Buoyage - Cardinal, Lateral and Special Marks             Skysail Home

Click for more pictures Pierre Noire West Cardinal Mark, NE of Cherbourg. Tide running at 3 knots +

The RNLI has an excellent on line teaching program at:   RNLI training program

• Buoys and marks - Cardinal Marks, Lateral Marks, Individual Marks
• Navigation lights - you can rotate the boats to get different views
• Rules of the Road - Power, Sail, Sound signals
• Emergencies - Distress, Mayday call, Helicopter, Towing, First Aid
• Make sure you look at all the menus and take the tests.

 New wreck buoy   For more information see http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/pdfs/pdf_wreck_buoy.pdf

Alternate Flashing Blue / Yellow

Moiré Light is used to provide a directional beam: example - a transit for  narrow bridge  see  Moire_light.pdf

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Cardinal marks  

• may have missing topmarks, but the yellow / black scheme is different for each mark.
  Note the cardinal cones point to the black stripe(s) on the mark.  
• The colour of lateral marks may be unclear when the sun is behind them - remember the cone or can shapes.
• IALA  =   International Association of Lighthouse Authorities.  Trinity House ( http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk ) is the authority for the UK, they maintain all the lighthouses and navigation marks.
• There are two lighthouse regions - IALA  A and B.  Region A is Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australasia:  Port hand mark (PHM) is a red can, when going with direction of buoyage - entering harbour. Green marks are cones, they are Starboard hand marks (SHM)
• IALA B applies in USA, Americas, Japan, Philippines) - red marks (cones) are to starboard when going with direction of buoyage. (IALA-B).

On a chart, a vertical mark is fixed, a leaning mark is buoyed and floating.

Posted Thursday 5th November 2009