where can I find them

[Sea Hustler]

Im new to sailing, and have just moved my boat down to Chichester which as many will know if not exactly a quiet backwater when it comes to channels, traffic and very shallow water. I am trying to learn as much as I can but I do have a slight problem in that I am colour blind, It effects me right across the spectrum but in nautical terms obviously red/green is my biggest issue. I can see for miles and shapes are not too big a problem, triangles, cans, poles, crosses etc. but discerning colours takes me a while as all buoys appear just dark to me until Im near enough to pick up the colour. This often leaves me short on time to react and as Im new to this floating in motion thing, I was wondering if anyone knew of a resource that I could print off all the different buoys and laminate them into a folder so that I could quickly identify what the heck i'm looking at. flash cards would be an option but I wanted to produce something easier to handle than a deck of cards in a force 6.

No doubt some will pass unhelpful comments but before you do, just sail a NM in my boat before you do please.

 

[johnalison]

One of our club mates is colour blind. I’ve not heard that he has much trouble when sailing, which he does extensively. Curiously, he is our wildlife expert and can pick out bird species instantly.

I’m no expert on graphic stuff, so my unhelpful answer would be to go down the plotter route. This could either be fixed or in the form of a tablet and both have their adherents. Alternatively, put yourself in a time machine and go back to when we sailed with buoys that were black/red.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

If I remember correctly the Macmillan / Reeds Almanack used to have a page or two of the common Buoys also any of the popular books for Competent Crew and Day Skipper are bound to have illustrations. Go to one of the large chandleries that sell books etc and have a thumb through them.
You should be able to recognise buoys by shape so get a decent pair of binoculars and you will be good to go.

 

[Sea Hustler]

One of our club mates is colour blind. I’ve not heard that he has much trouble when sailing, which he does extensively. Curiously, he is our wildlife expert and can pick out bird species instantly.

I’m no expert on graphic stuff, so my unhelpful answer would be to go down the plotter route. This could either be fixed or in the form of a tablet and both have their adherents. Alternatively, put yourself in a time machine and go back to when we sailed with buoys that were black/red.

Well you were right about one thing, your answer was unhelpful. If you spoke to your mate, you would find that like opinions everyone's is different but no less valid. My level and range of colour blindness will be totally different from his and where he may be able to spot a Lesser Spotted Blue Tailed Tree Wobbler bird at a thousand paces, to me it's a dark smudge in the distance which as far as I can see looks a lot like Charlie Chaplin. I have been around for a little over 70 years and I cannot tell the colour of a buoy at a distance regardless of what your mate is capable of. I already have a Plotter and on it, I can clearly distinguish reds and greens and blacks and yellows, unfortunately, when I look up from the screen my eyes are taken off into the distance where I know there is a bouy out the somewhere but for the life of me, when I screw my eyes up and squint as hard as I can, I swear thats Charlie Chaplin swimming about out there. Strangely I was aware of this fact when I posted my question. I would have taken your response more seriously had you not added the dumb comment at the end, but thanks anyway.

 

[dunedin]

How about these two diagrams on opposite sides of a laminated sheet - https://sailtrain.org.uk/buoyage/

If googling for images watch you don’t pick up USA equivalents, as they don’t adhere to IALA A as used in the rest of the world

 

[Sea Hustler]

If I remember correctly the Macmillan / Reeds Almanack used to have a page or two of the common Buoys also any of the popular books for Competent Crew and Day Skipper are bound to have illustrations. Go to one of the large chandleries that sell books etc and have a thumb through them.
You should be able to recognise buoys by shape so get a decent pair of binoculars and you will be good to go.

Thanks for the advise, yeah I have bino's,but in truth all I get is larger version of not being able to distinguish the colours. In all honesty, I was hoping I could find something on T'internet that I could print off and compile a custom made set of images that I could put into a binder. Ill keep looking thanks anyway

 

[Sea Hustler]

How about these two diagrams on opposite sides of a laminated sheet - Buoyage - Sailtrain

If googling for images watch you don’t pick up USA equivalents, as they don’t adhere to IALA A as used in the rest of the world

Brilliant, exactly what I was after thanks

 

[SaltyC]

