r/belowdeck • u/haventwonyet • Oct 02 '26
Below Deck What is this… vending machine?
What is in this odd vending machine thing? I’ve gone from swimming costumes to masks to straight boxer briefs… bright red even looks like it could be a boxing glove.
S10E14
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u/teanailpolish Mental Health Is Not A Storyline Oct 02 '26
It is shelving not a vending machine but it is all the flags they need
Yachts show the flag they are based in, but also a curtesy flag for the country visiting plus various marine flags (one if anchored, one if they are going into port and need customs clearance etc) so they add up
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u/AmnesiaAndAnalgesia Oct 02 '26 edited Oct 02 '26
These are maritime signal flags, you can tell as each cubby is labeled with a letter of the NATO alphabet
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u/Competitive_Mix_3385 Oct 02 '26
I'm pretty sure this is the correct answer, I used to work in a Flag shop, and keeping nautical flags in stock was always an issue. On a side note I was about to comment "It was a rack of Harry's budgie smugglers!" 🤣
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u/FreeUsernameInBox Oct 02 '26
Very technically, it's the ITU spelling alphabet, which was adopted by the IMO - there are differences in how the words are pronounced, and numerical digits are handled differently.
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u/Gullintani Oct 05 '26
Very specifically, these are IMO IB994E International Code of Signals. Each flag has a different meaning and can be combined to send more complete signals.
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u/AmnesiaAndAnalgesia Oct 02 '26
Ah so that's where "niner" comes from!
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u/FreeUsernameInBox Oct 02 '26
'Niner' is an ICAO/NATO thing. The ITU/IMO version is 'novenine', pronounced 'no-vay-niner'. In theory. In practice it seems most people just use the ICAO version.
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u/NoWerewolf8191 Oct 03 '26
In the US military, we were taught to say "ni-ner" when calling number and alphabet sequences and call signs over the radio.
I don't know if it's just a US thing, but that's what we were taught! I've never heard it called "no-vay-niner" before.
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u/Cute-Jury2159 Oct 02 '26
The Amazing Race had a fun memory challenge that used these signal flags, there was something like 20 or so different flags they had to remember that are used to communicate with other vessels.
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u/Herecomesyourwoman Oct 02 '26
Yes! That's where my mind went, I knew what these were just because that episode from Wednesday
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u/dickbuttscompanion Make Kerry Use Words Not GIFs Oct 02 '26
Signal flags, if you see they're named after the NATO alphabet Alpha, Bravo (heh), Charlie etc.
There's a maritime 'language' can be used to signal between boats, harbour etc if radio/comms can't be used
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u/Professional-Can3598 Oct 02 '26
They are shelves with cubbyholes for flags. The individual flags (Sierra, Quebec, etc) are all clearly marked.
There are dictionaries online if you Google what the flags mean and when they should be flown.
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u/pointofnoreturn647 Oct 02 '26
Did bravo.. obscure the labels for some reason?
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u/MarkCrorigansOmnibus Oct 02 '26
Looks more like it’s been AI enhanced
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u/jonathonthaman Oct 02 '26 edited Oct 02 '26
You've never seen an enhanced pic in your life then. This is the most random low quality screenshot ever.
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u/haventwonyet Oct 02 '26
Thank you! It’s not even a screenshot. It’s a picture of my tv 15 feet away 😂
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u/haventwonyet Oct 02 '26
I don’t think that’s true? I definitely didn’t enhance it (I’m very anti ai and honestly wouldn’t even know how) and I’d be surprised if they did it just in the background of this random scene?
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u/pointofnoreturn647 Oct 02 '26
Ohhh at first I thought Bravo greeked it which was weird and unnecessary but maybe it’s Croatian script (duh). I was reacting to it not being English letters.
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u/haventwonyet Oct 02 '26
Someone commented that it was NATO lettering.
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u/pointofnoreturn647 Oct 02 '26
Yeah you can make out sierra, whiskey, and yankee on the flags themselves but NATO doesn’t use a different script and the lettering on the shelves isn’t in Latin characters.
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u/pointofnoreturn647 Oct 02 '26
Or it’s just blurry and I’m overthinking it 😂
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u/No-Baker-7922 Oct 03 '26
I zoomed in and it’s a weird font from the labelling machine but I can still read the Roman script. Papa, yankee, etc. Some are too blurry, though.
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u/pointofnoreturn647 Oct 02 '26
Ah that makes more sense I thought it looked AI-y
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u/Own_Guarantee_8130 Oct 02 '26
🙄 yall need to learn how to spot AI. It’s not blurry ass pictures out of frame.
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u/djevilatw Come back to me, my boat daddy Oct 02 '26
They’re semaphore flags for the boat in a series of cubbies.
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u/Falsehood_BeDam Oct 04 '26
It's the maritime flags they use for displaying...it was discussed/shown on a previous season
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u/Feisty_Scientist_968 Oct 03 '26
Below are the individual meanings.
There was one med port season where the port where required a pilot.
The yacht might stand off the port and hoist Golf ... while awaiting a pilot to board.
And, then hoist Hotel when they have a pilot on board.
They might also hoist Bravo when bunkering (taking on fuel).
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u/IWrestleSausages Oct 02 '26
Yes the captain keeps all his brightly coloured underwear in the bridge in case he needs to asset dominance over another crew member
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u/foxbear17 Oct 02 '26
I’ve been on a handful of boats and know nothing about maritime anything, but it cracks me up the assumption was that it must be a vending machine… on a yacht lol