You are underway on course 142°T when you sight a buoy bearing 105°T. The buoy's white light has a characteristic of continuous very-quick flashing. What should you do to ensure that your vessel remains in the best navigable water?
• IALA buoyage system and the meaning of a continuous very quick flashing white light • How cardinal buoys indicate where the best navigable water lies in relation to the buoy • Relating the buoy’s cardinal direction to your own course and planned track
• Ask yourself: does a continuous very quick flashing white light usually mark safe water all around, or does it tell you that safe water lies only to one side of the buoy? • Think about which cardinal point (N, E, S, W) this type of light pattern commonly represents, and therefore on which side you should keep the buoy. • From your vessel’s course of 142°T and the buoy’s bearing of 105°T, visualize where the buoy lies relative to your bow, then decide how you’d alter course to stay in the prescribed ‘safe’ sector.
• Confirm from the buoyage system that a continuous very quick flashing white light is associated with a cardinal mark, not an isolated danger or safe-water mark. • Identify which cardinal direction (north, east, south, or west) is indicated by a continuous very quick flashing light with no grouping breaks. • Before picking an answer, check that your choice keeps your vessel in the correct safe-water sector relative to that specific cardinal buoy.
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