Flag Etiquette/Rules

jleonard said:

I fly this day and night while aboard. No light at night.
When it gets at all tattered I replace it.

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You wee rebel you!

Here's our regulation inch per foot LOA flag.Looks a bit over size sometimes.
But what the heck it looks silly on my car.

Yes, I can't see putting a four and a half foot flag on my stern. Three feet looks fine.

menzies said:

Yes, I can't see putting a four and a half foot flag on my stern. Three feet looks fine.

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I do have to laugh at those guidelines. How many 100' boats do you see with 8' flags and 150' with 12' flags? Above a certain size the inch per foot no longer makes sense.

jleonard said:

I fly this day and night while aboard. No light at night.
When it gets at all tattered I replace it.

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So you ignore the etiquette that says to take it down at night? Oh, you rebel. The shame of it all. lol

Always somebody....

psneeld said:

Always somebody....

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An extra sail?

Greetings,
Mr. BB. "So you ignore the etiquette that says to take it down at night?" As I understand it, IF the flag is lit (illuminated at night) one can fly it 24/7.

BandB said:

An extra sail?

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More aerodynamic drag.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. BB. "So you ignore the etiquette that says to take it down at night?" As I understand it, IF the flag is lit (illuminated at night) one can fly it 24/7.

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While all the boat flag etiquette sites do say remove it at night, you are correct that the actual US Flag Code does have an allowance for illumination.

Ordinarily it should be displayed only between sunrise and sunset, although the Flag Code permits night time display "when a patriotic effect is desired" and the flag is illuminated

BandB said:

So you ignore the etiquette that says to take it down at night? Oh, you rebel. The shame of it all. lol

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I'm patriotic enough to want to display it as it used to be displayed.

After all how could "the rockets red glare give proof that the flag was still there" if they had lowered it for night?

jleonard said:

I'm patriotic enough to want to display it as it used to be displayed.

After all how could "the rockets red glare give proof that the flag was still there" if they had lowered it for night?

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Although it was actually the morning of September 14 that when the larger American Flag was raised and the storm flag lowered that inspired Francis Scott Key. So, the flag that inspired him was lowered at night.

Interesting conundrum. Personally, I don't care when you fly the flag. I think etiquette is far overrated vs. what makes one happy.

We just had our opening day ceremonies and the programs that were handed out to guests and dignitaries, had the words to the National Anthem. I thought it was peculiar until someone reminded me that the National Anthem is now verboten in some school districts. Ditto for the Pledge of Allegiance.

ancora said:

We just had our opening day ceremonies and the programs that were handed out to guests and dignitaries, had the words to the National Anthem. I thought it was peculiar until someone reminded me that the National Anthem is now verboten in some school districts. Ditto for the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Seriously?

Do you know where?

I know prayer is in many, but the Anthem and Pledge I hadn't heard about.

Having spent the better part of a decade living in the Middle East, Syria and India, it has now become instinct to remain low-key and never draw attention to anyone that I'm American. It's bad enough just being a white boy westerner.

I followed similar protocols twenty years ago when traveling through Nicaragua and Honduras.

So when my boat is launched (SE Asia) I'll most likely just fly the visiting country courtesy flag but not Old Glory. Perhaps in a nice marina or busy harbor, but no way when out in remote areas or cruising alone.

With the home port of "Mobile" on the stern, few burglars on Earth will have any idea what country that is.

Hate to sound paranoid, but security first!

menzies said:

Seriously?

Do you know where?

I know prayer is in many, but the Anthem and Pledge I hadn't heard about.

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Wifey B: I haven't heard much of it being banned but the issues brought up on both are God (4th verse of Anthem) and on the anthem I know one college that banned it because of the violence and war.

I'm not for banning it. However, I wish we'd do a new one. I love America the Beautiful. Even My Country Tis' of Thee, just we stole the music to that one. I like the Kate Smith song...otherwise knows as God Bless America. There are other beautiful patriotic songs that talk about our beauty, our people, our freedom. I am a bit uneasy with representing the country with an anthem about the war of 1812.

Just think, if those bunch of terrorists hadn't started in the 1770s we would have the lovely God Save The Queen!

Huntington Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, with a 97% Hispanic population with two illegal aliens sitting on city commissions.

menzies said:

... terrorists ...

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It's all relative - depends on which side you're on.

