Navigation Lights

[Guest]

[/quote]

The vessel showing only the red light to another vessel is the "privileged vessel" and must maintain course and speed to the "burdened vessel" who must give way, reduce speed, stop or keep out of the way of the other vessel.[/quote]

No, the privileged vessel, as you say, is the "stand on" vessel. The burdened vessel, as you mistakenly say again, is the "give way" vessel.

[CG Bob]

Approaching Cape Cod Canal from the south - the red buoys are on the eastern side of the channel. There are no buoys or lighted Nav Aids in the canal. Exiting into Cape Cod Bay, there are green buoys on the right side.

Typically double ended ferry boats (Staten Island Ferry, et al) will have two sets of navigation lights (mast lights, side lights, and stern light). Many years ago, when I was stationed at Governors Island, NY, the USCG had a fleet of double ended ferry boats that made the trip to South Ferry on Manhattan. We had one ferry (the Long Boat) running 24 hours a day. Monday thru Saturday, we had a second (the Short Boat) that ran from 6 Am to 8 PM. I had the Officer of the Day duty for the Support Center, and one of the duties was to ensure that the second ferry got under way in the morning on time. As I went down to the ferry moorings, I saw that the Short Boat was already underway, north to Manhattan. But there was a problem as the boat was showing nav lights for a south run. I called the boat Captain on the radio and told him he was showing the wrong lights. I was seeing a green side light, instead of the red side light. A quick flip of a switch and the lights were correct.

[Coalburner]

Most of what you are talking about are aids to navigation, not navigation lights. Aids to navigation are buoys or fixed position lights (including lighthouses) along waterways and some of these can be very different depending on the waterway or harbor.
Navigation lights are onboard vessels and indicate a number of different things depending on how they are displayed. The chart from somebody's post below shows some of the possible combinations. From dredging to towing to fishing there are many combinations. All designed to indicate to another ship what your status is.

[boatbuddy]

Same case on the Rideau Canal between Kingston and Ottawa. Boats traveling up from Kingston to the summit at Upper Rideau Lake have red on the right, as do boats coming up from Ottawa. Rules of navigation suggest this would be the same on the Panama Canal and any other marked navigation channel where either end is connected to the sea, however indirectly.

Does anybody know how marks work on sea level canals (Cape Cod, Suez, Kiel, etc.)?

On the Trent-Severn system going from Lake Ontario you proceed up the Trent to the Kirkfield lock. There you pass from the Lake Ontario watershed to the Georgian Bay watershed. You then are going down bound to Lake Simcoe and the Severn River to Georgian Bay. Similarly on the Rideau you proceed upbound on the Cataraqui River from Kingston. Once on Rideau Lake you are going downbound on the Rideau River to the Ottawa River.

In North America, if proceeding along an ocean coast at sea level the upstream direction is arbitrarily defined as being in a southerly direction on the Atlantic coast, a northerly direction on the Pacific and easterly through the Arctic. In other words the upstream direction is clockwise around North America. Red for upstream and green for downstream only applies in North and South America, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. The rest of the world is opposite.

[Dave O]

Remember being on a fire department orientation tour aboard the Canadian Enterprise years ago in Nanticoke and noticed an unique tool used. It was a hand carved wooden toggle at the helm station with two little port and stbd. hand buoys that could be rotated 90 degrees dependant if you were down bound or up bound on your trip. Probably kept everyone including the wheelsmen, mates and maybe even the Old Man on their toes.

[Fritz]

Same case on the Rideau Canal between Kingston and Ottawa. Boats traveling up from Kingston to the summit at Upper Rideau Lake have red on the right, as do boats coming up from Ottawa. Rules of navigation suggest this would be the same on the Panama Canal and any other marked navigation channel where either end is connected to the sea, however indirectly.

Does anybody know how marks work on sea level canals (Cape Cod, Suez, Kiel, etc.)?

[Bruce county]

Interesting bit of trivia....the Trent Severn Waterway runs from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay through a series of lakes , rivers locks etc. When you enter from Lake Ontario or Georgian Bay the Red bouys are on your right ( red right returning ) , but guess what ????? As you approach the halfway mark , things change , the upbound traffic from Lake Ontario meets the upbound traffic from Georgian Bay , guess what ..you know it , now the traffic heading to Georgian Bay keeps the Green markers to right and the Lake Ontario traffic does likewise ...Hmmm confusing ????? My boat has a toggle switch on my instrument panel that has 4 lamps , 2 green and 2 red , depending where on the waterway I am , I know which colour of body should be on which side of my boat .....sorry guys , I didn't mean to muddy the waters , if you know what I mean .......Merry Christmas to all of you , and those on ships on our Great Lakes

[hugh3]

There is nothing in the Collision Regulations that gives "right of way" to any vessel, period! The proper terms are "Give way" and "Stand on"

The vessel showing only the red light to another vessel is the "privileged vessel" and must maintain course and speed to the "burdened vessel" who must give way, reduce speed, stop or keep out of the way of the other vessel.

[Guest]

Easy way to remember it. Length of words looking forward:
RED = short, LEFT = short, PORT = short
GREEN = long, RIGHT = long, STARBOARD = long.
Ship approaching from LEFT will see a RED light = your ship has RIGHT OF WAY.

Ship approaching from RIGHT will see a GREEN light = your ship is burdened to yield RIGHT OF WAY.

There is nothing in the Collision Regulations that gives "right of way" to any vessel, period! The proper terms are "Give way" and "Stand on"

[hugh3]

Red, right - return...From sea to port (harbor). Red buoy will be on your right side.

[hugh3]

Red, right - return...From sea to port (harbor).

[davidmerrill]

I have a question. If i am down bound coming under the Blue water bridge, green is on my right (starboard) and red is on my left (port). Now heading up bound it is just the opposite. I have been told that heading towards the ocean creates the proper protocol. Am I correct?

[Coalburner]

Easy way to remember it. Length of words looking forward:
RED = short, LEFT = short, PORT = short
GREEN = long, RIGHT = long, STARBOARD = long.
Ship approaching from LEFT will see a RED light = your ship has RIGHT OF WAY.

Ship approaching from RIGHT will see a GREEN light = your ship is burdened to yield RIGHT OF WAY.

[Guest]

Correct

[Ed]

Are the nav lights on a Great Lakes freighter red on the portside and green on the starboard, or just the opposite?

Thanks