Heed those aids to navigation

Kevin Donnelly By Kevin Donnelly Staten Island Advance
on June 26, 2009 at 9:00 AM, updated June 26, 2009 at 9:26 AM

Aids to navigation are our "street signs" on the water. GPS and chart plotters are great helps on a small boat, but you should still have a paper chart of the area you are traveling in.

Using these aids and a chart of the area where you are boating will enable you to travel safely. Your chart will show you the depth of the water in each area and any obstructions that might lie beneath the water.

The chart lists all the aids to navigation available (buoys, day markers, structures, lighthouses etc.) to guide us safely.

Many aids to navigation are lit in specific patterns, have bells, gongs, or radio beacons and can be used at night or in bad weather to aid your travel. The Chart will give you a description of the aid.

It will tell a great deal of information on each aid. This will include its number, color, type of aid, and lighting sequence, height and distance it can be seen if applicable. Aids mark the two sides of a channel on a chart.

"Red, Right, Return" is a simple reminder to keep red aids on your right or Starboard side when traveling in the channel and returning from the sea. Simply put "returning from the Sea" generally means going from a large body of water to a smaller body. An example is coming up the coast from south New Jersey into Ambrose Channel through Raritan Bay and into Arthur Kill you would keep the red aids on your right or Starboard side as you travel.

There are exceptions, so always check your chart before traveling into unfamiliar waters.

In our area just past the Goethals Bridge and before the Bayonne Bridge, the red aids appear on your port or left side. This is because the channel from New York Harbor and the Arthur Kill meet and your "from the sea direction" has shifted. Red aids (cone shaped or triangular) will have red lights, if they are lit, and even numbers.

Green aids (barrel-shaped or rectangular) mark the opposite side of the channel and will have a green light, if lit, and odd numbers. Never anchor between the buoys in the channel as this will impede large vessel traffic in the channel.

Do not tie up to any aid to navigation. These aids will also give you your location (Latitude and Longitude) if you plot them on a chart. Drawing course lines from one aid to another will enable you to plot and find what compass course to travel to get from point A to point B safely even in bad weather.

In our water there are also uniform state waterway marking buoys. These buoys are all white with orange markings. These buoys are for information and are not used for position or travel. They are not always listed on your chart. White buoys with an orange cross in a diamond shaped box indicate areas to stay clear of (Leanardo Military Pier etc.).

The white buoys with an orange circle usually indicate speed or no-wake regulation. White buoys with diamond box are used to designate an area of danger such as rocks or obstructions (one is located in the back of Great Kills Harbor).

General information of the area is usually listed on a white buoy with a rectangular box.

Chart number 12327 shows all the waterways around Staten Island.