat common.

If you're interested in poking around with your shield or practicing your heraldic vocabulary, I find this site to be helpful:

http://web.meson.org/blazonserver/index.php?blazon=Azure+a+chevron+argent+between+th ree+lozenges+Or&format=png