BUOYAGE SYSTEMS - IALA A AND B CARDINAL AND LATERAL MARKS

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Buoyage - Cardinal, Lateral and Special Marks - IALA A Buoyage system

IALA = International Association of Lighthouse Authorities. Trinity House ( http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk ) is the authority for the UK, they maintain all the lighthouses and navigation marks.

Pierre Noire West Cardinal Mark

NE of Cherbourg.

Tide running at 3 knots +

Click for more pictures

North Cardinal No topmark

There are two lighthouse regions - IALA A and IALA B. Region A is Europe, Africa, Middle East, Australasia: Port hand mark (PHM) is a red can, when going with direction of buoyage - entering harbour. Green marks are cones, they are Starboard hand marks (SHM)
IALA B applies in USA, Americas, Japan, Philippines) - red marks (cones) are to starboard when going with direction of buoyage. (IALA-B).

Lateral marks - IALA A

Mark a channel, danger or area

The colour of lateral marks may be unclear when the sun is behind them - remember the cone or can shapes.

Cardinal Marks

Mark a danger or indicate which side to pass. On a chart, a vertical mark is fixed, a leaning mark is buoyed and floating.

Cardinal marks are located to the North, East, South or West of a hazard - ie the Cardinal Points of the compass. They each have a distinctive topmark, colour scheme and light sequence.

The Top Marks are logical:

North - 2 black cones pointing Up.

East - 2 cones pointing up and down. You can remember this as an Egg.

South - 2 cones pointing Down.

West - 2 cones point to point. Like a Wineglass or Mae West

If the topmarks are missing, the Black and Yellow stripes are distinctive - the top mark cones point to the Black Stripe(s)

The lights are based on the clock face: the lights can be Quick Flash or Very Quick Flash, at 15 sec or 10 sec intervals to avoid confusion with marks close together.

East cardinal is at 3 o'clock - 3 flashes.

South cardinal is at 6 o'clock - 6 flashes - plus a long flash to avoid confusion with a West cardinal. At night it can be difficult to count a large number of flashes, with the waves hiding some.

West cardinal is at 9 o'clock - 9 flashes. So if you see a large number of flashes with no long flash, that is a West Cardinal.

North cardinal at 12 o'clock - In theory 12 flashes, but actually it is continuous flashing. So a large number of flashes with no dark interval is a North Cardinal.

The RNLI has an excellent on line teaching program at: RNLI training program

Buoys and marks - Cardinal Marks, Lateral Marks, Individual Marks
Navigation lights - you can rotate the boats to get different views
Rules of the Road - Power, Sail, Sound signals
Emergencies - Distress, Mayday call, Helicopter, Towing, First Aid
Make sure you look at all the menus and take the tests.

New wreck buoy For more information see http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/pdfs/pdf_wreck_buoy.pdf

Alternate Flashing
Blue / Yellow

Moiré Light is used to provide a directional beam: example - a transit for narrow bridge see Moire_light.pdf and Moire light and HAT Vertical clearances

Posted 15th June 2011

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