Every week, we present you with a question about your boating license. To help you validate your knowledge, or to discover new and unexplored areas. This week, we take a look at a question on buoy lights at sea.
Sparkling lights for cardinals
At night, the cardinal marks are illuminated with white flickering lights. To remember the number of flickers, simply represent the 4 cardinal points on a circle. North at the top, East at 3 o'clock, South at 6 o'clock and West at 9 o'clock. Thus, an East cardinal will have 3 flickers, 6 for a South and 9 for a West. As for North, it's a continuous flicker. In addition to its 6 flickers, the South cardinal has a longer flicker per cycle.
In our example, we're facing a North cardinal. It is therefore to the north of the danger, and we must go around it by passing to the north. If you're heading east, i.e. from left to right on a nautical chart, you'll have to leave the buoy on your starboard side to pass to the north of the cardinal.
