UK ships register

[pathfinderstu]

The same seems to be the case with the stars and stripes. We are seeing far more USA flagged boats in the Aegean these days, surprisingly many of them registered in Delaware. The reality is that they are Israelis, never keen to advertise their presence and more numerous since Turkey expelled them all a few years ago. We have come across a few with other flags but only ever one flying their own.

i think there are literly thousands of tukish nationals using the usa flag on their yachts as the turkish registration and tax is so expensive.

delaware is one of the popular registrations and is advertised on the internet.
turks register through their companies.

 

[BrianH]

The same seems to be the case with the stars and stripes. We are seeing far more USA flagged boats in the Aegean these days, surprisingly many of them registered in Delaware. The reality is that they are Israelis, never keen to advertise their presence and more numerous since Turkey expelled them all a few years ago. We have come across a few with other flags but only ever one flying their own.

A few years back before Slovenia acceded to the EU the Adriatic was full of US ensigns - Slovene nationals avoiding the heavy taxes applied to importing non-Slovenian yachts, which was state protectionism for Elan. Accession put an end to such practices.

Amusingly, it was always possible to recognise the non-genuine article - they were too small as all they could find in the local chandlers were courtesy flags.

All were registered in Delaware. A Slovenian whom I queried about it said he used a US company in the state capital and paid $100 a year for his registration.

The British red ensign has become equally a flag of convenience for leisure yachts. Just as an earlier poster here wants, all you need is a UK address and a new SSR can be sent to you. Just as plenty of UK nationals who no longer comply with the residency requirements do it, so an increasing number of non-UK resident foreigners do too. This may escalate for Italians trying to avoid Mr Monti's new boat taxes that apply only to Italian-registered boats.

It also seems that fashion dictates that all those swish mega-yachts have to fly the red duster - easy to do on Part I of the register if you can afford it. Here is the 54m Parsifal III that I passed between the islands of Hvar and Brac, built by Perini Navi in 2005, owned by the Danish businessman Kim Vibe-Peterson, recently back up for sale for a cool €60 million.

 

[Babylon]

Maybe this is why blue ensigns are so jolly useful.

 

[BrianH]

Maybe this is why blue ensigns are so jolly useful.

But you have to agree that they may not stand out quite so magnificently as the red does in my photo. And it would also not advertise such wealth ...? More a discrete sort of affluence, perhaps.

 

[Sandy]

The British red ensign has become equally a flag of convenience for leisure yachts.

IMHO he needs a bigger ensign.