What is the correct way to fly the flags on my sailboat?
After buying a boat many people find the custom of flying a national flag on even a very small boat exciting (maybe it makes them feel like Admiral Nelson leading the British fleet to Trafalgar), without ever questioning the reason boaters make a big deal about flying flags (and naming their boats), while never giving any thought to doing the same thing with their cars and trucks. This quotation from the popular novel “The Riddle of the Sands”, which was written in 1906, demonstrates that even 100 years ago some people were questioning the rationale for flying flags on everything that can float: “… a hatred of any sort of affectation… he and his yacht observed none of the superficial etiquette of yachts and yachtsmen, that she never, for instance, flew a national ensign…” It’s unfortunate that although most boat owners deem flying a national flag a necessity, they don’t seem to feel that learning to fly it properly as important. Fly the national flag, or marine ensign if there is
