{{Short description|Flag of a sailing club or yacht club}} [[File:New York Yacht Club Burgee.png|thumb|Burgee of the New York Yacht Club]] A '''burgee''' ({{tooltip|prob. ult.|probably ultimately; see Dictionary.com, OED, etc.}} from French {{wikt-lang|fr|bourgeois}}, "owner (of a ship)") is a distinguishing flag, regardless of its shape, of a recreational boating organization.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150920224048/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/es/definicion/ingles/burgee Oxford University Press]</ref> In most cases, they have the shape of a pennant.
==Etiquette== Yacht clubs and their members may fly their club's burgee while under way and at anchor, day or night. Sailing vessels may fly the burgee either from the main masthead or from a halyard under the lowermost starboard spreader.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Rousmaniere |author-link=John Rousmaniere |title=The Annapolis Book of Seamanship |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1999 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-684-85420-5 |page=370 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xRqzoX04v5AC&pg=PA370 |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref> Most powerboats (i.e. those lacking any mast or having a single mast) fly the burgee off a short staff at the bow; two-masted power vessels fly the burgee at the foremast.
==Flag officers== The officers of a yacht club may fly various burgees appropriate to their rank: for example, the commodore may fly a swallow-tailed version of the club burgee (and the vice- and rear-commodores the same, but distinguished by the addition of one or two balls respectively at the canton). A past-commodore may also be given a distinctively-shaped flag.<ref>'Flags and Signals' by Cdr R.L. Hewitt, Royal Yachting Association 1969, 1984</ref>
==Personal burgees== Personal burgees are called private signals, and have also been designed and flown for over one hundred years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graham |first=Thomas |date=2014 |title=Mr. Flagler's St. Augustine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvx06xrr |publisher=University Press of Florida |page=351-378 |isbn=978-0813049373}}</ref> Much like club or burgees of rank, personal burgees must be distinct to the owner, but unlike the former, are often swallow-tailed.
==See also== *{{Portal-inline|Transport}} *Broad pennant *Civil ensign *Courtesy flag *Ensign *Maritime flag *Naval ensign
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Wiktionary}} {{Commons}} *[http://www.seaflags.us/yachting/yc.html Flags of yacht clubs] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110219125047/http://www.clyc.net/burgees.htm Crystal Lake Yacht Club's burgee collection]
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Category:Maritime flags