Navigation markers: make sense of what you see from a boat

A buoy floats and is held in position. A beacon is fixed to a support. Both can be aids to navigation, the broader name for things that help boaters find their way.

A nautical chart is a map made for navigation on water. It shows information such as depths, channels, aids and hazards. It serves a different purpose from a road map or scenic visitor map.

The Coast Guard's guide to navigation aids explains the system. Use its shapes, colors, numbers and chart context together, rather than treating every visible post as a channel marker. Ask the instructor to match the aid you're discussing to the relevant chart information and explain its job before applying a remembered phrase.

In the usual U.S. lateral system, markers help describe the sides of a channel. Red marks the right side and green the left when traveling in the system's designated direction, commonly returning from sea or going upstream. Red numbers are even; green numbers are odd.

That direction is the important part of the phrase. Going the other way puts those sides on the opposite sides of your boat. “Right” doesn't mean east, west or whichever direction you're facing on a map.

Have an instructor show the designated direction on a current chart, then explain the markers for both the outward and return parts of the lesson. Name the direction and the applicable channel before applying the phrase. It isn't an instruction to keep every red object on your right.

For a lesson exercise, have the instructor ask you to explain one aid on both legs of the same journey. Use the designated direction on the chart each time, including when the boat turns.

Junctions, the Intracoastal Waterway and other special markings need further explanation. Have those parts of the intended route explained with the chart and official guide; the short phrase doesn't describe the whole navigation system.

First ask what job the marker has: channel edge, restriction, information or working equipment? Read the full symbol, wording and chart context with the official guide. A red or green object without that context isn't enough to choose a route. If you cannot identify the object or its chart context, keep that question unresolved rather than assign it a meaning from color alone. A passenger can ask the operator; a learner at the controls needs the instructor to resolve it before relying on that interpretation.

Leave aids and working gear undisturbed. Don't tie onto a navigation aid or treat it as a fishing fixture. A boat using the channel needs room to pass, even if the nearby water looks interesting to fish.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chart introduction explains chart information and updates. Check the chart's area and update information with your instructor and use the relevant current notices. Water levels change and aids can move or be damaged; a saved photo can't supply everything needed for the route.

Discuss what to do if the aid cannot be found or doesn't match the information expected. That calls for resolving the route and information with the instructor, rather than filling the gap from memory. A marked channel also leaves the boat, water level, weather and other traffic to consider; recognizing an aid isn't a complete assessment of a route.

For a first boat-handling lesson, learn the boat's controls, how to keep watch, the route and relevant boating requirements with suitable instruction. Add current weather and water information for the actual area.

As a passenger, a useful question is: “Which way is returning here, and what does that marker tell us?” You can learn what you're seeing while leaving the boat's operation with the person responsible for it.

Finish the lesson able to name the channel and designated direction, explain the aid in that context and identify which chart or current-information question still needs an answer. Apply that learning with instruction on the actual water; an example from one channel doesn't establish the route through another.