Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

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Part 3: Getting from Point A to Point B: Marine Navigation
On a foggy day, you can often pick out the shape before the color, so this is a useful thing
to know.
Some boaters call buoys with conical tops nun buoys, because the outline does look a bit
like a nun’s hat from a distance. The cylindrical buoys are sometimes called can buoys,
again for their shape. It’s expected that you will know if someone tells you to watch for
the can buoy that you are looking for a green or black buoy with an odd number.
Day markers, displayed on
pilings, feature green, squareshaped,
odd-numbered
markers to port; and red,
triangular, even-numbered
markers to starboard of a
boat heading landward.
Sound Decisions
SG
1
G
"1"
Port side—odd numbers Starboard side—even numbers
Offshore buoys with lights, bells, gongs, or whistles are usually taller than the nun and can
buoys. Their shape is not significant, although their color is.
Why should buoys come with bells and whistles, so to speak? Because when visibility goes
to zero, as it sometimes does in fog, rain, or snow, the strange moaning “OOOOAAA” of a
whistle buoy can save your boat by telling you where
you are.
Look Out!
Slow down when
you’re operating at night, or in
fog or rain. At these times, the
markers themselves can become
hazards to navigation, and you
might collide with them if you
don’t slow down and keep a
sharp eye out. Slowing down
also cuts engine noise, allowing
you to hear the warning sounds
from the bell, whistle, and gong
buoys.
Heading Out to Sea
2
TR
R
"2"
The color/number/shape system reverses when you head
downstream, or from land toward the open sea. Now,
the red, even-numbered markers are kept on the left or
port side, while the green or black, odd-numbered
markers are kept on the right or starboard side.
With this lesson firmly grasped, you can confidently
enter any harbor anywhere in the United States and in
most other nations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
(Unfortunately, there’s a different system in the
Eastern Hemisphere, where the colors and routes are
almost exactly opposite!)