> ROTFL!  There was a guy that sailed in our fleet quite regularly.
 > He not only had a copy of the rule book well placed, he had his
 > red flag pre-set on the backstay with a small lanyard to unfurl it
 > instantaneously!
As an old Hobie sailor, we always put our red flag in a tennis ball. The ball 
was attached to the boom with a small line.... the ball was slit on the other 
end with a red flag knotted at one end to keep it from completely pulling out 
of the ball and an unknotted end just peeking out of the slit.... pull and 
instant red flag.... great for those smaller boats with the problem of 
inimum
storage.... and Hobie 16s have less than minimun (like zero) 
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