Excursis 1: Old Glory
Our flag this season is not our original. It is however the original of the sailboat. It is an old cotton flag much too large to be flown from the stern on our flag pole. We chose to use it this year because, truth be told, we forgot to replace our tattered flag from the last trip. So in our search through our lockers we discovered this original Old Glory which had once been flown from the mizzen topping lift. Little did we know how fragile the flag was and after less than five days it started to fray. As the days went by the tattered look was visible from shore and Old Glory had to come down.
This is where our dilemma began. What to do! Do we seek to repair the flag? Is it sacrileges to cut and re-sew? In a foreign port there is no way to find a store to buy a new one. Do we just not fly our colors for the remainder of the trip?
Tough questions.
The decision was that it was more important to fly our colors than to go without. It was important to do a repair that would preserve the look of Old Glory and hopefully prevent further damage. We found some spinnaker repair tape and the sewing kit. We cut off the frayed edges of the stripes made a new hem sealed it with the tape and then sewed it all together.
She is back flying high on the mizzen and doesn't look any worse for wear.
We have been flying this flag in honor of the original owner of our boat. He had always dreamed of sailing her in foreign waters but was not able to fulfill that dream. With him in mind we proudly fly the flag. We will bring the flag back to the US with us and look for a VFW post so they can help us retire the flag with the proper honors.
This is where our dilemma began. What to do! Do we seek to repair the flag? Is it sacrileges to cut and re-sew? In a foreign port there is no way to find a store to buy a new one. Do we just not fly our colors for the remainder of the trip?
Tough questions.
The decision was that it was more important to fly our colors than to go without. It was important to do a repair that would preserve the look of Old Glory and hopefully prevent further damage. We found some spinnaker repair tape and the sewing kit. We cut off the frayed edges of the stripes made a new hem sealed it with the tape and then sewed it all together.
She is back flying high on the mizzen and doesn't look any worse for wear.
We have been flying this flag in honor of the original owner of our boat. He had always dreamed of sailing her in foreign waters but was not able to fulfill that dream. With him in mind we proudly fly the flag. We will bring the flag back to the US with us and look for a VFW post so they can help us retire the flag with the proper honors.
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