I purchased a great teak flag pole from Jamestown Distributors. They have various lengths. Even though it came with a 1.25" base, I had to slim the base down a little with some sand paper to get the perfect fit.

Whispering Eye
Catalina 36 MkII #2201
SRM/WK M35b

Yes, that receiver on the stern is the proper place for a pole for the national flag of the country of registry. If your boat is USCG documented, flying a flag is required. If your boat is state registered only, the flag is not required, but most people do fly one. The receiver is sized for the teak poles that you can get at most chandleries (WM, etc).

Other flags should be flown from particular places on the boat. For example, either the Q flag or - once cleared customs - the host country flag when you cross the border to another country should be flown only from the starboard shroud, with no other flags at that location. (Rarely does anyone use a Q flag in North America anymore; only me, I think.) All other flags (martini, pirate flags, etc) should be flown from portside shroud.

When visiting Canadian waters flying your US flag on the stern, it is considered insulting by many Canadians to not properly fly the Maple Leaf at its proper location on the starboard shroud. A small thing that we Yanks may rarely concern oruselves with, but to our neighbor to the north it is a sensitive issue, I have found.

I had no idea that if you aer Coast Guard registered, you had to fly one. I have the flag, just rarely remember to post it. I have been boarded several times by the CG for inspection, and it's never been mentioned.

I suppose that when the CG boards they're not concerned with minutiae. But I am sure...well, 95% sure...that it is in the requirement.

[QUOTE=LCBrandt;14194]Yes, that receiver on the stern is the proper place for a pole for the national flag of the country of registry. If your boat is USCG documented, flying a flag is required. If your boat is state registered only, the flag is not required, but most people do fly one. The receiver is sized for the teak poles that you can get at most chandleries (WM, etc).

Other flags should be flown from particular places on the boat. For example, either the Q flag or - once cleared customs - the host country flag when you cross the border to another country should be flown only from the starboard shroud, with no other flags at that location. (Rarely does anyone use a Q flag in North America anymore; only me, I think.) All other flags (martini, pirate flags, etc) should be flown from portside shroud.

When visiting Canadian waters flying your US flag on the stern, it is considered insulting by many Canadians to not properly fly the Maple Leaf at its proper location on the starboard shroud. A small thing that we Yanks may rarely concern oruselves with, but to our neighbor to the north it is a sensitive issue, I have found.[/QUOTE]

Never thought about my "Q" flag. But I am religious about the display of the Maple Leaf when we cross the border. I'm always amazed at the number of boats in the NW that don't bother to remove the Canadian ensign when they return to our side of the border.

This has been the subject of a number of discussions in Seattle. I am a member of a Canadian club and display the US ensign from the stern, the Maple Leaf from the starboard spreader and my yacht club burgee from the port spreader when in Canada. We have an inner halyard on both sides and also display our personal signal from the inner starboard when in Canada. I'd love to fly the yc burgee from the masthead but there is too much up there for that to be feasible.

We are a flag free boat. We just don't do them. They and their various support mechanisms are a PITA and always annoying me. Never have had any backlash of any sort, official or civilian on either side of the border. The yacht clubs and nationalists are aghast! Horrors!

This boat had flag halyards in every conceivable place and we have whittled them down to the two on the spreaders . I sit here listening to them squeek in the wind and know it's time to get rid of them too. I have the nice teak stick at home, I refinished it in Bristol and it looks lovely, wish it was longer so I could use it for somwthing, maybe a walking stick?

We saw some outrageous flags this year, probably the worst was about a 10 footer from the backstay on a 30 footer. No it wasn't US, it was Canadian. But the flag to watch out for up here is the Quebec Navy one, time to bug out when one of them shows up, if you've shared an anchorage with them you'll know why.

I agree with Bud about the clutter. I did not put any flag halyards on my boat. I use small spring clip-on attachments, available at WM for little money.