Aids to
Navigation — Road Signs of the Waterway
U.S. Aids To Navigation System
The waters of the United States and its
territories are marked to assist navigation by the U.S. Aids
to Navigation System. This system employs a simple arrangement
of colors, shapes, numbers and light characteristics to mark
navigable channels, waterways and obstructions adjacent to
these.
Aids to Navigation can provide a boater
with the same type of information drivers get from street
signs, stop signals, road barriers, detours and traffic lights.
These aids may be anything from lighted structures, beacons,
day markers, range lights, fog signals and landmarks to floating
buoys. Each has a purpose and helps in determining location,
getting from one place to another or staying out of danger.
The goal of the U.S. Aids to Navigation System is to promote
safe navigation on the waterway.
The U.S. Aids to Navigation System is intended
for use with Nautical Charts. Charts are one of the most important
tools used by boaters for planning trips and safely navigating
waterways. Charts show the nature and shape of the coast,
buoys and beacons, depths of water, land features, directional
information, marine hazards and other pertinent information.
This valuable information cannot be obtained from other sources,
such as a road map or atlas.
The primary components of the U.S. Aids
to Navigation System are beacons and buoys.
Beacons are aids to navigation structures
that are permanently fixed to the earth's surface. They range
from lighthouses to small, single-pile structures and may
be located on land or in the water. Lighted beacons are called
lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons. Beacons exhibit
a daymark to make them readily visible and easily identifiable
against background conditions. Generally, the daymark conveys
to the boater, during daylight hours, the same significance
as does the aid's light or reflector at night.
Buoys are floating aids that come
in many shapes and sizes. They are moored to the seabed by
concrete sinkers with chain or synthetic rope moorings of
various lengths connected to the buoy body. They are intended
to convey information to the boater by their shape or color,
by the characteristics of a visible or audible signal, or
a combination of two or more such features.
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