Reading a Nautical Chart

[@randyshoop3214]

Hello Dan, new to boating and working on improving skills interpreting charts. I sometimes get confused on understanding non laterally significant buoys. Sometimes they are green, sometimes red or other colors like black STAY CLEAR). On closer look you can see the hazard or area of concern on the map. I often default back to interpreting the color for safe passage, which isn’t always the case. Any guidance would be appreciated. Also when I’m certain a buoy has lateral significance (like a Green Day marker..not a buoy actually) I always want to see a related red marker which is very often not found. So leave the green on port when returning and safe water assumed on starboard to some reasonable boundary ???

[@DanAbbott-SMCC]

Randy,
Sorry not to get right back to you. I haven't checked my comments in a while.
You ask a very good question, and I hope a lot of people will see my answer. The only way to know for sure how to interpret the purpose and meaning of aids to navigation is to ALWAYS have a current nautical chart with you -- either on paper, digitally (preferably on a chart plotter), or both (my preference). There are plenty of cell phone apps that can be used as a nautical chart plotter, but I always download a PDF of the largest scale, current chart from the NOAA website and print it on a large format printer. I then put in in a large plastic chart bag and fold it up so I can unfold the bag to read any part of it. You probably don't have a large format printer available, but you can print it out in pieces or buy a paper chart from an aftermarket service.
A lot of students in my navigation classes start by thinking that "red right returning" is all they need to know about navigating, but as you point out, sometime buoys have lateral significance (they mark one side of a preferred channel) and sometimes they don't. Even if they are laterally significant, in congested areas it may not be clear if you are leaving one port or returning to a nearby different port.
Not only that, but sometime -- as you indicated-- a buoy is laterally significant, but the "other one" isn't there. That often happens with daymarks. The best advice then is to look at the chart, but if you don't have one, stay close to the day make leaving it on the correct side of your vessel, but NOT TOO CLOSE. The daymarks are often embedded in a ledge that extends a bit beyond the day mark. A lot of bottom paint has been left on ledges like that. There is safe water on the proper side, but you may have to leave that "reasonable boundary" you mention.
The other thing is that floating buoys can move in storms. They have an anchor (usually a mushroom anchor) and that can be dragged in extreme circumstances. I have also seen buoys pulled under by a strong current (the inside passage between Bath and Boothbay Maine is one common spot), only to suddenly shoot up above the water. You don't want to be over it when that happens, so knowing where a buoy should be by looking on a chart and giving a "reasonable boundary" is also a good idea in areas with strong currents.
And just to make it even more concerning, I was once going between Harpswell Sound and Potts Harbor through a passage known as the "snake pit" -- which requires paying close attention to the laterally significant buoys that guide you through the serpentine passage with ledges on both sides -- when I couldn't see the green can #3 that was always there. When I slowly approached where it should have been, I could see the top of it about a foot below the surface. The gear holding it in place had gotten twisted up enough during a storm to be too short to allow the buoy to float above the water line. I immediately contacted the Coast Guard to alert them and they sent out a boat to fix it so no one would run into it. A lot of local boaters love whipping through at high speed for fun. Not much fun if they'd hit the very large steel can.
This probably qualifies as my longest reply to a comment, but I am always interested in people learning why "red right returning" is not all they need to know about navigating. Now add some fog, and it gets even more interesting.

[@randyshoop3214]

@@DanAbbott-SMCC thank you ! Helpful kind of :). Much appreciated

[@dannydai9113]

Too many information in one video
Pls can u do shorter videos for a particular topic eg lights thank u😊

[@DanAbbott-SMCC]

Sorry, I do videos only when one of my classes needs one, and they are as long as necessary. You can find a lot of short videos on any subject though, so you should be able to find what you want.

[@jasoncreed6396]

@DanAbbott-SMCC hey great video. Did you ever figure out" FP"?