Article by Capt. Mark Sampson
No matter if it’s a 12-foot kayak or an 80-foot yacht, everyone who drives a boat of any size or type should have at least some understanding of the “International and Inland Navigation Rules.” These are the rules that dictate who has the right of way under certain circumstances, what lights different type of vessels must display, what sound signals must be used during times of reduced visibility and a few other topics that help keep boaters from getting into trouble while traveling across both inland and international waters.
Everyone who has earned a US Coast Guard captain’s license had to learn these rules back when they originally tested for their license, and they will be the first to tell you that learning all the rules is no cakewalk because there’s just so much to remember. The rules cover all navigable waters and every type of vessel from canoes to super-tankers, sailboats to sea planes (when they’re on the water) and address a diverse array of topics such as; what lights would be displayed by a minesweeper, what signals would a vessel use if they run aground in the fog, all the different symbols that must be displayed on tugboats that are towing or pushing barges and which vessel has right of way over another and guess what - it’s not “always” the sailboat!
Known by most boaters as the “rules of the road”, the navigation rules are officially known as the “International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea” or “COLREGS.” At first glance, the rules might appear to be a hodge-podge of unrelated “do’s” and “don’ts” that are hard to make much sense of or find practical applications for, but by actually studying the different rules and learning not only what they require, but also the reasoning behind them, most boaters will acquire an appreciation and approval of them.
The first order of understanding the rules is to know what they are trying to accomplish, which is spelled out in their name “…Prevention of Collisions at Sea.” The bottom line reasoning behind every rule is to keep two or more boats from running into each other. Now to accomplish that, rules had to be written that would dictate the actions and appearance of many types of vessels under many different situations, but overall, the only thing the international group of rule makers were trying to do was to prevent boats from colliding with each other which, before the rules, was a big problem because on the water there are no traffic lights, stop signs or white or yellow lines to keep boaters off of each other.
There are no “bad” rules among the COLREGS because they were all crafted with much forethought and, of course, with safety in mind. But there are a few that boaters might consider to be a little too extreme when it comes to trying to be safe on the water.
Nonetheless, they are the “rules” that every boater should at least be aware of and take into consideration if there is such a thing as being “too safe” on the water.
For instance, rule #5 states, “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision.” Rule #7 states, “Every vessel shall use all available means appropriate to prevailing circumstances and conditions to determine if risk of collision exists. If there is any doubt, such risk shall be determined to exist. Proper use shall be made of radar equipment if fitted and operational, including long-range scanning to obtain early warning of risk of collision and radar plotting or equivalent systematic observation of detected objects.”
In other words, boaters are required to use every resource at their disposal to keep aware of any potential risk of collision. Although boaters are not required to keep binoculars aboard, if they have them, they should be ready for use and used at any time needed. Likewise, even though most boats are not required to have a radar unit, if they do have one they are required to have it on and scanning even on a bright sunny day. While that might seem a little silly, no one can deny that a properly tuned radar is a great asset for locating other vessels, even those beyond ones own line of sight.
It’s important to note that rule #5 states that “Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out…” The words “every vessel” and “at all times” means just what it says in that there is never a time or place (except in a designated inland anchorage area) when a vessel of any size or type, while it is away from it’s moorings, is exempt from providing a proper look-out. A person (or persons) must always be tasked with keeping a vigilant watch for any potential threat of collision so that regardless of whether the boat is running, trolling, drifting, working or even anchored, there is never a time when a boat can be left unattended or everyone onboard can relax and take a snooze or retreat inside the cabin for a bite to eat or to play a game of cards. The rules require a proper look-out using “all available means - at all times!”
Under the rules, the proper use of radio equipment is also considered to be an assistance in the prevention of collisions. The rules do not require that all vessels have marine radios, however, the rules do require that if a vessel is equipped with a marine radio that the radio is turned on and tuned to the proper channel. In the case of the most commonly used VHF radio, the channel boaters are required to monitor is channel 16. Notice I said “required” to monitor, because that’s the law. We as boaters are required to monitor VHF channel 16 if we have such a radio aboard, not our favorite fishing-chatter channels – channel 16!
The channel 16 regulation is one that is probably ignored by more boaters than any other and it’s safe to say that over the years, many boats and lives have lost as a result. If everyone would follow this rule, every vessel would have the ability to quickly hail every other vessel within range and alert them to possible dangers or request help in the event of a medical or vessel emergency. Say you are running along and just barely miss hitting a huge log in the water and wish to alert the guy behind you of the hazard but you don’t know what channel he’s on so can’t call him quickly enough to help him out and (whammo!) he hits the log and punches a hole in his hull. Or what if there is an emergency aboard your boat and you need another vessel to come to your assistance right away but none of the boats close by are responding to your pleas for help because you don’t know what channels they’re on.
All VHF radios have features that allow the operators to scan channel 16 along with whatever other channels they wish to monitor and talk to their fishing buddies on. So with the push of a button or two, they can do both. It’s hard to comprehend that every boater doesn’t exercise that option, but try to call any given boat you see with a VHF antenna and see how many responses you get, I’m guessing it will be less than half.
Is lack of use of channel 16 a major problem? In most cases it probably just creates an extra hassle for one vessel trying to contact another. Then again, it can morph into something someone would never expect. Last week, on channel 16 I overheard, “Vessel (boat’s name) this is Navy patrol aircraft circling overhead. You are entering a live-fire zone and need to change your course 180-degrees or you will be endangering your vessel. Navy aircraft are inbound now and will be firing missiles soon!” For at least ten minutes I heard the pilot trying to contact the charter boat on channel 16 with no response, until finally someone must have found the captain on some other channel and clued him in that he was being hailed on 16, or maybe, after all that time it occurred to him that when a Navy plane is circling you it’s probably wise to use all your resources (like channel 16) to figure out why.
Anyway, they made contact, the boat diverted course out of the fire zone and all was well... or so I thought. A few minutes later, the exact same scenario occurred with yet another local charter boat captain who obviously wasn’t monitoring channel 16 either! The aircraft was busy that afternoon shooing more than just those two boats out of harms way and eventually the live-fire exercise occurred and all was well.
Although they might not always make perfect sense to every boater under every situation, there’s no escaping the fact that it’s the responsibility of every boater to know and follow the rules of the road to the best of their ability. If nothing else, such knowledge is a good way to keep those pesky missiles out of your exhaust!
Mark Sampson is an outdoor writer and Captain of the charter boat, “Fish Finder”, docked at the Ocean City Fishing Center.