Im new to sailing, and have just moved my boat down to Chichester which as many will know if not exactly a quiet backwater when it comes to channels, traffic and very shallow water. I am trying to learn as much as I can but I do have a slight problem in that I am colour blind, It effects me right across the spectrum but in nautical terms obviously red/green is my biggest issue. I can see for miles and shapes are not too big a problem, triangles, cans, poles, crosses etc. but discerning colours takes me a while as all buoys appear just dark to me until Im near enough to pick up the colour. This often leaves me short on time to react and as Im new to this floating in motion thing, I was wondering if anyone knew of a resource that I could print off all the different buoys and laminate them into a folder so that I could quickly identify what the heck i'm looking at. flash cards would be an option but I wanted to produce something easier to handle than a deck of cards in a force 6.

No doubt some will pass unhelpful comments but before you do, just sail a NM in my boat before you do please.

Colours can be difficult for all, particularly looking into the sun.

All I can recommend is get acquainted with the shapes of tge buoys and top marks. Cans cones etc.

To make identifying easier, have a rough idea of bearing you are looking for, binos with compass help.

 

[Sea Hustler]

Owwww didn't know you could get those, will look into that as I do have trouble latching on to what I want to look for. Glad to hear that its not just me that keeps seeing Charlie Chaplin everywhere (see earlier reply) .Yeah, shapes Im OK with, colours are a problem. I want to take a RYC Coastal Skippers Course in due course and I wonder how I will cope with the navigation element of that.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Owwww didn't know you could get those, will look into that as I do have trouble latching on to what I want to look for. Glad to hear that its not just me that keeps seeing Charlie Chaplin everywhere (see earlier reply) .Yeah, shapes Im OK with, colours are a problem. I want to take a RYC Coastal Skippers Course in due course and I wonder how I will cope with the navigation element of that.

If you can identify buoyage by shape then you won't have a problem, it's why buoys have different shapes to make identification possible when colour is problematic.

 

[Boathook]

You used to be able to get 2 colour lens to help tell the colours. Most buoys from a distance all look the same colour, especially when looking into the sun.

 

[Sea Hustler]

You used to be able to get 2 colour lens to help tell the colours. Most buoys from a distance all look the same colour, especially when looking into the sun.

Oh good, Im glad you all suffer as well LOL

 

[johnalison]

Well you were right about one thing, your answer was unhelpful. If you spoke to your mate, you would find that like opinions everyone's is different but no less valid. My level and range of colour blindness will be totally different from his and where he may be able to spot a Lesser Spotted Blue Tailed Tree Wobbler bird at a thousand paces, to me it's a dark smudge in the distance which as far as I can see looks a lot like Charlie Chaplin. I have been around for a little over 70 years and I cannot tell the colour of a buoy at a distance regardless of what your mate is capable of. I already have a Plotter and on it, I can clearly distinguish reds and greens and blacks and yellows, unfortunately, when I look up from the screen my eyes are taken off into the distance where I know there is a bouy out the somewhere but for the life of me, when I screw my eyes up and squint as hard as I can, I swear thats Charlie Chaplin swimming about out there. Strangely I was aware of this fact when I posted my question. I would have taken your response more seriously had you not added the dumb comment at the end, but thanks anyway.

I'm sorry you were offended and I hope that your mood improves by the morning. Although I couldn't answer your laminate question, in the absence of any information in your post my comment about plotters was intended to be of some help, since knowing exactly where you are is putting you well on the way to identifying buoys and marks. I speak as someone who in pre-Decca days was accustomed to sailing a mile or two extra just to be able to read a buoy we were passing. I also performed an addition service to you by putting your post at the top and making further answers more likely, and for my effort feel that I ought to be allowed to be a bit whimsical.

 

[Sea Hustler]

I love whimsical, in the words of one Mr Edmund Blackadder, There is nothing I like more than a whimsical post that frolics in the capricious word salad of cheerful merriment. Pray see my previous posts on various topics to uncover the jocular and oft verbose prose with which I convey the very essence of puzzlement that others, more attuned to the mechanical and hydrodynamical complexities of waterborne and wind assisted horizontal flight may expound their superior understanding in all things practically theoretical pertaining to the matter at hand by adopting the role of a Solutionary to my enquiry.

 

[Sea Hustler]

Or..... point well made, sorry if I was a bit short, rough day