How tall should the ensign staff be?

[MADRIGAL]

Kian, what you propose (an ensign staff three times the height of the ensign hoist) seems sensible to me. I also agree with those who say that ensigns frequently seem too small for the boats they are worn by. An ensign much shorter than a yard in the fly will be hard to distinguish from any safe distance.
Like others, I have not had occasion to half-mast my ensign, although I will certainly do so when HM finishes her earthly course. Warships being thankfully rare on the Great Lakes of Canada, the only time I have dipped my ensign is to the Commodore of our club at the annual review. Another poster made a good point about the proportions of the Netherlands ensign making it seem bigger. I believe the same is true for the American ensign, which is not in the 2:1 proportion usual for Commonwealth ensigns.

 

[Norman_E]

If your yacht has an aft cockpit and you stand or sit at the helm just make sure the staff is tall enough so that the ensign does not keep flapping at the back of your head when going downwind!

 

[prv]

If i am going to put the ensign on one side of the transom, is there a correct side?

The opposite side to where you keep the dinghy outboard, otherwise it will keep getting wrapped round it

Pete

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Here in Ireland there seems to be scant regard for flag etiquette. I do recall seeing a yacht sailing up and down Baltimore Harbour with a such a large Red Ensign that it evoked dark mutterings within Bushe's pub, and there is a currently a boat in Malahide Marina with a gigantic American flag on the backstay that everyone keeps away from in case they catch Covid19
My boat, a Dufour, has a built-in socket for the ensign staff on the starboard side of the pushpit, as seems to be the case with most French-built boats.
My preference is to fly the flag on the backstay, just above head height. When sailing downwind on a dark and mizzly night it serves a useful purpose as a wind indicator, to forestall unintentional gybes.

 

[blush2]

Don't put your ensign on the same side as the stern light if it will obscure it, it can cause confusion to boats behind you ?

(So does a red head torch worn in the cockpit)

 

[beermonkey]

I'm in the process of buying my first sailboat, and while dealing with registration matters the question of where to fly my ensign came up, and related to that what kind of staff to use. I know flag etiquette is a "popular" topic, and yet this particular issue doesn't seem to be discussed much.

Walking around the marina, I notice a lot of yachts with ensign staffs that are just about the size of the ensign (and many others just clipping the ensign on the backstay just above the bimini). This is good enough to hold the flag, I suppose. However, there are two situations where such a short staff is insufficient. First, when you must wear the ensign at half-mast. If the staff is only as tall as the ensign, you can't move it. The second is when saluting another ship. You can't dip the ensign if it already occupies the whole length of the staff.

In order to distinguish these two conditions the staff should be taller than the ensign, and thus, the question of how much taller arises. The minimum, if we want to be able to comply with the instructions in the RYA handbook which says to lower the ensign to 1/3 of the height of the mast to salute, would be 3 times as tall as the ensign. In that case lowering the ensign to 1/3 of the height of the mast would put the foot of the ensign at the bottom of the mast. If the mast was any smaller, the bottom edge would "slip off" the mast. This seems like a good height. Flying the ensign at half mast would then leave one third above the ensign and one third below it, which makes the ensign be the middle of the mast.

I'm inclined to use this proportion, and wanted to learn what other people think.

Welcome!

If you do a google search for flag/ensign etiquette (seems to be better than the search in here) you'll find some links to historic chats in here - some excellent and informative stuff, also the RYA have an excellent paper on etiquette too. I'd also recommend Jimmy Green (chandlers) who have an informative section on flags too.

 

[[70521]]

Don't put your ensign on the same side as the stern light if it will obscure it, it can cause confusion to boats behind you ?

Don't you get your bosuns call out and pipe down your ensign at sunset?

 

[blush2]

Not if it happens to be on a boat you are following up the Hamble at night

 

[Jamie Dundee]

I’ve just bought a new staff, somehow ended up buying a 4’ one when I meant to buy 3’. To say it looked ridiculous on the back of my boat would be an understatement so I chopped off over a foot, although it would have fulfilled the OP’s criterion of 3x the hoist of the ensign (3/4 yard). I think it now looks OK at 2x the hoist and looks more like a flagstaff than a fishing rod ?

 

[johnalison]

Welcome!

If you do a google search for flag/ensign etiquette (seems to be better than the search in here) you'll find some links to historic chats in here - some excellent and informative stuff, also the RYA have an excellent paper on etiquette too. I'd also recommend Jimmy Green (chandlers) who have an informative section on flags too.

It's always good to have something to get vexillated about.