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Guys...here is an ALERT TO ALL VESSELS SAILING IN EUROPE IN PORTUGAL, SPAIN, FRANCE ETC. (this is not a joke).
For a number of years, we have had hundreds of foreign vessels run aground while trying to enter Marinas in Portugal at night, with loss of life on many cases. We used to think that there was something wrong with the "outsiders", and the way they navigate at night.
Then last week on a trip to St. John, as the ferry boat that approached the pier, I saw that as you enter the harbour, the GREEN LIGHT is on the left side (port), and the RED LIGHT is on the Right side.
Well over here is exactly the opposite. As yoiu enter our marinas, the GREEN LIGHT is to the right, Stbd, and the RED LIGHT is to the left Port.
I have included a few views of some marina entrances in Portugal, Spain and France, and if you zoom on the marina entrance you can see what I mean.
I checked TB's marina, and the red light is on the right, the green on the left.
Here bellow are some aerial photos, please have a look.
Red right returning, is the norm over in the States. So Giu, how are navigation lights arranged on your boat? We have red on the portside and green on the starboard.
One way I remembered which is which years ago, is to associate red/port to Port wine, which as you well enough know, has a red color.
"In 1979, a body called International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) was formed to unify the World's buoyage system. They were largely successful, except we now have two similar systems, IALA 'A' and IALA 'B'.
The areas that use the 'B' system, are North and South America, Japan and the Philippines. The remainder of the World uses the 'A' system."
The 'A' system uses the rule "Green Right Returning." The 'B' system uses the rule; "Red Right Returning."
The Port and Starboard running lights are the same throughout the world.
"In 1979, a body called International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) was formed to unify the World's buoyage system. They were largely successful, except we now have two similar systems, IALA 'A' and IALA 'B'.
The areas that use the 'B' system, are North and South America, Japan and the Philippines. The remainder of the World uses the 'A' system."
The 'A' system uses the rule "Green Right Returning." The 'B' system uses the rule; "Red Right Returning."
The Port and Starboard running lights are the same throughout the world.
Actually that's good info Gui. I knew that the US was arse about but didn't know that it extended to SAm , Japan and the Phillipines.
To complete the picture what is the story with Canada ? (Forget that, last time I checked Canada did come under the heading of North America. I think I'm having a blonde day.)
However, to clarify that... It's not actually "Red Right Returning"
It's actually "Red Right, in the Direction of the Flood Tide"
If the marina entrance happens to be opposite to the flood tide direction, and you are headed towards it, then you would keep the red light/buoy on your left.
Giu, We get warned about crossing the Atlantic to check the A/B rule when approaching land fall (in the Carribean for example). It's particularly dangerous when only one bouy is visible/deployed. With a red / green pair, it is more obvious that the channel is between them, even if they are the "wrong" way round, but with just one (red say), one needs to be prepared. It is the same for those North American yachts making land fall in Portugal. Luckily, the cardinals are not reversed too.
However, to clarify that... It's not actually "Red Right Returning"
It's actually "Red Right, in the Direction of the Flood Tide"
If the marina entrance happens to be opposite to the flood tide direction, and you are headed towards it, then you would keep the red light/buoy on your left.
Yes, but you have to consult a chart regardless. Some ports with two entrances (such as my home port, Toronto) have a "returning" and a "departing" aspect that is not necessarily intuitive to the non-locals.
I would imagine the approaches to New York are similar, if not even more complex. "In" or "out" depends on more than proximity to the city itself.
We otherwise have the same system of buoyage as America.
The System B thing I recall from Power Squadrom as "red right returning reversed". Easy in English!
The real question is, "Why are there two directly opposite rules?". In that international rules require red port and green starboard running lights, you would think that the navigation rules should be the same worldwide. Another example of bureaucratic nonsense!
DON'T ASSUME THAT YOU SHOULD GO BETWEEN A RED-GREEN PAIR. I know of a bay in Maine whose entrance has a red-green pair that is oddly reversed. The reason is that there is a rock ledge extending between them! You enter around the ends.
