Courtesy Flag Holder

Daverw

Daverw

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We are starting to collect a number of courtesy flags and Burgees and wonder how people store these on board? Been searching online but drawing a blank. Could just keep them in the chart table but getting a bit messy in there.
 
Daverw said:
We are starting to collect a number of courtesy flags and Burgees and wonder how people store these on board? Been searching online but drawing a blank. Could just keep them in the chart table but getting a bit messy in there.
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I suppose that I must have around 10 or more courtesy flags but don't exactly need quick access to any. Even around Corsica & Sardinia I'd only need to keep a couple out to swap with ones in use. I just store them in a nice dry locker in the saloon. I don't really see the need to get something with special holes for each flag. I keep signal flags in a space under the chart table but only have a few of those and they rarely see daylight.

Do you really need to keep all courtesy flags where they are readily accessible? Just a thought.
 
We just keep those flags - bundled into a supermarket bag - stuffed under a berth. Rather inaccessible but just drag the bag out when you need one.
 
We keep our courtesy and house flags in a now 30 year old canvas PS Waverley bag under the chart locker. We have caught the habit of fun with flags so have football flags and Scottish, Welsh and Oz flags as well as more obscure Firefly and Go flags and try to buy a new and relevant flag for any guests to welcome them on board. I know it's silly but can be s conversation starter too, particularly as we have a huge QPR flag flying when sailing and even got the new asymmetric made in the team colours.
 
I can often find things to worry about on a boat but where to stow courtesy flags is not one of them. We have the French, Normandy, Irish, Belgian, Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish and Polish all rolled up in a locker together with the third substitute. We seldom arrive in a country in such a state of disorder that I can't extract the relevant flag in time to display it when needed, and even if I were as well-travelled as some people here, I think that somehow I could manage it, perhaps separating the flags into continents before stowage.
 
Each in its own little ziplok bag with sharpie/masking tape marking which country all in a bigger ziplok bag. So much easier to find.

One option to save money other side of the pond is get down the market straight away and buy a local flag bandana, reinforce a bit & up it goes :cool:
 
I only have four so they take up a lot less room than the signal flags in the locker I shove them into...

and talking of signal flags...

johnalison said:
all rolled up in a locker together with the third substitute.
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I know I'm going to be showing my ignorance here (I thought this might be a racing thing but have failed to google use of 3rd substitute in RRS) ...what good is a 3rd substitute without the rest of the signal flags?
 
A few years ago one of the sailmakers (who I shall not name to avoid mistaken attribution ) at the SBS handed out small sailbags of approx. one foot in length with a drawstring top containing samples I believe and while I cannot justify the investment in a hand crafted flag locker although it looks very smart , this sample serves as a useful home now for all our flags which are kept inside in their own packets.
By way of a slight thread drift has anyone found a source though of a quality flag role in say canvas to assist the OP ( I had in mind a larger version of a spanner role up ) as this might be a mid point between a plastic bag and a full flag locker where a gap in the market exists ? I would have thought a canvas role with a pocket for each flag duly embroidered is the way to resolve this for the OP if someone makes such a thing ?
 
ashtead said:
A few years ago one of the sailmakers (who I shall not name to avoid mistaken attribution ) at the SBS handed out small sailbags of approx. one foot in length with a drawstring top containing samples I believe and while I cannot justify the investment in a hand crafted flag locker although it looks very smart , this sample serves as a useful home now for all our flags which are kept inside in their own packets.
By way of a slight thread drift has anyone found a source though of a quality flag role in say canvas to assist the OP ( I had in mind a larger version of a spanner role up ) as this might be a mid point between a plastic bag and a full flag locker where a gap in the market exists ? I would have thought a canvas role with a pocket for each flag duly embroidered is the way to resolve this for the OP if someone makes such a thing ?
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For signal flags but should do the job.
https://www.jimmygreen.co.uk/item/14181/signal-code-flag-wallet---white-polyester
 
ashtead said:
I would have thought a canvas role with a pocket for each flag duly embroidered is the way to resolve this for the OP if someone makes such a thing ?
Click to expand...

I have one of those with a full set of 40 sewn flags (not printed nylon). It came with the boat whose previous Italian owner had no money problems. It is as bulky as a rolled-up sleeping bag and is quite heavy. It lives under the bunks in the fore-cabin. Very rarely used for signalling.
 
laika said:
I only have four so they take up a lot less room than the signal flags in the locker I shove them into...

and talking of signal flags...



I know I'm going to be showing my ignorance here (I thought this might be a racing thing but have failed to google use of 3rd substitute in RRS) ...what good is a 3rd substitute without the rest of the signal flags?
Click to expand...
When we first did the Kiel Canal in 1990 it was a requirement for yachts and ships to display the 3rd substitute to assert that the vessel was not carrying dutiable goods or some such. A friend therefore made one for us, which we duly flew. Since then it has not been needed, though you occasionally see it on ships. We have kept ours for sentimental reasons, and who knows? With Brexit anything could happen.
 
Thanks for all the ideas, I been on a number of boats where the ensign is put there, the burgees over there and others dotted about. The admiral wants them sorted as she is in charge of flying the relevant ones, but of course storage and finding the right ones is my task
 
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