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Club Nautique de Nice (Yacht Club, France)

Flag and burgee of the CNN - Images by Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010

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Presentation of the CNN

The Club Nautique de Nice (CNN), founded on 14 March 1883, has a membership of 825, divided into three sections, sailing, rowing and motorboating.

The CNN was founded in 1883 by a group of local notables, being therefore the oldest club in Provence and in the County of Nice exclusively dedicated to watersports. The first president of the club was Léonce Legros, a retired officer of the Navy. Short after its incorporation to France in 1860, the County of Nice was linked to Paris by a railway line, which allowed the economic development of the town; moreover, the region became the favoured wintering place of the richest men in the world, who were also, very often, fond of "new" sports such as yachting, motorboating and automobile racing. Prestigious members of the CNN were Sir Thomas Lipton, King of the Belgians Leopold II, Prince Luigi of Savoy (Honorary members), the engineer Gustave Eiffel, the painter Henri Matisse and the Mayor of Nice Jean Médecin (1928-1943; 1947-1965).

The CNN's 1907 Yearbook (Annuaire 1907) details the events of the early years of the club, highlighting its main role in the development of yachting on the Riviera and its contribution to the emergence of French yachting.
In 1883 and subsequent years, the club was commissioned by the municipality of Nice to organize the traditional St. John Regatta; the next year, the CNN founded the Menton International Regatta.
Organizer in 1885 of the first French congress aimed at elaborating rules for yachting races, the CNN was a founding member of the Union des Sociétés Nautiques de la Méditerranée, an association of French and Italian (up to Naples) yacht clubs. In 1889, a regatta organized by the CNN was the first in France to implement the racing rules set up by the Yacht Racing Association. On 26 October 1891, the CNN was the second club after the Société de la Voile d'Arcachon to join the Union des Yachts Français.
In 1898, on the model of the merging of the Union des Yachts Français and of the Yacht Club de France into a single national organization, the CNN merged with the Club de la Voile de Nice; the new club, officially registered on 20 May 1898, retained the name of Club Nautique de Nice. The next year, the club organized the first motorboating race in the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1905, the club organized two races patroned by European sovereigns, Gibraltar-Nice (Edward VII Cup) and La Spezia-Nice (Victor Emmanuel III Cup).

The CNN inaugurated its rowing section in 1895. In 1901, the club organized in Nice, together with Canottieri Italia (Naples), the first eight rowing race at sea, won by the local Yolande; the revenge race, won in 1903 by the Italians by a mergin lower than one meter, was watched by 30,000 fans standing on the Promenade des Anglais. Members of the CNN subsequently won several national titles and represented France in different Olympic Games.

Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010

Flag and burgee of the CNN

The flag and burgee of the CNN are described in the club's statutes, adopted on 7 June 1906 by the Extraordinary General Assembly (1907 Yearbook, pp. 15-24, with colour drawings), as follows:

Title 1. General provisions
[...]
Article 2.
The burgee of the Club Nautique shall be a blue triangular pennant pierced with two white stars, each of them being itself pierced with a red star, placed on the perpendicular dropped from the top to the base, and of dimensions proportional to the transversal at the point where they are placed.
The flag of the Club Nautique shall be a blue rectangle pierced with two white stars, each of them being itself pierced with a red star. The two red stars shall be of equal size. They shall be placed on a diagonal descending from the upper hoist to the lower fly.
[...]

The racing rules, burgee, medal, diploma etc... designed by the CNN were awarded a silver medal in the Maritime Exhibition held in 1885 in Nantes.

Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010

CNN officers' burgees

Burgee of the President, of the Vice Presidents and of the Secretary of the CNN (from left to right, respectively) - Images by Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010 (reconstruction after written description)

The CNN officers' burgees are prescribed in the Maritime Rules of the club (1907 Yearbook, p. 77), as follows:

Article 5.
The distinctive emblem of the President's burgee shall be three white balls in the blue field of the burgee; the distinctive emblem of the Vice Presidents' burgee shall be two white balls placed in the blue field of the burgee along the hoist. The burgee of the Secretary, of the Treasurer and of the Honorary Members shall have a white ball in the upper corner.

Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010

CNN flag etiquette

The use of the flags is prescribed in the Maritime Rules of the club (1907 Yearbook, pp. 77-78), as follows:

[...]
Article 2.
[The members of CNN] shall first salute any yacht flying the burgee of the President or of the Vice President of the club.
Article 3.
The members shall salute each other by moving down three times the burgee at mid-halyard.
Article 4.
The yachts of CNN shall salute the yachts of other clubs with the colours. They should salute the war vessels of any nationality they might encounter at sea.
[...]
Article 6.
The maritime mourning of the Club Nautique shall be shown by hoisting the burgee at mid-halyard.
Article 7.
The members of the Club Nautique owning yachts moored in the port of Nice are invited to hoist the burgee on top of the main mast, from 8 AM to the sundown during the winter season (15 November to 15 May). Those belonging to the Encouragement Society are required to hoist the burgee at least until noon.
Article 8.
For the whole duration of regattas, festivals or solemn events organized by the Club Nautique, the owners shall keep the burgee hoisted from 8 AM to the sundown. They shall also hoist the burgee - and, if necessary, dress full - when ordered by the Head of Station.
The Head of Station, when there is no war vessel or when he has not been specifically appointed, shall be the senior (in rank or age) member of the Encouragement Society. He shall ask the yachts to be prepared to hoist the flags by hoisting himself the "D.B.N." signal. The yachts shall hoist the burgee or dress full at the same time as the Head of Station.
Article 9.
On 14 March, the anniversary day of the club's foundation, the owners are required to dress full.

Ivan Sache, 17 May 2010