Lateral Buoyage A or B?

[Stig]

Being completely familiar with the "green to starboard, red to port when entering harbour" I could never understand the logic of the Americans (and some others) who have it the opposite way.

But try this for logic.......

If the safe water is to the north of a north mark, to the south of a south mark etc, why is it not to starboard of a starboard mark and to port of a port mark (when entering harbour)?

Maybe its not so daft!

 

[boguing]

That is a very good point.

Can only assume that there may have been a very quiet, elderly (as I picture him) American on the IALA committees, quietly laughing his socks off, as he realises the Europeans have fallen for it.

 

[cgull]

Because a Cardinal marks a point of interest wheras a red or green marks a channel.
On the system A or B..try sailing round Brownsea Island in Poole!

 

[Lintie]

What are you talking about?

[ QUOTE ]


But try this for logic.......

If the safe water is to the north of a north mark, to the south of a south mark etc, why is it not to starboard of a starboard mark and to port of a port mark (when entering harbour)?

Maybe its not so daft!

[/ QUOTE ]

Marks don't have port sides and starboard sides. I can't imagine what you have in mind, unless you imagine a mark as a vessel going the same way as you. A recipe for chaos, certainly.

 

[michael_w]

Re: What are you talking about?

The Americans don't have any cardinal marks. Well I've never seen any.

 

[snowleopard]

There is a simple solution to the confusion between IALA A & B - ignore the colour. Just leave can buoys to port and conical to starboard when going upstream /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[John_N]

"Green to green and red to red,
Perfect safety - go ahead."

Simple, clear and concise.

Don't try to understand the logic of our younger cousins, but don't ignore their rules when you get there!

 

[steverow]

See where you're coming from, but the Americans dont seem to use Cardinal marks a great deal.
The only suprise is that France hasnt taken it up as well, just to be different.

Steve.

 

[Superstrath]

[ QUOTE ]
"Green to green and red to red,
Perfect safety - go ahead."

Simple, clear and concise.


[/ QUOTE ]

Not if you apply it to buoyage it isn't!!

 

[ditchcrawler]

When boating with my brother in law in Canada I asked him why port buoys are green & his port light is red & vice versa starboard marks & lights.He agreed that looked at it like that it appeared illogical.Is there an answer ?

 

[Lizzie_B]

The american way of remembering their bouyage in channels is "Red, Right, Returning" but you still keep to the starboard side of the channel.
The shapes are the same.
It was once explained in the Boat US magazine that the colouring was to match the colour of nav lights with the direction of bouyage. In the old world navigation was mainly orientated around entering harbours from the sea so green to green, whereas in the new world River Navigation predominated, so the colours match when going downstream (the more hazardous direction) towards ports on the river mouth. - alledgedly-!!! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Stemar]

Dredging among the few memory cells that haven't succumbed to Islay's best...

Red buoys are on the right outward bound. When you arrive in New York or any other colonial port, you're still outward bound, so red right returning is correct, except that the colonials don't understand that they aren't returning, they're outward bound from good old Blighty.

 

[Talbot]

Never seen the point of worrying about shape or colour of the buoy or whether it is IALA A or B. Your navigation should not be by use of the buoy anyway as it may have shifted position, so having fixed your position, your passage plan should have told you what the next buoy will be, what its colour shape and characteristics, and where you should expect to see it - so wheres the problem?

 

[snowleopard]

[ QUOTE ]
When boating with my brother in law in Canada I asked him why port buoys are green & his port light is red & vice versa starboard marks & lights.He agreed that looked at it like that it appeared illogical.Is there an answer ?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes of course. If you're sailing along a channel, you are either going upstream or downstream. One way you'll have red on the right, the other way you'll have green on the right. One lot chose to have red on the right going upstream, the others have red on the right going downstream. To say one is 'correct' and the other 'wrong' is as logical as saying it's 'correct' to drive on the left.

We got our paint out and changed our black starboard hand markers to green to conform with everyone else but the record of the Americans on changing to fit in with the rest of the world isn't good, so they put their feet down and we're saddled with two systems.

 

[Stig]

[ QUOTE ]
Never seen the point of worrying about shape or colour of the buoy or whether it is IALA A or B. Your navigation should not be by use of the buoy anyway as it may have shifted position, so having fixed your position, your passage plan should have told you what the next buoy will be, what its colour shape and characteristics, and where you should expect to see it - so wheres the problem?

[/ QUOTE ]


In areas where channels shift and the harbour authority moves the buoys accordingly I think I would prefer to follow the buoys rather than an out of date chart

 

[Superstrath]

We always just used to assume that when the IALA conference to discuss buoyage was held, our colonial chums simply decided to do something different. They always do, it should come as no surprise. Look at their weights and measures.
An unique opportunity arose for a global system to be introduced - and guess who buggered it up?

 

[Lizzie_B]

Passage plan very helpful where I am berthed at the moment as the channel markers' shape and colour (or should I say color) are often obscured by large ospreys' nests. At least the passage plan tells me which hand bouy it is!

 

[John_N]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Green to green and red to red,
Perfect safety - go ahead."

Simple, clear and concise.


[/ QUOTE ]

Not if you apply it to buoyage it isn't!!

[/ QUOTE ]


Surely yes? If going upstream, your starboard light is opposite the green buoy, innit?

 

[John_N]

[/ QUOTE ]Not if you apply it to buoyage it isn't!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Surely yes. If you are going upstream your starbord light is opposite the green buoy, innit?

 

[Superstrath]

[ QUOTE ]
Surely yes. If you are going upstream your starbord light is opposite the green buoy, innit?

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe so, but it's not a good thing to have stuck in you head going the other way, is it? The whole point of an aide-memoire is that helps you, not hinders you. That one is a col-regs thing, nothing to do with buoyage.

Alistair