Canadian Yachting February 2023 - 51

The Canadian flag should be flown from 0800 until sunset
or at all times when the vessel is underway, weather and
rig permitting. The Canadian flag should be lowered if you
leave the vessel when you are in port and will not return
until after sunset.
If your boat has a gaff, it should be flown from the peak. If
not, it should be flown from the flagstaff at the stern of the
vessel. Normally this flagstaff is located at the center of the
stern but if rigging or an outboard motor doesn't permit
that, then the flagstaff should be located to starboard of
the centerline. If the vessel is used for fishing, a flagstaff
located at the stern may interfere with the fishing gear.
In that case, the Canadian flag may be flown from a staff
located amidships on the aft part of the cabin roof.
For sailboats, use a stern flagstaff if it does not obstruct
the movement of the boom. You can fly the Canadian flag
high on the backstay of Marconi-rigged boats but no higher
that two-thirds of the way up. On gaff-rigged sailboats, the
Canadian flag should be flown at the peak of the aft gaff.
National organizations, like Sail Canada and Canadian Power
& Sail Squadrons (CPS), have flags or burgees that indicate
active membership. They should only be flown if the skipper
is a paid-up member in good standing. The preferred location
is the starboard spreader halyard. For vessels without
this, the bow staff should be used.
Next in order of importance are yacht club and squadron
pennants. These should be flown from the top of the main
mast or the bow staff if there is no mast. No more than one
of these should be flown at a time.
Association burgees, like those from antique boat associations
or cruising clubs, should be flown from the spreader
halyards with the more important one on the starboard side
and the one of lesser importance on the port side. Only one
should be flown from each halyard. If you have more than
one halyard on each spreader, the flag of more importance
goes on the outer halyard.
It is clear that sailing vessels or powered vessels with a flagstaff
have the ability to fly more flags, pennants or burgees
at any one time. Vessels with only a single stern flagstaff
and a bow flagstaff should only fly the national flag from
the stern and the most important flag, pennant or burgee
from the bow. If you are boating in the waters of another
country, you may fly the national flag of that country as
a courtesy.
Vessels without a mast should fly the courtesy flag from the
bow staff, replacing any other flag, pennant or burgee. With
a mast, the courtesy flag should be flown from the outer
starboard spreader halyard and the flag it replaces should
be moved to the inboard spreader halyard or to the port
side if there are only single spreader halyards. The courtesy
flag must be smaller than the vessel's national flag and it
must come down when the national flag does. It must not
be flown when the vessel returns to its own country.
On special occasions, like Canada Day or club sail pasts,
the ship may be " dressed " with a set of International Code
Signal Flags that feature 40 alpha flags and numeric pennants.
The set should be flown in a string from the bow to
the mast head and then down to the stern. No message
needs to be spelled out. A suggested pattern would be to
have two alpha flags followed by a numeric pennant, then
two more alpha flags, another numeric pennant and so on.
If you are in distress and need assistance, than a distress
flag should be flown from the highest point or laid flat on
the deck so it can be seen from the air. The international
distress flag or cloth is an orange rectangle with a solid black
square and a solid black ball on it.
Much of this information was taken from the Canadian
Power and Sail Squadron's first edition of How To Fly Flags,
2005. To get a complete copy that is far more extensive, visit
www.cps-ecp.ca for the contact information. ■
Submit your adventures and high-resolution photos to theporthole@cps-ecp.ca
Remaining deadlines for articles and photo submissions for 2022
April Issue - Deadline January 15
May Issue - Deadline February 15
June Issue - Deadline March 15
October Issue - July 15
February Issue - October 15
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informed about our exciting offers and courses!
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Canadian Yachting February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Yachting February 2023
