Washington Administrative Code › Title 352 - Parks and Recreation Commission › Chapter 352-66 - United states aids to navigation system › Section 352-66-045 - Beacons and buoys

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
Beacons and buoys indicate to a vessel operator the existence
			of dangerous areas, as well as those areas which are restricted or controlled,
			such as speed zones and areas dedicated to a particular use, or to provide
			general information and directions:
(1) Aids to navigation are placed on shore or
		  on marine sites to assist a navigator to determine his position or safe course.
		  They may mark limits of navigable channels, or warn of dangers or obstructions
		  to navigation. The primary components of the U.S. Aids to Navigation System are
		  beacons and buoys.
(2) Beacons are
		  aids to navigation structures which are permanently fixed to the earth's
		  surface. They range from large 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 day beacons.
(3) Beacons exhibit a daymark. For small
		  structures these are colored geometric shapes which make an aid to navigation
		  readily visible and easily identifiable against background conditions.
		  Generally, the daymark conveys to the mariner, during daylight hours, the same
		  significance as does the aid's light or reflector at night. The daymark of
		  large lighthouses and towers, however, consists of the structure itself. As a
		  result, these daymarks do not infer lateral significance.
(4) Vessels should not pass beacons close
		  aboard due to the danger of collision with riprap or structure foundations, or
		  the obstruction or danger that the aid marks.
(5) Buoys are floating aids to navigation
		  used extensively throughout U.S. waters. They are moored to the seabed by
		  sinkers with chain or other moorings of various lengths.
(6) The daymark of a buoy is the color and
		  shape of the buoy and, if so equipped, of the top mark.
(7) Can buoys have a cylindrical shape. Nun
		  buoys have a tapered, conical shape.
(8) Pillar buoys have a wide cylindrical base
		  supporting a narrower superstructure. They may be surmounted by colored shapes
		  called top marks.
(9) Spherical
		  buoys have a round shape.
(10)
		  Mariners attempting to pass a buoy close aboard risk collision with a yawing
		  buoy, the buoy's mooring, or with the obstruction which the buoy
		  marks.
(11) Mariners should not
		  rely on buoys alone for determining their positions due to factors limiting
		  their reliability. Prudent mariners will use bearings or angles from beacons or
		  other landmarks, soundings, and various methods of electronic navigation. Buoys
		  vary in reliability because:
(a) Buoy
		  positions represented on nautical charts are approximate positions only, due to
		  practical limitations in positioning and maintaining buoys and their sinkers in
		  precise geographical locations.
(b)
		  Buoy moorings vary in length. The mooring lengths define a "watch circle," and
		  buoys can be expected to move within this circle. Actual watch circles do not
		  coincide with the dots or circles representing them on charts.
(c) Buoy positions are normally verified
		  during periodic maintenance visits. Between visits, environmental conditions,
		  including atmospheric and sea conditions, and seabed slope and composition, may
		  shift buoys off their charted positions. Also buoys may be dragged off station,
		  sunk, or capsized by a collision with a vessel.