Strange world we live in.

Greetings,
Mr. Mako. "...depends on which side you're on." Boy! You've got THAT right!

menzies said:

Just think, if those bunch of terrorists hadn't started in the 1770s we would have the lovely God Save The Queen!

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Wifey B: We have it, just changed the words...apparently no song writers around at that time.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. Mako. "...depends on which side you're on." Boy! You've got THAT right!

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It gets even stranger because the local gov't plays both sides - very strongly, big funding, without consequences at all. But we (the U.S.) need them, so we put up with all the nonsense.

Perhaps this thread is getting too political. Maybe we should change to a nice civilized subject like which is the best anchor or how wonderful the 6-71 is?

makobuilders said:

Perhaps this thread is getting too political. Maybe we should change to a nice civilized subject like which is the best anchor or how wonderful the 6-71 is?

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Likely you are right.

I must agree with WifeyB though, we got stuck with a crummy anthem. I think the poem is fine, but if you steal a tune, pick on a good tune that normal folks can actually sing.

One of the best sounding national anthems is the old soviet anthem. Great music. Another really good anthem for words and music is "Oh Canada". Two great reasons to move to Canada, "The Star Spangled Banner" and Donald Trump.

dhays said:

Another really good anthem for words and music is "Oh Canada". .

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Wifey B: All 4 verses are beautiful. It's equivalent in beauty is "America the Beautiful". Also an easy song to sing. The range of the Star Spangled Banner is too great for the average person.

Y'all would hate Ireland's National Anthem then!

Irish version

Amhrán na bhFiann
Sinne Fianna Fáil,[fn 1]
atá faoi[fn 2] gheall ag Éirinn,
Buíon dár slua
thar toinn do ráinig chugainn,
Faoi mhóid bheith saor
Seantír ár sinsear feasta,
Ní fhágfar faoin tíorán ná faoin tráill.
Anocht a théam sa bhearna baoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil, chun báis nó saoil,[fn 3]
Le gunna scréach faoi lámhach na bpiléar,
Seo libh canaídh amhrán na bhfiann

English Version

Soldiers are we,
whose lives are pledged to Ireland,
Some have come
from a land beyond the wave,
Sworn to be free,
no more our ancient sireland,
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the "bearna baoil",
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal,
’Mid cannon's roar and rifles' peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song

BandB said:

Wifey B: All 4 verses are beautiful. It's equivalent in beauty is "America the Beautiful". Also an easy song to sing. The range of the Star Spangled Banner is too great for the average person.

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I spent many years singing. The national anthem was almost always required as an audition piece because it was so damn difficult to do well.

I'm about as fierce a conservative traditionalist as you can get, but even I'd vote to pitch the Star Spangled Banner overboard into Baltimore Harbor. The problem is that the US has completely lost its soul and spine and fire and our culture is chaos at the moment, so any new anthem we'd adopt now would be vanilla and vague and gutless, sweepy movie-style music that says nothing. When I think of the anthems around the world, the truly great ones all have some blood or guts or assert something definitive (even sad-sounding ones like Israel's). I was pleased that New Zealand voted to keep its traditional flag and not replace it with some pretty abstract thing. That's the habit now.

I'm thinking of modern "anthems" like this one, beautiful sweeping music and the words sound all inspiring, rah rah, but they really say nothing:


This all reminds me of a night in a pub in Oxford, England years ago. Pouring rain, sitting at a table with a very old English gentleman we just met, over glasses of room temperature beer and soft drinks without an ice cube for miles. I told him I was an English major in college. He said "English? Prove it lad." -- so I started to sing Blake's Jerusalem. He started singing too and then he started crying and everybody around us stood up until we got to the end with "...England's green and pleasant land." What a moment, never forget that night. The Brits, now they have a boatload of powerful anthems, unofficial or not.

Frankly I'm good with the national anthem being tough to sing. Leave it to the professionals. When it's done right, it should bring a tear to your eye. If you want easy and pointless, sing, "Happy birthday to you".

Ted

Good one Ted....

An anthem showing the world a young republic can defeat a tyrant nation....

And something that is hard...not easy......to sing or understand....

Those should be the basis of all American ideals.....

Ask those who have bled for this country on what should be our anthem and how to display our flag... not just those who have the luxury of living in its shadow.