The Tradition of Flags

 

The tradition of raising flags at 8:00am and lowering them at sunset dates all the way back to the late 1700s in the British Royal Navy. It is still practiced by today’s navy, as well as many merchant and private vessels around the world. The Schooner J. & E. Riggin is no exception. 

We fly an ensign, which in our case as a U.S.-flagged vessel, is the American flag. This is flown off of the peak of our mainsail when it is set, or off of the back of the main boom when the sail is down. It is used to communicate to other vessels where our vessel is registered. It is the first flag up each day, and the last one down.

The name pennant is flown from the top of the mainmast to give everyone who sees us the ability to read our name clearly. 

The house flag is flown at the top of our foremast this is intended to communicate something about the ownership, but until we have a house flag designed, we have decided to use the classic State of Maine Dirigo flag. 

The final flag you can expect to see aboard the Riggin is the “R” or Romeo flag and the First Repeater. We use this combination on the main spreader to communicate the presence of a Riggin Relic aboard a cruise. 

This week we saw the first of many raising of the ship’s colors for the 2021 season. Though historically greeted with the call of a bugle, ours was greeted with excitement and cheers from the crew.

F.A.Q.’s – What’s the Weather Like in Maine?

 
Questions and the zest for learning – we love it.  Now, if you’ve sailed with us before, you might already know the answer to some of these questions, but maybe not all.  Over the next several e-newsletters, we’ll be sharing some of our most frequently asked questions. See if you know the full story…
 
“What will the weather be like when I sail?”
Your guess on the weather is as good as ours! When you think of packing for your trip, imagine what you would want or need if you were staying in an unheated cottage for the week.  Then imagine that you don’t have to do any cooking or cleaning and you are totally relaxed and you’ve got a pretty good idea of what your trip will be like.
 
The best we can do is to provide you with a packing list. Follow our list and you’ll be warm, dry, and comfortable no matter the weather. We generally sail rain or shine, but we will stay in port rather than endure rough seas. Please understand that our policy is as follows: in the unlikely event that your trip is delayed or shortened due to prolonged severe weather we do not issue refunds for time spent in port. We’ll still be feasting, singing, and laughing together rain or shine!