preferred channel marker and direction

[metallon]

Dear Sailing Fans,

I am looing into the preferred channel marker.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-buoy

Here the preferred channel is the thick black line, right channel, port.
The preferred channel marker says preferred channel starboard.
Why is that when the preferred channel is the right one?

[Scott Berg]

not sure I understand the question; the markers shows preferred channel (the 'main' one) is to your left as I read it

[Mirage35]

The preferred channel marker in the diagram (red-green-red) is a “starboard” buoy, meaning it should be kept to starboard when going up-channel. So the left channel is preferred.

[metallon]

@AnglaisInHull,

Thanks for pointing that out. I get it now.

[hellosailor]

Quora should also be taken with a grain of salt. I'm seen many clueless responses there, and some flat out wrong.

[BigBoater917]

It also depends on where you are. In region A the colors are opposite of region B.
http://safe-skipper.com/an-explanati...-a-and-iala-b/

[TrentePieds]

Just slack-ass use of officialese English :-) Whoever designed and wrote the copy for this legend didn't mean "preferred" at all. He meant "PRIMARY".

The reason that the PRIMARY channel is primary is that that is where MOST traffic coming in from sea will want to go as determined by empirical observation.

The secondary channel has been labelled correctly in grammatical terms. It is secondary to the primary channel because SOME traffic, though rather less as determined by empirical observation, will want to go that way.

Once you are past the fork, marked by the "middle-ground bouy" (the one with the alternating red and green stripes), the rule of "red right returning" applies in the secondary channel as it does in the primary channel.

There are places where "returning (to land) is not an obvious direction, and I suspect that the ICW is one, though I've never been there. In such cases the direction of "returning" is arbitrarily laid down and the relevant charts are so annotated.

TP

[Empty Pockets]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Just slack-ass use of officialese English :-) Whoever designed and wrote the copy for this legend didn't mean "preferred" at all. He meant "PRIMARY".

The reason that the PRIMARY channel is primary is that that is where MOST traffic coming in from sea will want to go as determined by empirical observation.

The secondary channel has been labelled correctly in grammatical terms. It is secondary to the primary channel because SOME traffic, though rather less as determined by empirical observation, will want to go that way.

Once you are past the fork, marked by the "middle-ground bouy" (the one with the alternating red and green stripes), the rule of "red right returning" applies in the secondary channel as it does in the primary channel.

There are places where "returning (to land) is not an obvious direction, and I suspect that the ICW is one, though I've never been there. In such cases the direction of "returning" is arbitrarily laid down and the relevant charts are so annotated.

TP

????

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

...

There are places where "returning (to land) is not an obvious direction, and I suspect that the ICW is one, though I've never been there. In such cases the direction of "returning" is arbitrarily laid down and the relevant charts are so annotated.

TP

Indeed, there are places on the ICW where you leave reds to port when returning from seaward. The good old "Red Right Returning" memory aid does not work in all circumstances.

[Gmcgyvr]

If I remember correctly; when travelling along the ICW, red markers should be left on the inland side.
That's because there could be confusion when returning from the ocean through an inlet - you could be heading north or south, which would mean both colours on each side of the ICW.

[belizesailor]

(Deleted)

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by metallon

Dear Sailing Fans,

I am looing into the preferred channel marker.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-buoy

Here the preferred channel is the thick black line, right channel, port.
The preferred channel marker says preferred channel starboard.
Why is that when the preferred channel is the right one?

Looking at the pic, the "preferred channel marker" is listed as RGR (red-green-red) which makes the preferred channel to port (left) What makes you think it marks the preferred channel to starboard?

[conachair]

It's all in here...

https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/publ...1/ChartNo1.pdf

[Shrew]

The Red AND Green markers are referred to as Bifurcation Markers. They indicate a split in channels.

The color on top indicates the MARKERS primary color (not the channel). In your case, the red on top means you treat it as a Red marker if you're in the primary channel, or a green if you're in the secondary channel.

I see A LOT of people treat these as "Either side" (any side), which is not entirely accurate. In the incorrectly used cases, I see people go from the primary channel to the secondary channel (not heading to or from the red white) and cut between the marker and land (your diagram is a good example). That is NOT what a Bifurcation Marker is indicating. It if were truly the case there would be no marker there at all.

[TrentePieds]

Beat me to it, conachair :-)!

But who'll read 132 pages, let alone remember what's in 'em ?

I do recommend that the OP take the trouble to lookup in Chart 1 the meaning of EVERY ONE of the Aids to Navigation depicted in his little illustration and learn what each one of them means. There is more to that illustration than meets the eye :-)!

Doing that will see him through most "garden variety" pilotage. Nevertheless, Chart 1 should probably be in a ring binder at his navigating station. For times when he's away from home waters.

TP