Last modified: 2014-07-17 by rob raeside
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![[Royal Galway Yacht Club burgee]](../images/i/ie~rgyc.jpg)
image located by Jan Mertens, 9 May 2011
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Though it may be the Royal Galway Yacht Club was revived, specifically for
that race, it doesn't seem very alive today. While the organisation
does have
a business address, it doesn't have an Internet presence of any kind that I
could find.
No information on officers flags, alas, for lack of officer's
addresses for asking about flags. In the old club, of course, the officers had
stars on the collars of their club uniforms. I've so far found no mention of
officer's flags, though.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 23 June
2014
The burgee is a blue field, white cross throughout and near the hoist, a
yellow heraldic ship on stylized waves, with sails furled and a tiny royal crown
(in full colour) above, the hull bearing a yellow shield with a green? lion,
rampant. Surely these are the arms of Galway, also the former arms of County
Galway (the lion is coloured differently)? :
http://www.heraldry.ws/regional/galwaycity.gif
The
image above is found in the 1923 French ‘Album des pavillons nationaux et
des marques distinctives’ in spite of spelling “Golway”
(Plate CI, ill. 24). The crown (Tudor model) is much larger and the
shield is left bare; a bonus is the undifferentiated Red Ensign of the
period.
Jan Mertens, 9 May 2011
![[Royal Galway Yacht Club burgee]](../images/i/ie~yrgyc.jpg)
image by Jose C. Alegria, 17 October 2013
Sometime ago while heading off in a round the world race the Late Lord
Killanin presented me with the burgee of the Royal Galway. He asked me to fly
the flag and continue the tradition. We are rebuilding the club on the back of a
syndicate who are building a boat for the Volvo round the world race in 2009.
Enda O'Coineen, 30 December 2007
Flying the burgee of a defunct yacht club should not be a problem, though I
suggest that it should be flown as a personal or house flag, and not in the
position that a club burgee would normally be flown. Reviving the club and using
the same burgee is a slightly more doubtful proposition. The title 'royal' was
granted to the Galway Yacht Club in 1882. What a yacht club in the Republic of
Ireland cares to call itself is no longer of any concern to the British Home
Office. There are still 'royal' yacht clubs in the Republic of Ireland so
presumably the Irish government would have no objection to the use of an
historic title by a revived club. Using the same burgee should not be a problem
as long as it does not contravene any Irish regulations. The crown is still used
on the burgees of three Irish yacht clubs. A record of which clubs have been
granted the title 'royal' should be held by the Home Office in London. The title
'royal' does not in itself have any significance as far as flags are concerned.
Most British yacht clubs that had/have the title 'royal' have also been granted,
quite separately, the right to have a special club ensign. The Royal Galway was
one of the very few royal clubs that did not have this right.
David Prothero, 31 December 2007
It looks like the new burgee can be seen on the right at
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/yDKcePkoyIgf9eNffmeVww (for larger
image click on "download").
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 15
September 2009
I found the burgee (image above) in Alicante's yacht club, port of
exit of the last Volvo Ocean Race. I read that the club was revived for this
race that ended in Galway:
http://afloat.ie/sail/events/galway-stopover/item/17236-galway-revives-ancient-royal-yacht-club
Jose C. Alegria, 18 October 2013
