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Guest flags on a chartered catamaran

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Jan G, Aug 18, 2025.

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  1. Jan G

    Jan G New Member

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    Hello,

    I am preparing to charter catamaran in the BVI. I like the idea of flying guest flags to honour the guests country of origins. However, since the crew is multinational, I would require 3 or 4 flags.

    Do I fly them all on the same halyard on the port spreader?

    I am not sure how to go about it? I'm looking for concrete, practical, ideas on how to do this. How do I attach 3 flags? What knots to use, etc.

    Thank you,

    Jan
  2. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    Usually I see them on the same halyard. I have seen "Seahawk" and "Vertigo" when they were on charter doing it in the past.
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  3. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    Multiple flags on same halyard.

    Attached Files:

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  4. Jan G

    Jan G New Member

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    Ok, that's exactly what I had in mind. Now in practice, how do I attach those flags? The flags I have have two eyelets or two plastic rings on one side.

    Thanks,

    Jan
  5. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    Jan G likes this.
  6. leeky

    leeky Senior Member

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    Is there a significance to which flag is higher on the halyard?
  7. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Strong zips ties, zip tie bottom grommet of top flag to top grommet of the next flag. Put them in whatever order you want. Nobody flies guest flags to start with, so however you envision it, do it.
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  8. maldwin

    maldwin Senior Member

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    You should not fly national flags on top of each other because no national flag should be above another.
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  9. Norseman

    Norseman Senior Member

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    From the old sailing ship days a flag showing the Captain’s Nationality could be flown from the opposite spreader of the courtesy flags.
    So when I sailed the Bahamas the US flag was flown on the stern, the courtesy flags from the Starboard spreader and the Norwegian flag from the Port spreader.
    (The Vikings of course never flew no silly flags, they just sailed in, beached their boats and grabbed the loot as well as women and weapons, then sailed back to the motherland, those days are gone:()
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