Norwegian Yacht Clubs

Last modified: 2001-12-13 by elias granqvist
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• Royal Norwegian Yacht Club (Kongelig Norsk Seilforening)
  • Norwegian Association for Pleasure Sailing, 1984-1905
  • Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, 1906-1958
  • Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, 1958-1991
  • Royal Norwegian Yacht Club, since 1991
  • Burgee

• Norway
• Cultural and Economic flags of Norway

• Kongelig Norsk Seilforening (Royal Norwegian Yacht Club)

On 7 February 1883 the Norsk Forening for Lystseilads (NFL, Norwegian Association for Pleasure Sailing) was formed. By Royal Resolution of 6 December 1884 boats belonging to the NFL was granted the right to use the Norwegian war ensign with the addition of the royal cypher in gold on a white field set in the centre of the cross. At the time, Norway was in union with Sweden under a common king, Oscar II. Consequently, the flag had the Norwegian-Swedish union mark in the canton (originally introduced to the war ensign in 1844) and the cypher of Oscar II on the white field.

Jan Oskar Engene, 11 September 1998

In 1903 the NFL reorganized and changed names to Kongelig Norsk Seilforening (KNS, Royal Norwegian Yacht Club). However, the flag of the yacht club remained unchanged until the dissolution of the union with Sweden on 7 June 1905. Upon the dissolution of the union with Sweden, the KNS used for a short time the Norwegian civil ensign.

By Royal Resolution of 27 January 1906 the new king, Haakon VII, granted KNS the right to use the Norwegian war ensign, now without the union mark, with the addition of the royal cypher in gold on a white field in the centre of the cross. Photographic evidence suggests that the KNS flag used a cypher different from the one usually associated with Haakon VII, especially in the later years of his reign. The flag of the KNS carrying the cypher of Haakon VII was used to the end of 1958.

Jan Oskar Engene, 11 September 1998

The lion on top of the crown was introduced with the Royal Resolution on the arms of Norway on 14 December 1905 and was even included in the early cypher of Haakon VII.

This peculiar element had never appeared on the arms of Norway before and the lion on the crown can only be explained as a misunderstanding made by the artist who did the model artwork for the arms. Apparently he misunderstood the lion found on the helmet in the seal of King Hakon VI and transferred it to the crown on the 1905 arms. The mistake was quickly discovered and the lion gradually disappeared from official representations of the arms, a process finalized with a new Royal Resolution on the arms of Norway dated 19 March 1937. Nevertheless, the lion survived in the emblem and flag of the KNS until Olav V became king.

Jan Oskar Engene, 13 September 1998

The "lion on top of the crown" might have been used longer in the yacht club flag than in government usage such as coins, etc. Heraldists spotted the mistake quite soon, and the mistake was gradually removed. Naturally, it can still be found on buildings etc. Last I saw the lion on top of the crown was a couple of days ago – in television coverage from Washington, DC. The Norwegian embassy there had an old version of the coat of arms cut in stone on the facade.

Jan Oskar Engene, 31 October 2001

We note on the page that the "h7"-cypher is rather unusual, different from the well-known "H7"-cypher. To check the theory of it being an earlier cypher I checked A catalog of Modern World Coins 1850-1964 - R.S. Yeoman. It pictures a 2 o/re coin of 1907, coinage 1906-1907 showing a cypher "H VII". Next is a piece from 1910, coinage 1908-1952, which uses the "H7"-cypher. So if it is an older cypher, it was apparently used for only a very short time. TH, it might have been an alternative cypher, like the two versions for the cypher for King Harald the Fifth [see below].

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 31 October 2001

The cypher in the flag changed. Originally the h7 cypher had the lion on top of the crown, but it was removed at some point. Unfortunately I have not been able to establish when. I have a few of the KNS yearbooks, and the h7 cypher without lion was shown in the 1956 edition. This makes me question whether the H7 cypher was used at all.

So to sum up: We know that during the reign of Haakon VII the emblem in the KNS ensign took two forms: h7 with "lioned" crown, and h7 with "unlioned". What remains to be investigated is whether a third form of the cypher, the H7 cypher, was also used in the KNS ensign.

Jan Oskar Engene, 2 November 2001

Olav V became king upon the death of his father Haakon VII and the cypher of the new king was put on the flag of the KNS. The new flag was hoisted for the first time on 4 May 1958, but the flag with the cypher of Haakon VII was allowed used to the end of 1958 because it took some time to make new flags. The KNS flag with the cypher of Olav V was used to the end of 1991.

Jan Oskar Engene, 11 September 1998

On 1 January 1992 the latest version of the KNS flag came into use. This version carries the cypher of Harald V who took over the throne upon the death of his father, Olav V. King Harald V has two cyphers, one with a Roman numeral and one with an Arabic numeral. The one with the Roman numeral is used for the KNS flag. The cypher is in metallic gold colour, outlined in dark brown and with details in red.

Jan Oskar Engene, 11 September 1998

Source:
· Jan Oskar Engene: "'Det norske orlogsflag med hans majestets kronede navnechiffer i guld' – Oversikt over KNS-flagget", Nordisk Flaggkontakt [nfk], No. 25, 1997, pp. 8-12

The version with the cypher of King Harald the Fifth is the version I saw [at the Kiel canal this summer] (since it's the current flag of the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club). It is indeed a H-cypher with the V in the middle making it look like an "M".

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 31 October 2001

I found my notes from an occasion here in Bergen a couple of years ago at which the three Norwegian tall ships were all in the inner harbour of Bergen. At that occasion Sorlandet of Kristiansand flew the plain Norwegian civil ensign, Statsraad Lemkuhl of Bergen flew the yacht ensign and Christian Radich of Oslo flew the post ensign.

Jan Oskar Engene, 5 June 2001

by Jose C. Alegria

Beside the burgee of the Kongelig Norsk Seilforening which we give on this page, The Dumpty Pocket Book of Sailing Dinghies and Yachts list another 27. The one of Bergens Seilforening especially might appeal to fotw-ers (dark blue with a cluster of one 5-pointed star in the centre and six others, almost touching, around it).

Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 31 September 2001