Keep it simple lads ... Flying the flag !

[gaylord694]

Who cares . Fly what you will and be proud of it..... (Burgees)

 

[Sandy]

Who cares . Fly what you will and be proud of it

Do I understand your statements correctly and you have not sailed in other jurisdictions?

 

[davidaprice]

Finnish law is slightly inconsistent in this area:

• a boat is Finnish and can wear a Finnish ensign if it is over 60% owned by a Finnish person or organization (ref: Merilain 1 luvun 1 §)
  • (by application, EU citizens resident in Finland can also get the right for their boat to wear a Finnish ensign)
• a boat kept in Finland (and of a certain size) must be registered in Finland (ref: Vesiliikkennelain 7 luvun 110§)

So a non-EU citizen living in Finland must register their boat here but it can't wear the ensign. While in this situation I did use the red duster, as the least bad option; when I was once stopped by the coastguard over this they told me as a Finnish registered boat I should wear the Finnish ensign, and were somewhat put out when I explained they were wrong.

Amusingly, by a strict reading of the law, in the typical situation where husband and wife own the boat 50/50, there is no Finn who owns over 60% of the boat and so it shouldn't wear the ensign. Careless lawmaking!

 

[Refueler]

Finnish law is slightly inconsistent in this area:

• a boat is Finnish and can wear a Finnish ensign if it is over 60% owned by a Finnish person or organization (ref: Merilain 1 luvun 1 §)
  • (by application, EU citizens resident in Finland can also get the right for their boat to wear a Finnish ensign)
• a boat kept in Finland (and of a certain size) must be registered in Finland (ref: Vesiliikkennelain 7 luvun 110§)

So a non-EU citizen living in Finland must register their boat here but it can't wear the ensign. While in this situation I did use the red duster, as the least bad option; when I was once stopped by the coastguard over this they told me as a Finnish registered boat I should wear the Finnish ensign, and were somewhat put out when I explained they were wrong.

Amusingly, by a strict reading of the law, in the typical situation where husband and wife own the boat 50/50, there is no Finn who owns over 60% of the boat and so it shouldn't wear the ensign. Careless lawmaking!

Hi David ...

Thanks for that ....

YBW tends to focus on UK side and that can lead to misleading aspects for others outside of UK ... many think same rules apply but just changed national flag or whatever .. which as we see is not always the case.

I think it may be that instead of looking at Registry and thinking Flag is same national ... to look at it based on Owners nationality. Swedish Int Cert looks at it that way ... similar to your Finnish ...

As you also post - the Guards are like Police on the Roads ... they do not know all the ins and outs of the rules ... but act based on what they consider follows Logic ...
The Guards as you found said you should fly the Finnish Flag ... its what they ;logically expect to see.

I may just test the Guards here ... trouble is most here actually know me !!