/ 
Recognizing a cardinal, identifying a fairway marker or applying the helm rules is part of a yachtsman's fundamental knowledge. However, many sailors find that these notions become more difficult to interpret when they have to be applied quickly on the water. The new version of the flashTide Day & Night navigation guide which complements its cardinal reading system with a dedicated navigation light aid.
Understand immediately where the danger lies
Identifying cardinal marks remains one of the main difficulties encountered by occasional boaters. A cardinal does not indicate the location of the hazard itself. It indicates the zone where the water is safe. You just have to remember which side to pass through.
The FlashTide guide uses simple directional reading. When oriented to the north, it immediately identifies the safety zone associated with each cardinal. The principle is designed to reduce interpretation time and reading errors when approaching complex markings.
This function applies to coastal navigation as well as semi-offshore and offshore navigation, where cardinals are frequently used to mark isolated hazards.
Why navigation lights complicate night watch
Night navigation introduces an additional difficulty. The navigator no longer only has to understand a fixed beacon. He must also analyze the movement of other vessels from a few visible points of light on the horizon.
Seeing a red, green or white light is one thing. Understanding what these lights reveal about the course of the vessel under observation requires more experience. However, this rapid interpretation becomes essential when there is a risk of crossing or collision.
The new Day & Night version of the guide therefore adds a visual system for directly identifying the lights likely to be observed, depending on the orientation of the vessel encountered.
Visual reading of red, green and white lights
The principle is based on a simplified representation of regulation lights. By orienting the guide according to the heading or relative position of the vessel observed, the boater can determine which lights should be visible and understand the situation encountered.
This reading allows us to distinguish several common cases:
- observation of the port red light ;
- observation of the green starboard light ;
- simultaneous observation of red and green lights in an almost head-on encounter;
- observation of a white stern or masthead light.
The aim is not to replace RIPAM learning, but to provide a memory aid that can be used immediately on board.
Bar rules in a single medium
The other advantage of this development is that it brings together several regulatory concepts in a single document. The guide brings together the rules of priority between ships, the cardinals, the region A lateral buoyage used in Europe (also available in a region B version) and the interpretation of navigation lights.
For both coastal license applicants and experienced yachtsmen, this centralized information system makes it possible to find information quickly, without having to consult several documents. Reading is based on orientable diagrams that reproduce situations encountered at sea, rather than a presentation in the form of regulatory text.
A tool designed to stay close at hand
Made from transparent PVC, the guide can be handled directly in the cockpit or at the chart table. Its transparency also allows it to be superimposed on a nautical chart when preparing a route or an educational exercise.
This new version does not alter the navigation principles already familiar to boaters. It simply adds a function that many users have been waiting for: the ability to link the concepts of daytime buoyage to the interpretation of lights encountered at night.
Because while cardinals help you avoid a fixed danger, navigation lights help you understand the trajectory of a moving vessel. Two different but complementary pieces of information when it comes to making the right decision at the helm.
Available on the FlashTide website
The FlashTide Day & Night guide brings together cardinals, lateral buoyage, helm rules and now the interpretation of navigation lights in a single medium, providing practical assistance to boaters who want to quickly find the information they need, when they need it. Designed to be used directly on board, it makes it easier to read day and night situations, without replacing the official navigation rules.
The FlashTide Day & Night guide is now available on the official FlashTide website: www.flashtide.fr . Boaters will also find the full range of instruments and teaching aids dedicated to pleasure boating.
