Mark--- Our boat doesn't go near as fast as Don's but the flags and pennants do get whipped around on windy days. We bought our flag from a marine supplier in Seattle (a local store, not a West Marine-type place). Unfortunately I have no idea who made the flag but it was a standard supplier. We've been flying the same flag for twelve years plus and it's held up fine. We only put it up when we actually go out.* There are some good flag suppliers on the internet, too.
I did steal a trick I observed when filming on board the USS Constellation a number of years ago. Their flags and signal pennants had a line sewn into the hoist of the flag with a metal ring at each end. The flag halyards had clips on them and they had a ready stock of short "separator" lines with clips at each end. So the tension on the flag or pennant was on the line, not on the hoist of the fabric itself. And by using the clips and rings, flags could be attached or removed quickly and by using the short separator lines a series of signal flags could be clipped together and hoisted very fast.
We have a small version of these lines and rings attached to the hoists of our flags and our flag halyards have clips on the ends. If we want to stack a series of flags we use little karabiners to connect the hoists of the flags together.
The Scottish flag in the photo does not have the line*with rings*sewn into the hoist because we'd just bought it in honor of a guest we had on board for a week's cruise in the Gulf Islands. (His wife is French, hence the middle flag.)* The French and Canadian flags both have the hoist lines.
-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 26th of January 2011 11:44:57 PM
