Buoy identification - for the experts

[Stingo]

I use an app on my phone for that - always with me so fastest way to lookup anything I need quickly.

I have Boating Reference on Android phone, but had for years so no idea if there is a better one now.
Topically I just had a look, and under buoyage it has both IALA A and B plus versions special markers - but doesn’t list the preferred channel buoy that started this thread. (Though personally not over worried, having never noticed seeing any in fairly extensive cruising.)

What's the name of that app, please? I did a search for "Boating Reference" and nothing close to that came up.

 

[billskip]

It's taken me 20 years to understand the depths of my ignorance about the sea - and 70 or so for a lot of other subjects

I must admit, unlike some I will never know it all, let alone remember.....

 

[dunedin]

What's the name of that app, please? I did a search for "Boating Reference" and nothing close to that came up.

Apologies, it seems to be so old it is no longer offered in the PlayStore, must just have rolled over from old to new phone!

I see there is a Sailing Reference app on both Android and IOS that may be worth a look - but never tried it personally.

 

[thinwater]

They maybe common place in places, other than Oz but...

I've never seen one in Oz and it is not a mark published by any of the Marine Bureaucracies in Oz. I assume we don't use them, in Oz. I don't recall seeing one in HK but my exposure there was 25 years ago (and for obvious reasons one tended to be able to sail in HK and not enter a channel used by monster commercial vessels following each other like ducks in a row).

I have not forgotten - I never knew and, as far as I know, had no reason to know.

Jonathan

Every time I return to my home marina I face one of these. I turn right, the main channel is straight on. I remember what I see every day.

Cardinal marks are less common where I sail, but more common where there are rocks.

(A well known US practice example. All of these are common around the ICW.)

 

[rogerthebodger]

I must admit, unlike some I will never know it all, let alone remember.....

The more you know the more you understand what you don't know

The less you know the more you think you think you know

Dunning Kruger

 

[capnsensible]

I have some quick reference laminated cards that covers all the navigation symbols buoys ,lights and lots of useful
information

I also have a chart of wind speed with reference to the effects /wave types etc.

There is a VHF radio call /emergency procedure together with my boat mane in UN phnicit format so that anyone can call for help if I am incapacitated

The quick reference chart also helps me to remember buoys , lights chart symbols I may have forgotten

Red and green should never be seen with the bow of a tanker in-between.


Navigation marks. Cardinals. Port and starboard channel marks. Yellow special marks. Isolated danger. Safe water mark. Temporary wreck mark. That's it!

Simple system once you get to grips with it. All designed to replace the previous hotchpotch of whatever harbourmasters felt like. Makes seaman like sense....for most of us.

 

[Frank Holden]

Chile to the Isle of Wight seems widespread to me.......

I'm sure that the bridges of world girdling ships keep their copy of 5011 somewhere handy......

With nothing in between? I would classify that as 'rare', not 'widespread'.
The one at Newton I.o.W doesnt appear on the chart. It was a post, most probably a port hand post that some itinerant RYA instructor had painted a green band on just so he could look smarter than the average punter.

 

[gaylord694]

What's the name of that app, please? I did a search for "Boating Reference" and nothing close to that came up.

It's called.. Sailing in the 21st century a beginners guide

 

[Roberto]

Navigation marks. Cardinals. Port and starboard channel marks. Yellow special marks. Isolated danger. Safe water mark. Temporary wreck mark. That's it!

The harbour of my marina has them all (except the Wreck and Safe Waters marks), even two RGR of rather doubtful importance, marks come both in fixed and floating varieties, lit/unlit, with or without top marks, plus transits, crossed transits etc etc.
The half hour it takes to exit the harbour is usually enough to teach them all to interested people, lights included.


Edit/add
the two RGR mark the entrance and exit of a secondary channel, which has additional R or G posts


The North RGR has quite a massive structure

 

[thinwater]

I've always kept a nav light cheat sheet on the bulkhead. Nearly all barges are pushed on the Chesapeake, which are easier to identify at night, but not all.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Imray has a great little app for this stuff called Rules and Signals. Here is a little clip on buoys....

 

[Daedelus]

I used to tell students to deconstruct lights on a ship. They look horribly confusing at first but take away the main nav lights red, green, white steaming (2 if big) then what's left is likely telling you what it is doing.

But be careful, I was doing day skipper practical (student) and two Yachtmaster candidates on board were discussing a puzzling light they could see and getting wilder and wilder in suggestions - and then it moved from it's parking space behind the tree with waving branches and drove off down the road.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I used to tell students to deconstruct lights on a ship. They look horribly confusing at first but take away the main nav lights red, green, white steaming (2 if big) then what's left is likely telling you what it is doing.

But be careful, I was doing day skipper practical (student) and two Yachtmaster candidates on board were discussing a puzzling light they could see and getting wilder and wilder in suggestions - and then it moved from it's parking space behind the tree with waving branches and drove off down the road.

The reported classic was someone observing red, white and green on a mast of a large ship coming into port and getting very confused- I cant remember whether Plymouth or Milford - until someone pointed out that it was christmas and if they got closer they might see a evergreen tree hoisted at that highest point in accordance with ancient ship and barge custom, but also lit as is current custom

 

[Daedelus]

At end of year I used to ask what displays orange flashing lights and continuous short blasts on siren.

Isle of Wight ferry on a lumpy day when all car alarms set off.

 

[Mark-1]

At end of year I used to ask what displays orange flashing lights and continuous short blasts on siren.

Isle of Wight ferry on a lumpy day when all car alarms set off.

The Traffic Lights near Port Solent once confused an elderly guy I used to sail with. (Well, he seemed elderly to me, now I'm fast approaching his age I prefer the term "In his prime".)

 

[Daedelus]

This is on the Hamble and is the only one I've found, I wonder if coincidentally it's almost opposite RYA HQ?

 

[st599]

I used to tell students to deconstruct lights on a ship. They look horribly confusing at first but take away the main nav lights red, green, white steaming (2 if big) then what's left is likely telling you what it is doing.

But be careful, I was doing day skipper practical (student) and two Yachtmaster candidates on board were discussing a puzzling light they could see and getting wilder and wilder in suggestions - and then it moved from it's parking space behind the tree with waving branches and drove off down the road.

I remember hunting for a flashing green in Morocco, someone had built a beach bar and nightclub on the harbour wall- had every colour and flashing pattern under the sun going off randomly.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

How about this one. Transcript of a genuine radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland October 1995.

Americans Please divert your course 15 degrees north to avoid a collision


Canadians Recommend YOU divert Your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid collision.

Americans This is the captain of the US navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians No, I say again divert YOUR course.

Americans This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the US Atlantic fleet.
We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers, and numerous support .vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees north, that,s ONE FIVE degrees North or counter measures wll be undertaken to ensure safety of the ship.


Canadians We are a lighthouse.. Your call ....

source A bucket of surprises book. Compiled by J.John & Mark Stibbe