DON'T ASSUME THAT YOU SHOULD GO BETWEEN A RED-GREEN PAIR. I know of a bay in Maine whose entrance has a red-green pair that is oddly reversed. The reason is that there is a rock ledge extending between them! You enter around the ends.
That is completely counter-intuitive in both A and B systems. There should be warning buoys at either end of the ledge and a fairway buoy downrange of the "safe" channel.
Good grief. Must be a boatyard nearby doing keel repairs at top dollar.
Those red and green buoys you're thinking of probably belong to two different chains of buoys... there are a few like that around Cape Ann, here in Massachusetts. Unless you know that the red and green buoys are a pair...from the same chain of buoys marking a channel... don't pass between them.
Get a chart. Look at the entrance to Linekin Bay. It is near BoothBay Harbor. It is simply a ledge in the middle of the entrance to a bay. How else are you going to mark it? The Coast Guard has to assume a minimal level of intelligence and knowledge from boaters. There are no other buoys anywhere near. It is safe to round either end of the ledge. Yet a minimally competent boater that automatically thinks you have to go between two different colored buoys and never looks at a chart will have a problem. (This describes many local motorboaters here on the south shore of Long Island. Fortunately the bottoms around here are mud and sand.)
GC is correct about Linekin Bay. The area between the Bouys is marked Spruce Point Ledges. As you approach from the sea, there is a Red Bouy, #2, to the LEFT, the Ledge (which is rocky), and a Green Bouy, #1 to the RIGHT. There is about 1000 feet between the two bouys.
About 1/2 a mile further up the bay there is a Red #2 on the right, and a Green #3 bouy on the left.
On approach IF you remember to keep the Red on your Right when Returning, you'll go up the left fork of the channel and be OK. But, YOU GOTTA HAVE A CHART!
Yes, but having checked the chart... the two buoys in question are from different buoy channel chains... not a pair.
It can't be helped if GC1111 is making assumptions about the two buoys, based on their physical proximity, that are clearly wrong. They are not a pair that is oddly reversed as he claims above. The GC"1" buoy that is on the right is part of the Linekin Bay channel buoys, and the next buoy in that series, RN"2", is just off of Tibbits Ledge, almost 1 NM into Linekin Bay.
I don't see any reason the red buoy on the left of the Spruce Pt. Ledges should be marked RN"2", as it doesn't fit with any of the other channel marking buoys in the area. It isn't part of the Boothbay Harbor channel, which extends to the south-southwest of it. Nor is it part of the series marking Fisherman's Passage to the southeast. As far as I can tell, it is a solitary red can buoy...that really should be marked differently. It does mark the safe passage of the western side of Spruce Pt. Ledges though... so it is appropriate that it is a red buoy.
In any case, you shouldn't pass between a red and green buoy pair, when heading into a harbor, when the RED buoy is on the left... It is, after all in the US, RED RIGHT RETURNING.
Sailingdog - I seem to remember from my recent ASA courses or maybe the UK ones that the Red-Right-Returning applied to the USA with the exception of the intracoastal waterway, which uses some other system which I didn't bother to memorize at the time since I didn't expect to take it in the near future.
SD...RE: ICW....Well...they use RED triangular daymarks and Green square daymarks on the ICW and then they stick a square of YELLOW reflective tape on those to confirm that you are looking at an ICW marker and not some other channel marker. In general...the ICW is RED/Right heading south but there are several areas where this switches when it would otherwise conflict with incoming markers from seaward inlets. (Like around Hilton Head).
As far as I remembered the order of rules were: (System B)
1) Returning to port
2) With the Flood tide
3) Clockwise around North America
So, if not going into harbour or port and if there's no discernable tide, the third applies to decide which light should go where. Above definitely works for Canada in most circumstances. So, 1 trumps 2 which trumps 3.
Sounds like Darwinian theory playing itself out, although I don't much hold with Darwin. I wouldn't recommend anyone to go on to soundings without an adequate chart and a working knowledge of the local system of buoyage.
A friend of mine passed between a red/green pair a couple of years ago without thinking of which side the colours were on. The buoys marked a rock in the centre. Luckily, he only lost his prop (and a little dignity).
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