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Thanks for that lesson, Bob. I haven’t hoisted a pig stick yet because I haven’t made the flag yet – it’s on The List – so I’m glad to know how that staff stays upright.
As for it being arcane, I suppose there is a little smugness to it. Mainly, though, I fly non-essential flags for the plain fun of it. For special holidays, I occasionally employ signal flags to spell out some appropriate word like “F-R-E-E-D-O-M” on July 4th, or “S-A-I-L-N-A-K-E-D” at Antigua Race Week. Far be it from me to take all this too seriously.
I also carry a bagful of scrap spinnaker fabric, which most sailmakers will be happy to give you from their big pile of the stuff. Those scraps, plus scissors, contact cement, indelible magic markers, a grommet set, and a book of world flags that includes national ensigns, will enable you to make your own courtesy flags before you arrive in foreign ports. I’ve made a score of them over the years. Once they’re hoisted no-one can tell their homemade. It’s not only frugal, but sometimes it’s the only way to have the requisite flag available to hoist when the Q-flag comes down.
Here is a little more arcana for you, from flagspot.net: “There seems to be no general rule about courtesy flags. Some countries that have a civil ensign and a national flag consider the national flag appropriate, others that it is the civil ensign which should be flown. Some ships don’t bother with courtesy flags, some fly the wrong one through ignorance, and some fly the wrong flag (because) that is the only one they have onboard, (considering it to be) better than no flag.”
Right.
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Original Message
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Hi Tor,
My good friend, Cory, who is a 500 ton oceans unlimited captain has told me that not only is it proper to fly a courtesy flag but that it is required. Flying the wrong one is much worse than not flying one at all (imagine flying the Israeli flag in say, Yemen, because you don't have a Yemenese flag).
Your idea of making them on the fly is absolutely spectacular! I may have to get a sewing machine for the boat for just that reason. I have a home machine, but if you're going to do it, you might as well have one capable of fixing sails, don't you think?
I only recently bought the full set of flags and have not yet hoisted any of them.
Courtesy flags are supposed to be flown from the starboard main mast spreader.
Now you know all I know, much of which might be wrong.
Bob
On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 9:28 AM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Thanks for that lesson, Bob. I haven't hoisted a pig stick yet because I haven't made the flag yet – it's on The List – so I'm glad to know how that staff stays upright.As for it being arcane, I suppose there is a little smugness to it. Mainly, though, I fly non-essential flags for the plain fun of it. For special holidays, I occasionally employ signal flags to spell out some appropriate word like “F-R-E-E-D-O-M” on July 4th, or “S-A-I-L-N-A-K-E-D” at Antigua Race Week. Far be it from me to take all this too seriously.
I also carry a bagful of scrap spinnaker fabric, which most sailmakers will be happy to give you from their big pile of the stuff. Those scraps, plus scissors, contact cement, indelible magic markers, a grommet set, and a book of world flags that includes national ensigns, will enable you to make your own courtesy flags before you arrive in foreign ports. I've made a score of them over the years. Once they're hoisted no-one can tell their homemade. It's not only frugal, but sometimes it's the only way to have the requisite flag available to hoist when the Q-flag comes down.
Here is a little more arcana for you, from flagspot.net: “There seems to be no general rule about courtesy flags. Some countries that have a civil ensign and a national flag consider the national flag appropriate, others that it is the civil ensign which should be flown. Some ships don't bother with courtesy flags, some fly the wrong one through ignorance, and some fly the wrong flag (because) that is the only one they have onboard, (considering it to be) better than no flag.”
Right.
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
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Bob,
No one is suggesting flying one nation’s courtesy flag in another country. I think that quote I passed along was referring to the fact that some skippers might fly a host country’s national flag when their courtesy flag rule specifies an ensign. That sort of thing.
The reason I included contact cement in the make-your-own-flags list is because I don’t sew much. I glued the various pieces of fabric together for all the courtesy flags I made and they held up very well. Still have most of them. Of course if you do sew, all the better.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
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Oh, ah, my bad. Here's the thing with me, though. Contact cement is an invitation to ruining whatever I'm wearing, peeling little flakes of cement and skin from my hands, face, and hair for at least a week, and turning whatever I was gluing into a sticky mess. I am very bad with it. I do sew. The foot does not leave enough room for me to get any interesting parts of my body under the needle. 🙂
Bob
On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Bob,No one is suggesting flying one nation's courtesy flag in another country. I think that quote I passed along was referring to the fact that some skippers might fly a host country's national flag when their courtesy flag rule specifies an ensign. That sort of thing.
The reason I included contact cement in the make-your-own-flags list is because I don't sew much. I glued the various pieces of fabric together for all the courtesy flags I made and they held up very well. Still have most of them. Of course if you do sew, all the better.
Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
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We like to fly the signal flags “H-O-W-D-Y” and see as folks in the
anchorage figure it out.Pete
Silver Heels wrote:
Quote:Thanks for that lesson, Bob. I haven’t hoisted a pig stick yet because
I haven’t made the flag yet – it’s on The List – so I’m glad to know
how that staff stays upright.As for it being arcane, I suppose there is a little smugness to it.
Mainly, though, I fly non-essential flags for the plain fun of it. For
special holidays, I occasionally employ signal flags to spell out some
appropriate word like “F-R-E-E-D-O-M” on July 4th, or
“S-A-I-L-N-A-K-E-D” at Antigua Race Week. Far be it from me to take
all this too seriously.I also carry a bagful of scrap spinnaker fabric, which most sailmakers
will be happy to give you from their big pile of the stuff. Those
scraps, plus scissors, contact cement, indelible magic markers, a
grommet set, and a book of world flags that includes national ensigns,
will enable you to make your own courtesy flags before you arrive in
foreign ports. I’ve made a score of them over the years. Once they’re
hoisted no-one can tell their homemade. It’s not only frugal, but
sometimes it’s the only way to have the requisite flag available to
hoist when the Q-flag comes down.Here is a little more arcana for you, from flagspot.net: “There seems
to be no general rule about courtesy flags. Some countries that have a
civil ensign and a national flag consider the national flag
appropriate, others that it is the civil ensign which should be flown.
Some ships don’t bother with courtesy flags, some fly the wrong one
through ignorance, and some fly the wrong flag (because) that is the
only one they have onboard, (considering it to be) better than no flag.”Right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
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Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
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Yeah, you’ll see a few of the sharper ones alternately looking at your boat with binoculars and thumbing
through their Chapman’s or some other flag identifier, figuring out what you’re saying. I don’t think I’ve
ever met anyone who can read them outright, myself included.Tor
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Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
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