Are there any guidlelines as to how big a club flag (burgee) should
be? This is the big one flown on land; not the little ones flown on
boats.

The ones for boats are supposed to be 1" of fly per ft. of boat
length. I can't find anything for the ones flown on land, except that
it should be "very big."


Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)

Traditional formula for the US National flag
is L = 1/4 height of pole.

When pole is mounted on a roof, L= 1/2 height of pole.

Will you be flying your burgee underneath a US flag? In that case, it should be
scaled so the casual observer will be aware that it is at least "one size"
smaller

If you're putting up a pole at a yacht club, you might want to consider
installing a setup that is gaff rigged with a spreader.
Your burgee goes on top of the vertical pole, the National Ensign hangs from
the gaff, and the burgees of visiting club members and/or the office flags of
your
Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Rear Commodore go on the spreaders whenever
visitors or officers are at the club for a formal event. Very classy, but a
PITA to maintain. All those empty spreader lines become a real nag when
everybody *knows* they should be in use.

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Are there any guidlelines as to how big a club flag (burgee) should
be? This is the big one flown on land; not the little ones flown on
boats.

The ones for boats are supposed to be 1" of fly per ft. of boat
length. I can't find anything for the ones flown on land, except that
it should be "very big."


Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)

Traditional formula for the US National flag
is L = 1/4 height of pole.

When pole is mounted on a roof, L= 1/2 height of pole.

Will you be flying your burgee underneath a US flag? In that case, it
should be
scaled so the casual observer will be aware that it is at least "one size"
smaller

If you're putting up a pole at a yacht club, you might want to consider
installing a setup that is gaff rigged with a spreader.
Your burgee goes on top of the vertical pole, the National Ensign hangs
from
the gaff, and the burgees of visiting club members and/or the office flags
of
your
Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Rear Commodore go on the spreaders whenever
visitors or officers are at the club for a formal event. Very classy, but
a
PITA to maintain. All those empty spreader lines become a real nag when
everybody *knows* they should be in use.




1" per million dollars of net club member worth?

Ken wrote in message . ..
Are there any guidlelines as to how big a club flag (burgee) should
be? This is the big one flown on land; not the little ones flown on
boats.

The ones for boats are supposed to be 1" of fly per ft. of boat
length. I can't find anything for the ones flown on land, except that
it should be "very big."

I don't know that there is a hard and fast rule. Guidelines may
differ between clubs and/or club organizations. All of the burgees
flown by our club members are the same size, regardless of boat size.
From what I have seen, the same applies to other clubs in the PICYA
(About 100 clubs in Northern CA belong to PICYA). When burgees are
flown on masts at the clubhouse, they are typically the same size as
those flown on the boats -- even at some of the more hoity-toity clubs
I have visited. But I have not visited a couple of "hoity-toityest"
to see how big their burgees are...

Chapmans may have something. Although it's a great reference book
with a lot of good, accurate information, anything it says about flag
and burgee ettiquite may not be gospel.

On 22 Apr 2004 15:42:47 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:
Traditional formula for the US National flag
is L = 1/4 height of pole.
Will you be flying your burgee underneath a US flag? In that case, it should be
scaled so the casual observer will be aware that it is at least "one size"
smaller

Thank you for that helpful info.

Can you venture a guesstimate of average club flagpole height? 30 ft?
40 ft?

(I need to order the flags ASAP and don't have time to go around with
a sextant and surveyor's tape!)






Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)

On 22 Apr 2004 12:39:40 -0700, (Curtis CCR)
wrote:
Chapmans may have something. Although it's a great reference book
with a lot of good, accurate information, anything it says about flag
and burgee ettiquite may not be gospel.

Chapman had the 1" to 1 ft. rule for burgees flown on boats. Nothing
on the size of land-flown burgees.

The boat rule was a surprise. Our club's burgees are all 16" on the
fly, but the average boat length is around 30 ft. No wonder we can't
get reservations at the fancy clubs: We look like a fleet of clowns
with tiny hats and big feet!





Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)

I don't know that there is a hard and fast rule. Guidelines may
differ between clubs and/or club organizations. All of the burgees
flown by our club members are the same size, regardless of boat size.

That's pretty unusual.

The same burgee that looks "just right" on a 24-footer looks like a piece of
litter acidentally snagged on a burgee staff when displayed on 65 or 70-footer.

Are all your boats similar in size, without being identical? Maybe a Boston
Whaler owners club, or some such?

Can you venture a guesstimate of average club flagpole height? 30 ft?
40 ft?

No. How long is an "average" boat?

But all is not lost, no need for a sextant and a surveyor's tape. Not even a
need to compare the shadow from a 3-foot yardstick to the shadow from the
flagpole at the same time on a sunny day and do the math to calculate the
height of the pole.

If the pole is next to the clubhouse, start by counting how many stories in the
building. 2? Figure 20 feet unless the ground floor has 15-16 foot ceilings and
in that case add a story and figure 30.

Once you compare the height of the pole to the height of a multi story
building, you will come up with a number that is close enough for jazz. The guy
who is going to shinny up the flagpole with a measuring tape to check the
length of your flag? Screw him. :-)

Is this an existing pole? Is there a halyard?
Mark a point of the halyard with a bit of black tape........and the rest of the
process for determining approximate height will be obvious from there.

On 22 Apr 2004 21:54:44 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:

Can you venture a guesstimate of average club flagpole height? 30 ft?
40 ft?

No. How long is an "average" boat?

But all is not lost, no need for a sextant and a surveyor's tape. Not even a
need to compare the shadow from a 3-foot yardstick to the shadow from the
flagpole at the same time on a sunny day and do the math to calculate the
height of the pole.

If the pole is next to the clubhouse, start by counting how many stories in the
building. 2? Figure 20 feet unless the ground floor has 15-16 foot ceilings and
in that case add a story and figure 30.

Once you compare the height of the pole to the height of a multi story
building, you will come up with a number that is close enough for jazz. The guy
who is going to shinny up the flagpole with a measuring tape to check the
length of your flag? Screw him. :-)

Is this an existing pole? Is there a halyard?
Mark a point of the halyard with a bit of black tape........and the rest of the
process for determining approximate height will be obvious from there.

Get a sextant, a measuring tape, and use the tangent function from trigonometry.
This one is a classic!

John H

On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Calif Bill" wrote in message ink.net...
"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Are there any guidlelines as to how big a club flag (burgee) should
be? This is the big one flown on land; not the little ones flown on
boats.

The ones for boats are supposed to be 1" of fly per ft. of boat
length. I can't find anything for the ones flown on land, except that
it should be "very big."


Ken
(to reply via email
remove "zz" from address)

Traditional formula for the US National flag
is L = 1/4 height of pole.

When pole is mounted on a roof, L= 1/2 height of pole.

Will you be flying your burgee underneath a US flag? In that case, it
should be
scaled so the casual observer will be aware that it is at least "one size"
smaller

If you're putting up a pole at a yacht club, you might want to consider
installing a setup that is gaff rigged with a spreader.
Your burgee goes on top of the vertical pole, the National Ensign hangs
from
the gaff, and the burgees of visiting club members and/or the office flags
of
your
Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Rear Commodore go on the spreaders whenever
visitors or officers are at the club for a formal event. Very classy, but
a
PITA to maintain. All those empty spreader lines become a real nag when
everybody *knows* they should be in use.




1" per million dollars of net club member worth?

He was talking about his flag, not his........willy!!

Ken wrote in message . ..
On 22 Apr 2004 15:42:47 GMT, (Gould 0738) wrote:
Traditional formula for the US National flag
is L = 1/4 height of pole.
Will you be flying your burgee underneath a US flag? In that case, it should be
scaled so the casual observer will be aware that it is at least "one size"
smaller

Thank you for that helpful info.

Can you venture a guesstimate of average club flagpole height? 30 ft?
40 ft?

(I need to order the flags ASAP and don't have time to go around with
a sextant and surveyor's tape!)


You can use some simple triangulation to get a close estimate of the
flagpole height.