A flag looks like the simplest thing you can order for a boat. Four decisions separate one that looks right and lasts from one that does neither.

Size it from the boat, not from a catalogue

Roughly one inch of fly per foot of overall length for an ensign-sized flag; about half an inch per foot for a burgee.

For a club, that almost always means two or three sizes rather than one. A single size across a mixed fleet looks wrong on most of it.

Ask what is happening at the fly

The fly edge flogs constantly and it is where every flag fails.

Four rows of stitching and a reinforced corner patch is the standard to ask for. It is invisible in a product photograph, which is exactly why it gets left out.

Choose cloth by where the boat sails

Nylon for marinas, estuaries and light coastal air — it flies when heavier cloth hangs.

Woven polyester offshore, on exposed moorings, and for race sets in constant use. It needs real wind and lasts several times longer.

Match the hoist to how it is rigged

Rope and toggle, or a sewn sleeve. Get it wrong and the flag stays in a locker.

Ask two or three members what they actually use before ordering for a whole club.

What to send when you ask for a quote

Your design, the boat length or the club’s range of lengths, and where the boat sails. Those three answers set the size, the cloth and the finish between them.