Flying the flag for code 'R'
Keith Harris of Redruth in Cornwall makes a pigeonhole box for his International Code flags – and posits a suggestion for the ‘R’ flag
For no good reason that I can think of, I have always fancied owning a set of International Code flags: and now, after 50+ years and 19 boats, I have not one, but two sets! My cup runneth over. Being a practical sort of chap, I decided to construct a traditional pigeonhole receptacle to house my 80 flags, as pictured – along with a rough guide as to how I made it.
Anyway, when I was ferrying the finished item out to my boat, a Barbican 30, my handiwork attracted attention and comment from other passengers on the water taxi, and the boatman jokingly quipped: ‘What flag will you be flying when you want the water taxi to get back ashore?’
That got me thinking. All the alphabetical flags in the International Code have individual and specific meanings, ie:
A= I have a diver down, keep well clear at slow speed. O = Man overboard. Q = My vessel is ‘healthy’ and I request free pratique, etc.
However, no such information or request tag has ever been attached to the code flag ‘R’: it, and it alone, is minus a meaning! Perhaps now its time has come, and sailors arriving back on their moorings and finding the radio to be non-functioning could hoist a big code ‘R’ flag to attract the attention of the water taxi? (R= I require a water taxi.)
I realise it would take a lot of campaigning for this to be accepted and recognised by water taxis: but what fun! It would be the nautical equivalent of placing a statue on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square, it wouldn’t cost much to put into effect, and would give the ‘R’ flag a job.