Old Glory

Fishwhisperer 180

Fishwhisperer 180

New member
Hello V-20 community,
I wish to thank you all for making it possible for me to be part of this group. I get the impression that if I was stuck out on the water, I could count on any one of you to lend assistance.
Just a quick thought...
As a young boy it was my job, before we got underway, to get the flag from below and place it in the mount on the transom. Only then would I tend lines. Is this no longer the custom?

FW180
 
Fishwhisperer 180 said:
Hello V-20 community,
I wish to thank you all for making it possible for me to be part of this group. I get the impression that if I was stuck out on the water, I could count on any one of you to lend assistance.
Just a quick thought...
As a young boy it was my job, before we got underway, to get the flag from below and place it in the mount on the transom. Only then would I tend lines. Is this no longer the custom?

FW180
Click to expand...

I can't speak for anyone else, but it's my experience that the custom has fallen out of favor. I suspect for many reasons... some practical and some stupitidy.
As a fisherman I can tell you that the last thing you want when you are fighting a fish is to have your line wrapped around anything, including a pole with a flag attached to it.. and many people are simply too lazy to take the pole and flag out of the socket when they are fishing, so the just don't fly it in the first place...so that's on the practical side. On the stupidity side, a lot of people just don't know, or simply don't care about what the flag actually means, so they don't fly it.
Speaking for myself, I'm a Vietnam combat vet. I know what it means, and I've seen what it means to not live under it's protection. There's a flagpole in front of my house, and one on my boat. both of them fly our nations colors. To me, the flag is a symbol of the country that I love and am willing to fight for, to the people that fought and in some cases gave their lives
for so that I could raise my family in a free land. A land where I can say and do pretty much as I please, without the fear of someone coming in the middle of the night to arrest me and trhow me in jail for what I think, say or do, or for the God that I worship. It's a symbol of hope to the rest of the world. It's truly a crime they don't teach that in our schools anymore. I fly it all the time on my boat.
 
Thanks Fish for starting this thread - I've been thinking about this off and on for a while. I pretty much always wear a flag pin and think it's about time to fly colors on the V-20. Destroyer, you got any pictures of your setup? We might get something started here:clap:
 
My flag is ALWAYS up and attached to one of my VHF antennas, if it gets ripped really bad, she goes down and to a storage(i would NEVER throw away my flag) and new one goes up.
DSC_1241.jpg
 
scook said:
Thanks Fish for starting this thread - I've been thinking about this off and on for a while. I pretty much always wear a flag pin and think it's about time to fly colors on the V-20. Destroyer, you got any pictures of your setup? We might get something started here:clap:
Click to expand...

Not much in the way of pics, but you can see it here up on my bow. Next time she's out I'll take a few shots. I just got a chrome flagpole salvaged from an old Stuery runabout that I'm going to put on and use.
boatflag.jpg
 
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As an American and a veteran I fly my flag proudly. Don't know why more folks don't fly one on their boats,homes and such. Living across the bayou from NAS Pensacola,I get to hear the sound of freedom all day and love it but some folks complain about jet noise. Guess I'm a different kind of American thats all. :head: Anyone know who makes a better flag cause I've tried a bunch(Taylor,West,etc.)and they don't seem to last and eventually look like something from the civil war era? Cant stand to see Ole Glory lookin raggely!
 
Thats a good idea man. They do just seem like they get frayed on the edge from the wind and once that tinyest piece of thread catches a reel in the arch its all over. Gotta go get a new one tomorrow and will give it a shot.
 
Bonita Dan said:
As an American and a veteran I fly my flag proudly. Don't know why more folks don't fly one on their boats,homes and such. Living across the bayou from NAS Pensacola,I get to hear the sound of freedom all day and love it but some folks complain about jet noise. Guess I'm a different kind of American thats all. :head: Anyone know who makes a better flag cause I've tried a bunch(Taylor,West,etc.)and they don't seem to last and eventually look like something from the civil war era? Cant stand to see Ole Glory lookin raggely!
Click to expand...

Actually, what I've been doing is using those flags that you buy in the supermarkets and elsewhere that are made to fly from the window of your car. They were very popular just after 9/11...seemed that everyone was flying one from their car. (how sad that no longer seems to be the case). I bought a bunch of them for a dollar each on closeout at my local supermarket. They seem to be made of a heavier cloth than most. Probably because they're made to fly in 45-55 mph winds. At any rate, they hold up a long time and are pre-stiched along the clip end with a tunnel and reinforcement that runs from the top of the flag to the bottom... I put a grommet at the bottom so it's an easy thing to just slide the old flag off the pole, slide on the new and attach a clip at the bottom to keep it in place. When I put on the new flagstaff I'll just put another grommet at the top of the flag and clip it to the rings on the staff. I'll take some pics tonight of a before and after so you can see what I mean.
 
Stern light / flagstaff

A couple of clips on the stern light pole
 

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