Courtesy flags

Mudisox

Mudisox

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I am watching the eurovision contest and see loads of european flags yet seem unable to obtain the same in the similar size. I could buy some big ones or get the sewing machine out, but with a birthday coming up and folks always despair of having any idea of what to buy me- HELP!
 
Keith at Griffin Flags - seems to hold stock of just about everything. He supplied 29 of the 30 I needed within a couple of days. Cheapest I could find too and very helpful.
 
Being permanently moored in Italy the only courtesy flag I seem to find without seriously searching for it is a small local ensign, which, when not cruising out of Italian waters, adorns my starboard flag halyard.

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This reduces a friend, a retired Italian army general, to protesting at regular intervals to me that it should be the country flag, without the marine crest in the centre.

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Does this really matter? One sees such abuse of their own ensign by Italians themselves, permanently worn with or without owner aboard, faded, shredded and torn ... They are a laid-back nation that seems very tolerant and not where such a misdemeanour is regarded as an insult that warrants pistols at dawn.
 
Mudisox said:
I am watching the eurovision contest and see loads of european flags yet seem unable to obtain the same in the similar size. I could buy some big ones or get the sewing machine out, but with a birthday coming up and folks always despair of having any idea of what to buy me- HELP!
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I just walked in to Pipler's on the quay at Poole (not too far from you) and picked one up off the rack £6.95, last month.
 
I live in Italy and was most put out when the new tax was levied for staying in hotels and B&Bs in Rome and other large tourist cities - €2 to €3 per person per night. Anyway, I was reading the Imray 2013 Almanac the other day and it says, on page 52:

“Yacht Tax 2012 All Italian registered vessels are subject to a daily tax for the duration of their stay within Italian waters.”

Do you think this is a typo? Would it not make more sense to tax non-Italian registered vessels?
 
BoyBlue49 said:
As I understand, the courtesy flag rules are for the Maritime flag of the nation you are a visitor.
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It would seem that for "courtesy flag rules", there are no rules. Some courtesy flags are the maritime flag, others are the country flag. For Italy it is the latter, which if you consult any flag seller advertising maritime courtesy flags, you will be correctly offered the plain tricolour of Italy for that country. My friend is indubitably right with his protestation, a stickler for correct protocol, having served as the Italian military attaché in Bonn during his service days and a long-term avid sailor. But I have to admit I do rather enjoy winding him up.

Edit:
In the flag graphics I posted earlier I wrongly portrayed my courtesy flag as being the shield with crown centred in the tricolour, which is the naval ensign. It is instead the civil ensign without the crown and is commonly used by Italian boaters for their ensign and wrongly used as a courtesy flag (by me). It has a practical side, as an ensign it is well made and durable, while any national flag available in courtesy flag size here is merely printed bunting and lasts only a week or two.
 
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