Nmenonic for channel markers

[Nine of Hearts]

... before anyone managed to convince him that his rules were illogical.

 

Was this the first recorded usage of the phrase, "that is illogical, Captain"?

 

Surely the simplest rule of thumb for channel markers, is if you can see both red and green, go between the buggers (whilst shouting abuse at the ferry coming the other way).

[George94]

When following the Intracostal Waterway, you use markers based not based on upstream/downstream, but on whether you are going Clockwise (New Jersey to Texas) or Anticlockwise.

 

Going Clockwise, you keep Yellow Triangles to the Right and Yellow Squares to the Left.

 

Confusingly, these symbols will appear on markers coloured red and green, where the colours ARE for the conventional use (US convention, of course) of boats going in and out.

 

But because of the different directions of travel of in/out boats and Intracostal boats, there is no correlation between the green/red marks and the square/triangle marks. A yellow square cxan appear on either a green or a red marker, and so can a yellow triangle.

 

OK, I looked it up. But I knew there was some quirk about the Intracostal, probably from reading Terry Darlington's book.

 

Indeed. But if coming onto the ICW from the sea, it is not always clear where you change from one to t'other.

 

And we have the same problem here occasionally, as Saltysplash has pointed out.

[starman]

... and you've already cut a channel through the shoal at Alwalton, so that's no problem now

 

MP.

And I don't want to do it again - hence the question :-)

I was at least consoled to read that others followed my mistake - no names, no pack drill but the one who got stuck had two mates behind to haul him off..

Edited May 13, 2014 by starman

[by'eck]

Somebody told me the USA aren't interested in strangers coming in so they use the opposite convention - can anyone confirm that?

 

We saw a very interesting collection of marker buoys when we had a holiday on the Volga and the Volga-Don Canal, particularly those marking the deep passage across the lakes. It took me quite a while to work out what some of the conventions were.

 

 

 

yes red right returning is their easy to remember nmenonic - they and the rest of the America's use IALA "B" buoyage system, most other places use the opposite "A" system, so remember above and reverse

[Dharl]

 

yes red right returning is their easy to remember nmenonic - they and the rest of the America's use IALA "B" buoyage system, most other places use the opposite "A" system, so remember above and reverse

 

ref the USA and other countries using "IALA B" I was told that this is due to the large amount of Commercial traffic which is used on their rivers. in particular running from the industrial heartlands down to the ports to go on to deep sea ships. Interesting (well for me) is that whilst the colours of the marks have been swapped, the shapes havnt! So in IALA A it is Red Can to port and Green Cone to Stbd,(in bound) whilst with the IALA B its is Green CAN to Port and Red CONE to Stbd (in bound).

 

Luckily the navigation charts tell you which system is in use. Now I havnt seen a Narrowboat with a suitable chart table yet........

[carlt]

One illustration of how important it is to remember which is the correct colour for each side is this cautionary tale.

 

In the 14th century the captain of a ship sailing into the Humber Estuary forgot the rhyme that reminded him which was port and which was starboard and he ended up grounding and wrecking his ship enabling the disease ridden rats to escape ashore and spread sickness throughout Britain.

 

Thus began the Mnemonic plague.

[Scholar Gypsy]

 

Now I havnt seen a Narrowboat with a suitable chart table yet........

 

Will this do? Sorry I can't seem to find a photo with charts in use. This started out as a project to make a bracket to hold the speaker secure, but as you can see a bit of scope creep then occured ...

 

 

PS the photo towards the end of this heroic posting shows another way to solve the problem. Also some nice photos of buoys of various types

Edited May 13, 2014 by Scholar Gypsy

[Dharl]

 

Will this do? Sorry I can't seem to find a photo with charts in use. This started out as a project to make a bracket to hold the speaker secure, but as you can see a bit of scope creep then occured ...

 

 

PS the photo towards the end of this heroic posting shows another way to solve the problem. Also some nice photos of buoys of various types

 

 

Perfect!, though liked the chartroom on the bunk as well! enjoyed the blog too!

[Jim Riley]

Came across this mnemonic: Drink UP, there's RED PORT LEFT in the Bottle.

"UP" referring to travelling upstream and the channel markers.

[magnetman]

Upstream could be misunderstood by a layperson as meaning against the flow of water whereas it means going inland.

[David Mack]

Perhaps one using the names of navigable canals would be more memorable: Macclesfield, New Junction, Erewash, Macclesfield, Oxford, New Junction, *, Caldon

 

* I can't think of one.

Icknield Port Road Wharf Loop Line

[KarlosMacronius]

Not a mnemonic but if you have trouble remembering where to keep the markers you could use this rhyme:

 

Red to red you'll sleep in a bed, Red to green you'll have to careen.

 

Red channel markers to the port side you're going inland (and presumably home to bed), green channel markers to the port side you're going out to sea and the boat/ship will require careening (...craning out and dry docking didn't rhyme!)

[ditchcrawler]

What if you've no port left?

 

Why is there no easy way to remember how to spell mnemonic ?

I find the problem is, is it red to red going upstream or down and I am talking buoys not boats

[blackrose]

Is this correct??

 

red to red going up

 

red to green going down.

Yes that's correct. For the purposes of most inland boaters who aren't going to sea, I think it's probably better to think of it in terms of going upstream or downstream on rivers rather than coming in from or going out to sea

Edited July 4, 2014 by blackrose

[blackrose]

 

I think I learned Red Right Returning when I was about 12 years old, and that's been awhile. It's one of those things that sticks in your head and never goes away.

!

That's wrong over here and not something that any of us want to remember.

Edited July 5, 2014 by blackrose

[George94]

!

That's wrong over here and not something that any of us want remember.

 

I am not quite sure why we have an American on here giving advice when he doesn't even know that there are different buoyage systems around the world.

[Tam & Di]

!

That's wrong over here and not something that any of us want remember.

 

Also potentially very dangerous for him as Paul G2's barge is in Rotterdam! On our courses I insist people talk of port and starboard when they are talking of the boat. I won't let them talk of left and right as both words have too many meanings and it also makes the concept of left bank and right bank (rive gauche and rive droit) which are extremely important on continental waterways much more difficult to remember. What gives them the right to do that? They get into a right old state if they're left talking of left and right in that context. It's just not right

So you leave the red port hand markers to your port as you travel upstream. I also stick to "upstream" as there are plenty of "junction" canals that join two river basin, e.g. the Oise à l'Aisne, so you will leave any red markers to port as you come up out of the Oise valley, but once you are over the summit and on the way down into the Aisne you will leave them to starboard. This can confuse people with sea experience as you are still travelling in the same direction.

 

The mnemonic "is there any red port in the can?" is OK and brings the shape into play as well, but "red port left in the can" is a no-no. You've also got the red/green stripey ones where you may go either side to consider too

 

Tam