Flags on kayaks????

Are there any regs on the height/size of the "Please don't run me over Flags" people have attached to the back of their kayaks to hopefully keep power boaters from running them over. Lol

I'm about to make myself one and just wanted to make sure I'm not making it too big or too small.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

There should be.    
Make it as high as possible.  As a bare minimum it needs to be at least a couple of feet above your head when you're sitting in the kayak IMO.  I use a fiberglass ATV whip flag pole.  I think it's about 7 foot, maybe more.  It was super cheap and I just zip-tied it to a rod holder and.... aw hell, here's a pic:
 

I don't have the bungee chord on there anymore btw.  It doesn't need to be fancy, I just had that rod holder laying around so I used it.

Next Adventure now sells Firestik flags, which are awesome and tough. I bought my 7 footer at SKG Northwest and wrote Rick Vincent at the mfr. for a stainless spring mount. I'm sure some here chuckle at me for overkill, but if you fish salt, charter boats need to be able to see you and a two foot flag in 5 foot swell is not so visible.

A busted tipped rod works well too. The taller the better.

Next Adventure now sells Firestik flags, which are awesome and tough. I bought my 7 footer at SKG Northwest and wrote Rick Vincent at the mfr. for a stainless spring mount. I'm sure some here chuckle at me for overkill, but if you fish salt, charter boats need to be able to see you and a two foot flag in 5 foot swell is not so visible.

A busted tipped rod works well too. The taller the better.

Yo LB...speaking of flags... what's up?

Dino Abulencia
HOW-NWest

I have an ATV flag from Bell Helmets, it's about 7 feet long and I strap it to my back up rod with some Velcro tape used for tying up tomato plants. Super easy and it doesn't take up any extra room

Yo LB...speaking of flags... what's up?

Dino Abulencia
HOW-NWest

WIP

Are there any regs on the height/size of the "Please don't run me over Flags" people have attached to the back of their kayaks to hopefully keep power boaters from running them over. Lol

I'm about to make myself one and just wanted to make sure I'm not making it too big or too small.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

You've really hit the nail on the head with, "Please don't run me over Flags".  There are no requirements that I'm aware of.  It's just good common sense.  The 1st time I ever flew one was at Buoy 10 on a crowded day and I was sold.  Now I fly one anywhere I expect to encounter transiting power boats.

As others have said, you want your flag to be a couple of feet above your head.  The elevation is especially important if you're in a line of trolling boats or out in the ocean (where you disapear between swells).

I mount mine to my milkcrate but you can easily fit them to a scotty or ram mount.  Yakattack flags come with a Scotty base and are really easy to store and deploy.  I also have a variety of ATV whip penants that for friends to fly when they fish with me. 

-Spot-

I usually just fly the Yakattack flag for safety but on the salt I fly two flags.  Even with the higher flag, people would still disappear behind the swells.

I have one of the yak attack visi carbon flags that I never use b/c I feel it us too short. I fly a $6 whip flag  that is probably about 7 feet tall and I have had power boats say it is still tough to see us if there is any swell out.

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I have one of the yak attack visi carbon flags that I never use b/c I feel it us too short. I fly a $6 whip flag  that is probably about 7 feet tall and I have had power boats say it is still tough to see us if there is any swell out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

The nice thing about the visi cabons is they are modular.  If you want it taller, hit Luther (owner of Yakattack) up.  He'll provide extra sections with a new length of bungee that will accomodate the extra length.  Their customer service is amazing.  I broke a section and they replaced it free of charge with fresh bungee and stickers.
You can also buy the taller flags from their site.  I'm not sure if they carry them at any of the local stores.

-Spot-

I broke my visi carbon flag pole.  I pulled out the pole from the base (the best part is the base) and jammed in a regular bike flag.  It has 2 foot sections so my flag can be as short or as tall as I need it to be.  I daresay I like it better.  No light on top though, which is another good part of the visicarbon.

Question.  Last time I flew mine was at La Push in the Fog, this flag is also the common distress flag right?  Well a boater was looking me over to see if I was in some sort of distress because boaters edicate requires them to respond if a I am.  So I'm a bit worried about sending a distress signal while trying to just let them know I'm there.  Did I get this right?

Thanks to everyone that replied. Guess I'll be using a home made one myself. Tried Next Adventure but they said they only had them with lights in them and they were only about 4 feet tall and expensive.

Tried the bike shop but once again the ones they had were only 4 foot tall and $10 bucks. Ridiculous.

 Went to the hardware store and got a 10 foot piece of 1/2 inch PVC with 1 each, male and female threaded ends. Under $5 bucks. Also picked up a few other things. Anchor rope, pulleys, steel ring, a beach spike tie out, and some black PVC for pole holders. Got it all for under $25 bucks. A lot less then what NA wanted for just the flag pole.

Got 2 yards of very lightweight safety orange fabric from the Mill End store on sale for 99¢ a yard. Great price and they still have a bunch more.

Going to be constructing my version of "The Yak Flag" this afternoon. It will be 10 foot long, and breakdown in the middle so it can be stored inside the boat. I'll try to post pictures if I can figure out how.

Thanks again for the responses. It definetly helped

Going to be constructing my version of "The Yak Flag" this afternoon. It will be 10 foot long, and breakdown in the middle so it can be stored inside the boat. I'll try to post pictures if I can figure out how.

You'll fit in here nicely.  The road you're taking makes perfect sense/cents. 

-Spot-

ohbryant:   I think the boater was just erring on the side of caution.  A marine distress flag has one round and one square symbol on a red background.  I've never had someone react to my safety flag that way.

BiMart has 6' ATV flags for $13. I've rolled it in waist deep surf more than once, and it's still intact. I took a short length of PVC, capped both ends, and drilled a 5/16" hole in each cap to stick the flag through. The length of PVC is zip tied into my milk crate, so I just stick the flag through both holes - it sticks in there real well.