Flag In Bow?

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pressure23

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Escape
I have a 1994 Grady White 209 Escape. In great shape and absolutely love the boat for boating out in Sandy Hook Bay in NJ. It's summer time and just wondering anyone's thoughts on flying the flag in the bow. The Escape has a nice flag mast in the rail at center and I know protocol is fly the flag in the stern, but also hear others say perfectly acceptable to fly in the bow, which is a bit easier for me. Here it is in action.Thoughts?
 

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pressure23 said:
I have a 1994 Grady White 209 Escape. In great shape and absolutely love the boat for boating out in Sandy Hook Bay in NJ. It's summer time and just wondering anyone's thoughts on flying the flag in the bow. The Escape has a nice flag mast in the rail at center and I know protocol is fly the flag in the stern, but also hear others say perfectly acceptable to fly in the bow, which is a bit easier for me. Here it is in action.Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Generally, the national ensign should be displayed at the peak of the gaff, i.e., the outer end of the spar extending aft from the mast of your boat—if you boat has a gaff. If it does not, fly it from the flagstaff at your boat's stern. If your boat has an overhanging boom or an outboard motor, your flagstaff may be offset to starboard (preferably) from your boat's centerline.

On a sportfishing boat, where a stern staff might interfere with the gear, and vice versa, the practice is to fly the ensign from a halyard rigged amidships on the after part of the superstructure.
 
Squid1962 said:
Generally, the national ensign should be displayed at the peak of the gaff, i.e., the outer end of the spar extending aft from the mast of your boat—if you boat has a gaff. If it does not, fly it from the flagstaff at your boat's stern. If your boat has an overhanging boom or an outboard motor, your flagstaff may be offset to starboard (preferably) from your boat's centerline.

On a sportfishing boat, where a stern staff might interfere with the gear, and vice versa, the practice is to fly the ensign from a halyard rigged amidships on the after part of the superstructure.
Click to expand...
Just as an aside, I fly the GW burgee from the bow. Proud to display it as I enter the harbor!!!
 
Your the Captain, fly the flag wherever you want. I'll see you out there.
Be safe and have fun
 
You could always leave the one up at the bow and then put a second flag at the stern of the boat, or elsewhere if you felt so inclined, as I doubt anyone would say it's unpatriotic to fly two American flags. Or another idea, as mentioned above, is that you could even another flag like a military branch, a Grady White flag, favorite football team, etc. Most of the guys out here seem to fly them from the top of the hardtop either on a mount or they'll put them through the rod holders/rocket launcher up top. If you don't have any of those, you could always mount one in rod holder on the gunwale or stern of the boat as well. Tons of different options out there.
 
According to flag etiquette for yacht clubs, the flag should be flown forward, not aft. I don't know if that is contrary to what we would expect but the article made a reference to the fact that the flag is always flown forward on the presidential motorcade.
To confuse things even more, the ensign for the country of registration for yachts is flown aft.
On a practical note, flying the flag forward on smaller vessels can impede the view and can affect safety,
I have my own stories as do others about flags, burgees or flag staffs breaking off and if you are lucky, flying past the captain. If you are not lucky, you can end up with a damage windscreen and possible physical injury
 
I prefer to fly my flag from the top of the hard top. The only downside is a bit of pain to access and it can be a bit noisy underway.
 
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