Aids to Navigation
are placed along coasts and navigable waters as guides to
mark safe water and to assist mariners in determining their
position in relation to land and hidden dangers. Each aid
to navigation is used to provide specific information.
Several aids to navigation
are usually used together to form a local aid to navigation
system that helps the mariner follow natural and improved
channels. Such aids to navigation also provide a continuous
system of charted marks for coastal piloting. Individual aids
to navigation are used to mark landfall from seaward, and
to mark isolated dangers.
Lateral markers are
buoys or beacons that indicate the port and starboard sides
of a route to be followed. Virtually all U.S. lateral marks
follow the traditional 3R rule of "red, right, returning".
This means when returning from sea, keep red marks on the
righthand (starboard) side of the vessel.
| Mariners
must NOT rely on buoys alone for determining their position.
Storms and wave action can cause buoys to move. |
Lateral aids marking the sides
of channels as seen when entering from seaward.
| Do
not tie up to Aids to Navigation, it is dangerous
and illegal. |
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Information and Regulatory Markers
