Section 2

Navigational Aids
and Chart Symbols

2.1

The Canadian Aids to Navigation System

Navigational aids help boaters skirt hazards and stay on course in the same way that road signs help motorists avoid accidents and arrive home safely. These aids may be simple — a floating spar marking a dangerous shoal, or elaborate — a towering light station heralding the entrance to a major port.

Canada, like all maritime nations, has an extensive system of navigational aids. The same system is used on the coasts, throughout the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes, and in major inland waters where the Canada Shipping and the Navigable Waters Protection Acts apply.

Canada and the USA are in Region B of the International Association of Lighthouse Authorities, a UN organization. Much of the rest of the world is in Region A where the rules about which side to pass markers are reversed.

There are a lot of similarities between the Canadian and US systems, and if you are familiar with one, you'll navigate with confidence in the other.

The cautious navigator and safe boater will always be familiar with the system of another country before cruising there.

The Canadian Coast Guard defines the Aids to Navigation System as a series of devices such as markers on water or land, which help boaters to determine position and course and to avoid dangers and obstructions. These markers include buoys, leading lights, ranges, lighted and unlighted beacons and their sound signals.

Navigational aids can be categorized as floating or fixed.

Floating Aids

Floating navigational aids are man-made objects designed to guide traffic, provide information or warn of dangers. Pillar buoys may be the first type that comes to mind; but floating aids can also be spars, cones, or three-story super buoys. The type of aid isn't as important as what they tell us. An aid's function determines its characteristics: colour, shape, top mark, light flashing sequence and sound, if it emits any.

In Canada, floating navigational aids belong to one of three sub-systems. The most widely found is the lateral system where buoys or markers indicate safe channels for navigation. The cardinal system uses each of the cardinal points of the compass - north, east, south and west - to indicate safe water. Finally, the special buoy system provides information and warnings, or identifies such designated areas as anchorages or swimming locations.

The Lateral System

To understand the lateral system you have to be aware of the upstream direction and apply red - right - returning. When traveling upstream, the channel will be marked with the red buoys on your right and green on your left. This is always the rule unless the nautical chart shows it to be otherwise. Traveling downstream, green buoys will be on your right.

The Cardinal System

The key to understanding the cardinal system lies in identifying each buoy by its black and yellow colour pattern, top mark, or flashing light sequence, and then determining the direction of safe water from the buoy. A north cardinal buoy has safe water to the north of it, a west cardinal buoy has safe water to the west of it, and so on.

Special Buoys

Special buoys are used in a variety of ways, some of which are not primarily navigational. Buoy colours include yellow, white, and/or orange with a flashing yellow light, if lit. Special buoys may display specific information such as a speed limit. Often, you'll need to refer to the chart to find out the reason for a special buoy.

Fixed Aids

Fixed aids are as important as floating aids for safe navigation. They're usually on-shore structures but they may be mounted on pylons in the water. Like buoys they indicate hazards as well as convey information to navigators.

Peggy's Cove Light, Nova Scotia
Fixed aids include daybeacons, fog signals, sector lights, light stations or lighthouses, and ranges.

Daybeacons are beacons or signs that indicate by colour and shape whether to pass to port or starboard. They're found in waterways where there is little night-time travel.
Sector lights identify a channel by being visible only within the boundaries of the channel. If a boat strays out of the channel, the sector lights disappear or a different colour is seen.

Ranges, also called transits or leading lights, marks, or lines, are two or more navigational marks in line. You can line the boat up with them on a specific heading that is marked on the chart, to stay in safe water or follow a channel.

Lights

At night, lighted aids can be seen from a great distance. Colour and flash sequence indicate the function of the light and identifies it so it can be picked out from others. Charts indicate lighted buoys or lights on shore with a magenta teardrop shape.

Light characteristics — including type, colour, flash sequence, height above datum and distance of visibility — are beyond the scope of the Sail Canada Basic Navigation Standard and this course.

More Information

The Coast Guard's "Canadian Aids to Navigation System" reference card summarizes the buoyage system. A comprehensive source of information is the publication entitled The Canadian Aids to Navigation System.

Aids to Navigation in Canada
Illustrations and descriptions of fixed and floating aids to navigation, including types, colour, and topmarks.

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