🔍 Key Concepts

• Range navigation basics – When the rear range marker appears off to one side of the front marker, your vessel is off the range line to that same side or the opposite side? Review the standard rule used when following ranges. • Inbound vs outbound on a range – Think about whether the correction direction (toward the higher/rear mark or toward the lower/front mark) depends on being inbound or outbound. • Comparing headings – The range line is 040°T and your heading is 036°T. Relate this 4° difference to whether you are left or right of the desired track when looking ahead toward the range.

💭 Think About

• First, decide: in the illustration, is the taller (rear) range marker visually to the left or to the right of the shorter (front) marker from your viewpoint? • Using your rule for ranges, determine on which side of the range line your vessel must be if the markers appear in that order, given that you are inbound. • Once you know which side of the range line you are on, think about whether you should correct immediately or wait until the range is closed, and whether that correction would logically be to the left or right to bring the two markers into line.

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure you know which light/structure is the front (lower, closer) mark and which is the rear (higher, farther) mark in the picture. • Verify whether, when inbound, you must steer toward or away from the higher/rear mark to regain the range line. • Confirm that your chosen option is consistent with the fact that your present heading (036°T) is 4° left of the range line (040°T); your action should logically move you toward 040°T, not farther away.