country flags do you need them?

[Skipper_Dan]

I will be sailing a 37' from Palau to Houston through Papa New Guinea, Madagascar, around Africa to France, over to Virgin Islands, then up through the Caribbean to Houston. Do I need Country flags and if so where is the best place to get them?

Dan

[Paul L]

Yes, in most places it is just a courtesy, in others it is finable offense to not fly one. Dont forget your Q flag too. There are a number of online companies to purchase from, one advertises on Noonsite often,

[rotrax]

We saw a Finnish flagged boat given a real hard time in Cherbourg by the Douanes.


We heard after they had a bad attitude about courtesy flags and never flew one.


Here in the UK the Cornish have a bit of a reputation. They call visitors 'emmets' and indulge in gentle piss taking.


Not experienced any since we invested seven quid in a Cornish courtesy flag

[PippaB]

I think of courtesy flags about the same as using "please" and "thank you". I was taught that they are a requirement of polite society and feel a bit embarrassed when I don't have them. And they have about the same level of "requirement", some people don't care much if you use "please", "thank you", and other niceties, other people can be deeply offended.

There have been many instances when we didn't have the appropriate flag on arrival, but it makes a good conversation starter with the Immigrations/Customs person and allows us to buy locally rather than lining Amazon's pockets. We may have been sent to the cousin's shop, but every time we've asked we've had very polite response and it opens up the overall conversation about the place we're visiting, where to get things in general, and gets us a quick overview from the people who are checking us in.

[sv_pelagia]

In Mexico, some Port Captains WILL give you grief if you are not flying the Mexico (courtesy) flag (they may even give you grief if it is flown but tattered).

[donradcliffe]

I got grief for trying to fly a Dutch flag in Croatia.

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Skipper_Dan

I will be sailing a 37' from Palau to Houston through Papa New Guinea, Madagascar, around Africa to France, over to Virgin Islands, then up through the Caribbean to Houston. Do I need Country flags and if so where is the best place to get them?



Dan

It's best to have them just in case some snotty official takes offense when checking in.
I only fly them in port, taking down underway.
This was after a US customs officer in San Francisco threatened me with a $500 fine for having a torn US flag.
It was new when we left Canadian waters , but went thru a lot of weather

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by Skipper_Dan

I will be sailing .... around Africa to France, over to Virgin Islands

You're going to beat for roughly 2,000 miles?? then turn around and go back again?

[Skipper_Dan]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Yes, in most places it is just a courtesy, in others it is finable offense to not fly one. Dont forget your Q flag too. There are a number of online companies to purchase from, one advertises on Noonsite often,

Thanks Paul, someone also linked some other responses and I see that you can also buy them local once you get there. Maybe a good option, unless the one place you do need it and they don't have them.

[Skipper_Dan]

Originally Posted by Shrew

You're going to beat for roughly 2,000 miles?? then turn around and go back again?

Should only take a month or so.

I purchased the boat in Palau. I plan on a journey maybe two years worth.

[JPA Cate]

SkipperDan,

It is not worth giving the host country the offense of not flying their flag at the stbd spreader, once you have cleared in. It really IS an insult.

Obviously, you can hand sew flags on passages, too. Before we left the States, we visited our local sailmaker and he let us raid his spinnaker offcuts bin. We made all our flags, because often they are not for sale locally, and it is a pleasant project. Spinnaker cloth flags only last about 3 months, keep better if you take them down at night. You don't have to sew like a seamstress, for something that will be seen from 20 ft. down! so a simple basting stitch will do the job or a lock stitch. You can get pictures to copy for the complicated flags. We actually bought a flag book, which also gives the ratio of hoist to length, for the various flags.

Ann

[TrentePieds]

As Ann sez — Make your own! Any cruising man should have that much of the sailmaker's craft in him.

Lotsa advice on HolyMotherNet on what to do with flags once you have them. Even HOW to do it :-)!

Here is a start:

https://www.marineinsight.com/guidel...ag-etiquettes/

All the best

TrentePieds

[sailingabe41ds]

hi..
only thing i will say is why take a chance of pissing off the local authorties? i would also add dressing appropriately... behaving professionally and respectfully usually goes a long ways.
imho
abe

[Montanan]

And don't forget the Gin Flag.

Goes up as soon as the Q flag comes down and the Country Courtesy Flag is raised.

[wingssail]

We carried cloth of various colors and sewed courtesy flags. We have a sewing machine which is readily available for use so it was pretty easy for many countries. Some flags however have small details for which we resorted to marking pens.

With Jimmy Cornell's books and some other sources we knew what to make. Often we bought material in one country to get the right colors for the flag of the next country.

We always had a courtesy flag. They don't have to be perfect or last a long time but we made BIG flags..

The only time we got an odd look was when we sewed a flag upside down and hoisted it that way.

"What are you looking at?"

"You've got the flag upside down!"

No Port Capitain or other authority has chastized us, (because we had the flags!).

I just want to add this:

Making the flag was a ritual and a fun part of cruising. For us it ranked about like the adventure we had in so many ports trying to find roasted whole coffee beans.

Photos:
Making flags,
In a horse drawn cart searching for coffee beans