Royal Yacht Squadron - Possibly the world's most exclusive club?

I found this amusing article about joining the Royal Yacht Squadron. British flag ettiquette is quite an interesting subject as there are a plethora of different flags that may be flown depending on a variety of factors. The majority of private yachts fly the Red ensign:

From Sailing Sweden - May 2009 - Sail to Sandhamn

A complex set of rules dictate which private yachts may fly the Blue Ensign. But only Royal Naval vessels and yachts owned by the 400 or so members of the Royal Yacht Squadron may fly the elite white ensign.

The three colours are a relic of a time when the Royal Navy was divided into three fleets (Red, White and Blue). A Post Captain, when promoted to admiral, would progress up the rankings of seniority. So he'd start out as an Rear Admiral of the Blue, progresses to White, then Red. Next he'd become a Vice Admiral of the Blue, White, then Red. Finally there was Admiral of the Blue and then White. Traditionally there was no Admiral of the Red as this was synonymous with Admiral of the Fleet. After Trafalgar (1805) Admiral of the Red was introduced to reward it's top Admirals, though it may have been a device to create more space at the bottom for deserving Captains.

When the Navy was going through a period of reduction after France had been defeated and as the war of 1812 was drawing to an end the practice of creating "Yellow Admirals" was common. This involved promoting them, but leaving them on the bench with no fleet assignment. There was no actual Yellow flag, it was more of a grim joke that their service hadn't been sufficiently good or politically connected to warrant a proper promotion. Patrick O'Brien's "The Yellow Admiral" explores this in detail by putting Aubrey in the frame for being yellowed.




This system fell into disuse when the age of sail came to an end. The Red Ensign was allocated to the merchant navy of Britain, the Royal Navy adopted the White Ensign, and the Blue Ensign was used by naval auxiliary vessels.

Generally speaking, today, the only way to fly one of the privelidged ensigns is to join a club or the armed forces. For all but the RYS this is either a blue or defaced blue ensign. As stated above the RYS members get to fly the white. It is interesting that there seems to be a vein of reverse snobbery where some people look down upon the people that chose to fly the white or blue for being pretentious. I personally feel that this is a quaint little part of British tradition that should be cherished and enjoyed lest it fade away completely.

Telegraph.co.uk - Could I endure decades of sucking up to join the Royal Yacht Squadron - God yes!